Just a few hundred metres from the Palace of Culture, at 45 Nowogrodzka Street, stands the majestic edifice of Telephones and Telegraph. In the last century, its strategic importance, slender tower and innovative design dominated the rooftops of the neighbourhood. Soon, thanks to its planned revitalisation, this almost 100-year-old building will once again take its place in the pantheon of the capital’s most important buildings.
Before work begins on 45 Nowogrodzka Street, with the invaluable help of the varsavianist and art historian Jerzy S. Majewski, we will try to bring you up to date on the fate of this place, inextricably linked to the development of Warsaw after the crisis of the 1930s.
Jerzy S. Majewski:
At the time of its opening in 1933, the building of the Telecommunications Office at the junction of Nowogrodzka and Poznańska Streets was regarded as one of the most modern public buildings for technical purposes on the continent. Working there meant prestige and financial stability.
Just before the outbreak of the Second World War, as many as 900 people worked in the super-modern Telecommunications Office building. The work was well paid and stable. It was valued well still remembering the difficult years of the Great Depression that lasted in Poland until the mid-1930s.
Looking at pre-war photographs, it is easy to feel the atmosphere of the place at the time. The spacious, high lobbies give the impression of illustrating one of the newest office buildings in America at the time. Impressive, single-space open-plan interiors, filled with long tables at which dozens of women sit. Huge windows make the spaces overflow with light, while the desks display not only modern lamps, but also a variety of now mysterious-looking equipment. Viewed from afar, the dominant feature of the building is the tower section, which closes off the perspective of Żurawia Street.
The new Telecommunications Office
All these features fill the staff of the newly established Telecommunications Office with pride, which began its activities with the completion of the building’s construction in 1933. It merged the previous offices of inter-city telephones, telegraph and radiotelegraph. The telegraph central office started working here in 1934, and a year later the telephone exchange was put into operation. Most of the building’s space was devoted to telecommunications equipment, but there was plenty of office space. On the side of St. Barbara Street, the offices of the technical departments of the Directorate of Posts and Telegraphs and the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs were located, as well as a small museum of post and telecommunications. The telegraph and post office rooms, which were accessible to the public, had entrances from Nowogrodzka Street.
An employee at the automatic telephone exchange equipment. Photo: National Digital Archive:
Construction thought out in every detail
A rather small plot of land between Nowogrodzka and Św. Barbary Streets, along Poznanska Street, where there had been a wool store before the war, was earmarked for the creation of the innovative headquarters. The location was no accident, as a key telecommunications cable ran through it. The first architectural competition for the concept of the building was organised as early as 1922, just after the situation on the borders of the resurgent Republic had calmed down, and the country was devastated by war and simply poor. If the building had been erected at that time, its architecture would certainly have been quite conservative and its furnishings far less modern.
National Digital Archive / 1928 , Warsaw. Construction of the post office building on the corner of Nowogrodzka and Poznańska Streets:
The final design of the Telecommunications Office building, by Julian Puterman and Leszek Sawicki, came out a few years later from the design office at the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs. This office acted as a special cell dedicated to designing forward-looking postal and telecommunications facilities. It created super-modern buildings that did not deviate either in terms of architectural quality or functional layouts and technical solutions from the latest European solutions of the time.
Own collection – Balbina / 1923 , “Construction of the Telecommunications Office (excavation in 1923) Second from left designer – Eng. arch. Julian Puterman” – the photo (scan) comes from the weekly Stolica no. 39 (2062) 27.09.1987:
The building at 45 Nowogrodzka Street uses an innovative riveted steel structure. Its author was Waldemar Radlow. Later such a skeleton was used for, among others, the tallest buildings in Poland, completed in 1934: the skyscrapers in Katowice at Żwirki i Wigury Street and Prudential in Warsaw. The steel structure of the Telegraph building made it possible to design large rooms with a reduced number of supports and to insert huge windows to light up the interiors.
Main Library of the Warsaw University of Technology / 1930 , Construction of the Telecommunications Office building / NAC – National Digital Archive / October 1931 , Telegraph and inter-city telephone exchange building at Poznańska Street under construction. Advertising boards of construction companies are visible on the scaffolding:
The result of the work was a modern building, efficiently constructed, employee-friendly, functional and logical. The building as a whole gave the impression of several volumes forming interlocking cuboids, with the tower as the dominant feature. The façades were clad in red sandstone up to the height of the first floor, while the upper floors were covered with a noble ‘Terrazite’ plaster. The main entrance is located in the corner at the junction of Nowogrodzka and Poznanska Streets. Above it, there is a stone inscription “INTERNATIONAL TELEPHONE, TELEGRAF, RADJOTELEGRAF and a highly memorable stylised eagle chiseled by Jan Goliński.
