Warsaw, although largely destroyed during World War II, still hides pearls of Art Nouveau architecture on its streets. One of the most remarkable examples of this style is Wilhelm Landau’s Banking House at 38 Senatorska St. Built at the beginning of the 20th century, the building, despite later transformations, remains a testimony to an era when elegance and functionality merged in functional architecture.
Wilhelm Landau Banking House – history ofthe building’s construction
Wilhelm Landau, the bank’s founder, started his business in Warsaw in 1857, opening a bill of exchange office on Orla Street. His entrepreneurial spirit and financial success allowed him to expand, including to Lodz, and to invest in real estate. At the beginning of the 20th century, the bank acquired a plot of land on Senatorska Street, where a representative building was to be constructed. In 1903, a competition was announced for its design, with Stanisław Grochowicz winning. His vision was modified by Gustaw Landau-Gutenteger, an architect specialising in Art Nouveau, who had previously designed the Łódź branch of the bank. Construction work lasted from 1904 to 1906 and was carried out by the Warsaw construction company “Fr. Martens and A. Daab”. Because of the limited space, the building had to be smaller than its Lodz counterpart, but it nevertheless impressed with its detailing and attention to proportion.
Art Nouveau architecture and decoration
The two-storey building has a high ground floor and a usable attic. Its fourteen-axis façade was topped by a balustraded attic with decorative pinnacles. The central part of the building was distinguished by a risalit, which ended in an arched abutment, and above it was a striking dome with a lantern (unfortunately, removed after the war, together with the ornamentation of the attic and part of the façade). The passage to the courtyard was placed in the extreme northern axis. The main entrance led to a vestibule with a semicircular staircase, behind which stretched a spacious cash room covered by a glass plafond. The Art Nouveau interiors were dominated by pastel shades of sepia and pink, decorative stucco, ornamental tiles, carved panelling and wooden balustrades decorated with floral motifs. The building was equipped with modern technology, such as central heating, gas, electricity and air conditioning.
A particular innovation was the heating system for the glass plafond above the checkout hall, which prevented the accumulation of snow and drained the water condensing on its surface. Care was also taken to protect the stored money, gold and other valuables by building what seemed at the time to be a modern and secure vault. on 28 June 1920, a highly publicised break-in took place. It was covered by the entire capital’s press at the time. Stanisław Ćwil and Hubert Krigier dug a hole under the building, then entered the safe and stole a lot of valuables and money. The police apprehended the thieves and sentenced them to prison.
Wilhelm Landau’s Bank House and its subsequentfate
The Landau Bank operated on this site until 1925, after which its premises were taken over by the Polish Industrial Bank, which collapsed in the early 1930s. During the Second World War, the building was adapted for the Malta Military Hospital. Its vault was used as an operating theatre and storeroom, and a pharmacy on the first floor. Despite its intensive use, the building survived the war in relatively good condition, although it lost, among other things, the skylight in the cashier’s hall. on 1 August 1944, after five years of German occupation, the Warsaw Uprising broke out. A branch of the hospital also operated at the time in the nearby Mniszech Palace, where the Belgian embassy is now located. During the fighting, both wounded insurgents and German soldiers and civilians found shelter there. During the two evacuations of the hospital, which took place on 7 and 14 August, the Germans executed about 30 Poles in the vicinity of the bank.
The new building in 1907 and the building today. Source: National Museum in Warsaw and WhiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
After 1945, the building was taken over by state institutions. In the first post-war years, it housed the Metropolitan Party Propaganda Centre of the PPR, and later of the PZPR. During this period (around 1951), the most serious change was made to the building – the characteristic dome was removed. In 1956, the building was handed over to the Polish Scouting Association, and later to the Ministry of Education. Since the 1990s, the building has been used by the French Institute, which has renovated the building, unfortunately without restoring the lost architectural elements.
The current state and future of the building at 38 Senatorska Street
The building, although entered in the register of historical monuments in 1984, has been awaiting full restoration for years. It was the temporary home of the Miniature Park of the Mazovian Voivodeship between 2015 and 2018, but has remained abandoned since then. Its condition is deteriorating to such an extent that nets have been installed on the façade to protect passers-by from falling plaster. The future of one of Warsaw’s most valuable Art Nouveau edifices is uncertain, although there are claims that it needs to be renovated and the original dome and other elements restored.
Source: sekretywarszawy.pl, blog.magiawarszawy.pl
Read also: Art Nouveau | Tenement | City | Warsaw | Architecture in Poland
The building in 1907 and 2025. Source: Digital Library of the Warsaw University of Technology and WhiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
Wilhelm Landau Banking House – building with dome in the 1920s and without in 2025. Source: National Archives in Warsaw and WhiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
