Ujazdowskie Avenue is one of the most prestigious streets in Warsaw, known for its representative buildings and historical significance. Along this picturesque thoroughfare, numerous elegant townhouses, villas and government buildings were built, which still impress with their architectural grandeur. One of the local buildings is the house of Henryk Kolberg, located at number 19, which today is a testament to the former glory of this part of the city. Today, however, the building is in urgent need of renovation.
The Kolberg House: history and architecture
Opposite the entrance to Ujazdowski Park, a five-storey, representative tenement house was built between 1911 and 1913, designed by Stanisław Grochowicz and commissioned by Henryk Wilhelm Kolberg. The building combined features of early modernism with neo-classical decorative elements, notable among which were bas-reliefs depicting griffins, allegories of the four seasons and sphinxes placed under bay windows. A characteristic detail of the façade was the imposing two-storey loggia, topped by a spacious terrace on the third floor. The first floor was occupied by the owner’s spacious flat, while the upper floors were used for luxury rental flats. The tenement was extremely modern for the time – it was equipped with electricity, gas and central heating, as well as lifts, which significantly increased the comfort of its inhabitants.
Luxurious interior design
The building dazzled with its high quality finishes. The entrance gate was lined with slabs of dark marble, and the staircases used pink marble imported from Hungary. The entrance doors to the flats were made of pear wood, which further emphasised the prestige of the property. The interiors of the individual flats were decorated in a variety of historical styles – from Neo-Renaissance to Empire to Neo-Rococo boudoir. Some rooms featured white marble fireplaces with crystal mirrors imported from Paris, which have survived to the present day. The gilded balustrades of the balconies and terraces added further splendour.
The owner of the building and his fate
Henryk Wilhelm Edward Kolberg (1861-1935) was a mining engineer and entrepreneur who was the only one of the Kolberg family to amass a considerable fortune. He was co-owner of a mine in the Donetsk Basin, and after moving to Warsaw, he founded the Factory of Optical and Precision Apparatuses “H. Kolberg i Ska”, which was later transformed into the company Państwowe Zakłady Optyczne S.A. (State Optical Works S.A.). As a result of the economic crisis of the 1930s, Kolberg had to sell the tenement house, which ended up in the hands of the Kraushar family. In 1940, the owners were resettled in the ghetto and the building was occupied by the Nazis, incorporating it into the so-called German Quarter. On the neighbouring property, a striking building by Maurycy Spokorny was erected in 1903. The building was burnt down during the war effort and demolished in 1947. Its history is described HERE.
The Kolberg Tenement and its fate in the 20th and 21st centuries
The building essentially survived the Second World War. Its interiors were partly destroyed, but many decorative elements and furnishings have survived. The tenement originally had two outbuildings. One of them was demolished before 1945, the other at the end of the 1970s. After the end of the war, the building housed, among others, a diplomatic protocol, while after 1989 financial institutions temporarily operated here. Today, the tenement is owned by the Ministry of Justice. Despite this, the façade of the building is not in the best condition, and its splendour has long since passed. This is most clearly evidenced by the wooden pillars supporting the terraces, which are in danger of collapsing. However, the Kolberg House still remains an important element of Warsaw’s architectural landscape and a testimony to the former splendour of Ujazdowskie Avenue.
Source: warszawa.wyborcza.pl, polacyzwyboru.pl
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The tenement house in 1914 and 2025. Source: Urban Construction News and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
Tenement houses on Ujazdowskie Avenue in 1938 and 2025. Source: “Stolica” weekly, no. 38, (1657) 23.09.1979 and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