The cover of the 1935 cinema commercial for the comedy Miss of Poste Restante, directed by Michał Warzyński. Starring Alma Kar as Marysia Kochańska. In the background is the building of the Telecommunications Office at 45 Nowogrodzka Street with the tower section exposed. By implication, the main character worked in such a building. Leaflet given to Jerzy S. Majewski by Wojtek Wiśniewski:
Panny telefonistki
By the time the building was completed, the automation of the telephone exchanges was well under way. Previously, calls were connected by telephonists. Now they have been replaced by automatic machines. Kornel Makuszyński bade farewell to the telephone operators in his column “Panny niewidzialne”. What was the work of telephone operators like before the automation of telephone exchanges? Well, the “silent” telephone operators at the switchboard would connect subscribers with free telephone operators. These, speaking to the subscriber, would take the order and then, with the help of a cable switched to the appropriate plug, would connect to the number given. On the other side of the telephones, the crank first had to be turned. On the other end of the phone, the crank had to be turned. The corresponding signal light came on and the telephone operator answered.
Warsaw. Nowogrodzka 45, the building of the Telecommunications Office. A counter in the interoffice call room. Photo by Czesław Olszewski, “Architektura i Budownictwo” 1934:
The process of automating the telephone exchanges of the Polish Joint Stock Telephone Company began as early as 1928. The first modern Ericsson telephone exchange of the SALME system (OS) with a capacity of 12,500 numbers was opened in Łódź.
“Switching subscribers to the automatic exchange required not only technical and organisational preparations, but also teaching users how to use the automatic telephones. Even a few months before the new automatic exchange was put into operation, a telephone directory was sent out to all subscribers with the existing and new numbers and the relevant instructions on how to use the number dial. Advertisements were also placed in the press, asking subscribers to limit their telephone calls during the first days of operation of the new switchboard. This was because it was feared that subscribers’ curiosity would cause a surge in telephone calls. These fears turned out to be justified,” we read in the “History of Polish electrics”. A year later, the Łódź experience was used in the automation of the Warsaw telephone network.
A telephone operator at work in the telephone exchange. 1930s. Photo: National Digital Archive:
When the new building on Nowogrodzka Street was opened, telephone operators were still needed, however. However, there were fewer of them. With more and more exchanges, telephonists had direct connections. However, there were still many towns without automatic telephone exchanges.
“The modernity of the intercity exchanges consisted, among other things, in the use of cordless stations. Liaisons were made in the form of flat tables, on which the telephonist had at her disposal a set of switches and lamps indicating the status of the line,” wrote Ireneusz Zalewski in Stolica.
Gymnastics on the roof and in the basement
In the super-modern building of the Telecommunications Office in Nowogrodzka Street, the social facilities played an important role. It was much more extensive than the social rooms in the PAST buildings. This was a result not only of the progress being made, but also of the scale of the building. There were two canteens in the building, along with kitchen facilities equipped with boilers and gas cookers. At this point it is worth recalling that in those days municipal gas produced from coal was used at the Powisle and Czystem gasworks. The first of the canteens was located on the fourth floor, the second, smaller one, in the basement.
E.Koch, Mazovian Digital Library / Years 1936-1937 , Telecommunications Office. Source: Architektura Polska, 1937:
From the kitchen to the staff canteen on the top floor, food was transferred by a special kitchen lift. The staff club room (casino) was not forgotten. On the flat roof, on the other hand, there is a large terrace with pergolas and an extensive view of the roofs of the city centre. The architects envisaged the terrace not as a place for the employees to sunbathe at their leisure, but as a place where employees were to exercise. Did indeed the ladies working at their desks exercise on the terrace during their breaks? – i have not been able to find reliable confirmation. What we do know is that a gymnasium was designed in the basement of the building. There were also changing rooms for the staff. Very spacious with a gigantic number of over 1,300 lockers and showers, not to mention the toilets scattered throughout the building.
Warsaw. 45 Nowogrodzka St. Telecommunications Office building, roof terrace. Photo by Czesław Olszewski. “Architektura i Budownictwo” 1934, no. 11:
The building was self-sufficient in energy. Although, as a precautionary measure, it was connected to the city’s electricity network, operated by the Powisle power station, it had its own electrical station. It was powered by two diesel engines of 160 kW each. As the press reported: it was possible to install a third engine if necessary. We should also add that the building was also equipped with its own boiler room, providing central heating. As many as five electric passenger lifts and two freight and passenger lifts were installed in the Telecommunications Office building. Another passenger lift was located in the residential wing on St Barbara Street.
Soundproof booths
In order to streamline the sending and receiving of despatches between the rooms where clerks received despatches (despatch desks, despatch exchange) and the rooms filled with telegraph sending and receiving equipment, belt conveyors were installed. As Ireneusz Zalewski, an expert on the subject, wrote, prototype equipment developed at the State Technical Works was introduced.
Another modern technical solution was pneumatic mail. It was installed in the telephone rooms of suburban and interurban telephones. The pneumatic post office connected all the switchboards with the control and counting points and was intended for sending back worked cards by the telephone operators.
Other state-of-the-art features included an automatic remote temperature-measuring apparatus and electric clocks. The complex mechanical ventilation system, but also the water supply system, sewage system and gas and water appliances were designed and built by another company with a production plant and headquarters nearby, namely Drzewiecki & Jeziorański.
source: Main Library of the Warsaw University of Technology / 1934 , Interurban Conversation Room.
