The building at Filtrowa 69, whose technical condition had left much to be desired over the years, has finally been renovated. The housing association has decided to renovate the façade. Work on the street-side façade has just been completed, and the project was supported by the City of Warsaw with a donation of PLN 234,000.
The imposing tenement house standing at Filtrowa 69, built in the 1920s, is part of the Lubecki Colony – a housing estate built in the classicist style with a characteristic mansard roof, which refers to French architecture. This complex, located in Old Ochota, was originally built to meet the housing needs of officials of the newly rebuilt Polish state.
Filtrowa 69 after the facade renovation. Photo: Capital Conservator of Monuments
The origins of the housing estate date back to 1924, when the first houses here were built in the manor house style, referring to the traditions of Polish architecture. However, with the development of housing cooperatives in the Old Ochota area, this concept soon gave way to larger, several-storey buildings able to accommodate increasing numbers of families.
Filtrowa 69 before and after the facade renovation. Photo: Google Maps and the Capital Conservator of Monuments
The “Nasze Ognisko” housing cooperative, which has owned the building at 69 Filtrowa Street from the beginning, was established in 1923. The housing estate comprised the quarter of Filtrowa, Lekarska, Wawelska and Niepodległości Avenue (then Topolowa Street). The designer of the colony was the architect Roman Feliński, and Stefan Siennicki, Stanisław Kraskowski and Józef Krupa collaborated on its implementation. Although Feliński’s original idea was to keep all the buildings in a uniform style referring to the French Baroque, the architecture of the settlement gradually evolved. Despite the turmoil of war and the passage of time, the building at 69 Filtrowa Street has retained its original architectural character. It survived the Second World War without any major damage and its external decoration remained unchanged.
The long-neglected building needed urgent intervention. Numerous layers of paint had started to peel off and the plaster was falling off in places exposing the bricks. A stratigraphic survey revealed that the building had originally been kept in light shades, which it was decided to restore. The creamy white façade, contrasting with the darker plinth and arches above the entrance, was returned to its former glory. During the works, the loss of plaster was also repaired and the mansard roof on the top floor was re-covered with sheet metal.
However, the façade renovation is just the beginning. The ‘Nasze Ognisko’ housing cooperative has announced that it plans to continue the renovation work in the coming years in order to restore the building to the full splendour it had when it was built.
Source: Capital Conservator of Monuments
Read also: Renovation | Tenement | City | Warsaw | Architecture in Poland
