Adria was a catering and entertainment establishment located in the years 1931-1944 in downtown Warsaw, at 10 Moniuszki St. In the 1930s it was regarded as the most elegant place of its kind in the capital. After the war, the pre-war traditions were cultivated in the reconstructed building under the same name. Adria was finally closed in November 2005. Now it has been reported that the LivUp company is planning to create flats for rent in the modernised building.
The building of the Italian Insurance Company Riunione Adriatica di Sicurtà at 10 Moniuszki Street (now 8 Moniuszki Street), which housed Adria, was built between 1928 and 1930 and was designed by Edward Eber. His wife Alicja Eber designed the signboard for the restaurant, and was also the author of the fresco that decorated the premises’ plafond. Adria was built in the reconstructed part of the representative building. Its décor was designed by Edward Seydenbeutel, Jerzy Gelbard, Grzegorz Sigalin and Roman Sigalin. It could accommodate up to 1,500 guests.
Adria in 1940. Source: NAC – National Digital Archive www.nac.gov.pl/
The authors of the Adria’s interior design aimed to achieve architectural expression through the mere play of forms, surfaces and materials and avoided excessive ornamentation. The actual decoration of the interiors was perfection, the nobility of the materials and the accuracy of their processing. The specific way in which the lighting effects were laid out and mastered was an important element in the design of the premises. The restaurant opened in February 1931. Adria consisted of a hall, a winter garden with birds and plants under a glass roof, a café room, an American bar, a dancing room with a small dance floor and a revolving dance floor. Dancing was open from the afternoon through the night.
The tenement house at 10 Moniuszki Street (now 8) during the occupation and today. Source: State Archive in Warsaw and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
The creator, manager and co-owner of the establishment was Franciszek Moszkowicz, a native of Lviv, from around 1930. Adria was the most elegant establishment in Warsaw, a meeting place for the ruling classes and the elite of the time.
Rickshaw in front of Adria, 1940 and 2024. Source: NAC – National Digital Archives www.nac.gov.pl/ and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
During the German occupation, the Adria was frequented by SS officers and German police. After 1940, the premises had the status of Nur für Deutsche. on 22 May 1943, Home Army soldier Jan Kryst, alias “Alan”, carried out a lone attack on Germans playing there. His act is commemorated by a plaque placed on the wall of the building in October 1995.
The front of the building in 1930 and today. Source: Digital Library of the Warsaw University of Technology and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
During the Warsaw Uprising it housed, among other things, an insurgent canteen. The upper floors of the building briefly housed the “Blyskawica” radio station and the Propaganda Department of the Home Army Headquarters.
August 1944 and April 2024. Marszałkowska Street, corner of Moniuszki Street. View of Napoleon Square. Source: Days of the Uprising. A photographic chronicle of fighting Warsaw. Stanisław Kopf, Jan Grużewski Instytut Wydawniczy “PAX” Warszawa 1957 and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
on 18 August 1944, the building at 10 Moniuszki Street was hit by a 600 mm calibre shell fired from a Karl Gerät mortar. The shell penetrated all the ceilings, the dome and the parquet floor of the restaurant and eventually stopped in the cellars, but did not explode.
30 September 1944, the 61st day of the Warsaw Uprising. Victims of the air raid by the colonnade of the tenement and the same place today. Source: waralbum.ru, Author: Eugeniusz Lokajski and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
Moniuszki in August 1959 and today. Source: ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Author: Hans Leibundgut, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
Moniuszki in August 1959 and today. Source: ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Author: Hans Leibundgut, License: CC BY-SA 4.0 and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
The building was rebuilt in 1960 for the State Insurance Company. At that time, the original appearance of the interiors was obliterated and the volume was raised. In 1973, the premises were reactivated under their previous name. The New Adria consisted of a café and coffee bar on the ground floor and a restaurant in the basement, which was one of the most elegant in Warsaw and was frequented by foreign guests and Polish emigrants visiting the capital. The New Adria closed in November 2005. The abandoned building is listed in the register of historical monuments.
Marszałkowska Street, view of Moniuszki Street. End of 1950s and present day. Author: Mogens Tørsleff and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
Now the famous building on Moniuszki Street is to be given a new life. As Gazeta Wyborcza reports, the project is currently in the administrative process. The LivUp company, an operator of flats for long rent, is responsible for the investment. We will be following the case and are waiting for the first visualisations and concrete information on the modernisation.
Source: warszawa.wyborcza.pl, jedenraz.wordpress.com
Also read: tenement | Warsaw | Architecture in Poland | Curiosities | whiteMAD on Instagram