The new building, which housed, among other things, a post office, could not, of course, lack telephone booths, or, as it was then spelled, public telephone conversation rooms. Each had a leather armchair and two tables. In addition to giving the telephone booths an attractive design, the architects’ main concern was to ensure that these rooms were as soundproof as possible. Conversations were to remain secret, as in confessionals. The architects experimented by introducing pioneering solutions. “The cabins are fitted with double closures. Their walls are constructed of two layers of iron sheeting, with fine gravel insulation in between. In addition, on the inside, the cabin walls are lined with a layer of cork and glass, the floor with rubber, and the openings are carefully sealed. The ventilation ducts, in turn, are provided with special silencers.” – enumerated Puterman in the pages of ‘Architecture and Construction’.
Warsaw. 45 Nowogrodzka St. Building of the Telecommunications Office. View of the mezzanine on the main staircase from Nowogrodzka Street. On the right one can see a huge double-layered window divided by muntins into smaller quarters. The balustrades of the mezzanine are very simple, made of flat bars. In the middle is a glazed lift shaft. Photograph: 1934 Czesław Olszewski:
Careful selection of employees
As Ireneusz Zalewski wrote in Stolica, work in the Telecommunications Office offered high wages, but getting a job was not easy, as there were high requirements for employees. Among other things, psycho-physical examinations of female telephone candidates were introduced here. Even blue-collar workers had to have completed at least a comprehensive school education. According to Zalewski, white-collar workers also underwent a probationary period, during which time they were given the status of provisional clerk.
There was nothing unusual in the careful selection of employees. Indeed, high standards had already been adopted much earlier – in the early years of the 20th century with the establishment of the Swedish company Cedergren in Warsaw. It instilled new working methods, a work ethos and civilisational progress in Warsaw. In Cedergren’s new buildings on Zielna Street, opened in 1904 and 1910, telephone operators had social facilities, rest rooms, places to eat, and the selection of employees was very careful.
source: Main Library of the Warsaw University of Technology / 1934, Interior of the power station
Similarly, later in the building of the Telecommunications Office in Nowogrodzka Street, it was not easy for female telephonists to get jobs. Prospective female telephonists had to go through interviews. The company was looking for girls who were pretty, had a pleasant voice and, moreover, spoke some foreign language. Before 1915, absolutely in Russian. It was fine if they spoke French or German. They had to be unmarried and childless. Candidates for telephonists had to be selected carefully. There were a lot of landladies working as telephonists, as they were selected from good homes. Nobody was sent to the Swedish tower on Zielna Street “just like that”. Prospective female telephonists had to present documents proving their ‘good repute’, and preferably be recommended or have a family member who was already working and could vouch for the new employee. These criteria – in force before the First World War – did not change in the interwar years either, when revolutionary changes were taking place in customs and social life. That is why, for example, Rosa Szpądrowska’s application begins with the words: “I, the undersigned, dare to ask the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs to count me among its staff. I am a Roman Catholic, Polish, single …” And it ended with the assurance that “References about me can be given by Princess Jadwiga Lubomirska (…) and the prosecutor of the Court of Appeal”.
After 1933, very similar standards were applied during the reception of employees at the head office in Nowogrodzka Street. Among the staff, there were some exceptional personalities. Among them was Helena Wielgomasowa, a journalist, actress, author of decidedly graphomaniacal erotica, and a contributor to the Łódź press: “Dziennik Łódzki” and the political-satirical weekly “Wolna Myśl, Wolne Żarty”. The second of the magazines had a sensationalist and rather iconoclastic flavour. Unfortunately, already during the occupation, Helena Wielgomasowa would start cooperating with the “gadzin” occupation Polish-language press. The Military Special Court of Underground Poland then sentenced her to infamy. However, during the Warsaw Uprising she would already be a nurse in the Maltese hospital. Her two sons, insurgents, would be shot by the Germans at the end of the uprising at the canal exit on Dworkowa Street.
During the occupation, the building was occupied by the Germans. A branch of the Deutsche Post Osten, or German Post Office of the East, was set up here. The building survived the Warsaw Uprising and was reopened immediately after the war, although the occupiers removed most of its technical equipment. However, the wartime fate of the building and its employees, as well as the post-war reconstruction and expansion, is a completely different story.
The eagle, the inscription and the post office are still the most recognisable elements of the Telecommunications Office building, a reminder of its golden age. The building is about to undergo a major refurbishment that will restore the old interior layout and expose the original materials used. Tenants will change, new tenants will come. But the three symbols will remain the same. And it will still be possible to make appointments here under the Post Office.
The revitalisation of the “Telegraph Building” is to be carried out by ZEITGEIST Asset Management in close cooperation with the conservator.
text: Jerzy S. Majewski
source: ZEITGEIST Asset Management
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source: Main Library of the Warsaw University of Technology
source: Henryk Poddębski / 1934 , Central Telegraph and Telephone Building on Nowogrodzka Street. Photo obtained from the profile “Warszawski modernizm” on FB.
