In the heart of Warsaw’s Wola district lies one of the most characteristic and at the same time long-forgotten monuments of the capital. We are talking about the tenement house of Anna Koźmińska. Today, after decades of neglect, the magnificent building at Żelazna 64 is once again pleasing to the eye. The first stage of a thorough renovation of this unique building has just been completed.
The scaffolding has now disappeared from the façade, and the façade has emerged from underneath, looking as it did years ago: refreshed, harmonious, with rich architectural detail and balconies, reconstructed on the basis of archival photographs and preserved original fragments. The building is no longer merely a witness to past glories. It is now becoming one of the brighter spots on the map of urban renovation.
A tenement with history
The Anna Koźmińska tenement house was designed by Józef Napoleon Czerwiński and was built in stages from the end of the 19th century. It was finally completed in 1912. In the interwar period, the building housed the ‘Świt’ cinema, which in time adopted a new name – ‘Acron’. The majestic building was an example of metropolitan, richly decorated architecture with rusticated facades, decorative cornices and wrought-iron balcony balustrades.
The building is not only a valuable example of Warsaw Art Nouveau. It is also a witness to dramatic events in the city’s history, as evidenced by the gunshots visible on the façade, removed during renovation. In November 1940, the building was incorporated into the ghetto created by the German occupation authorities. An accommodation point was organised in the former cinema for Jews displaced from other cities to Warsaw. As a result of the great deportation action in August 1942, which resulted, among other things, in the liquidation of the so-called “small ghetto”, the building once again found itself on the “Aryan” side of the city. During the Warsaw Uprising, the building was damaged during the fighting in the area. At that time it lost, among other things, its corner turrets and most of its striking decorations. In 2019, the building was entered in the register of historical monuments.
Zelazna 64 before renovation. Photo by Adrian Grycuk, CC BY-SA 3.0 PL, via Wikimedia Commons
Żelazna 64 – renovation after years
Only in recent years has there been a real chance to restore the tenement to its former character. Renovation work began in autumn 2023, and its first stage has just been completed. It included thermo-modernisation, comprehensive renovation of the façade, restoration of the balconies, as well as dealing with less visible but equally important elements: insulation of the foundations and basement carpentry. All activities were carried out under the supervision of the Office of the Capital Conservator of Monuments. Currently, there are 57 residential and 10 commercial premises in the building, including one of the oldest cake shops in Wola, which has been operating continuously for several decades.
Restoring the detail of a destroyed monument
One of the most demanding tasks was the renovation of the façade. Not only its structure was restored, but also the lost architectural details. The plasterwork of the south and west facades, almost completely destroyed, was carefully restored. A small workshop was set up in the attic, where craftsmen made copies of decorative elements by hand, such as buttons, cornices and rustications, based on original fragments and archive photographs. All elements were then attached to the façade using traditional masonry techniques.
Żelazna 64: an investment with flair
The work to date has cost almost PLN 11 million, but this is only the first stage of a larger undertaking. The district authorities have already planned a further 13 million for the continuation of the renovation, which will include a number of major upgrades. The plans include, among other things, replacing and reinforcing the basement ceilings and load-bearing walls, renovating the gate passage with a new granite paving and terrazzo pavements, as well as modernising the shop windows of commercial premises and tidying up advertising signs. The windows in the flats will also be replaced, as will the entrance doors to the units and common areas. All work is scheduled to be completed by 30 November 2025 – by which time the property is expected to have fully regained its former splendour. The renovation of the tenement house is being carried out by ZGN Wola under the conservation supervision of BSKZ. The construction project was carried out by the construction studio ,,Unity” S.C., and the contractor for the works is the company Arembud.
Source: UM Wola
Read also: Renovation | Tenement | City | Warsaw | Architecture in Poland
Żelazna Street and Anna Koźmińska’s tenement house during the Warsaw Uprising. Source: Museum of Warsaw and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
Żelazna Street during the Warsaw Uprising, August 1944. source: the Museum of Warsaw and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
1983 and 2025. source: “Spotkania z Zabytkami” no. 3 (17) 1984 and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
Intersection of Żelazna and Grzybowska Streets, opposite the Żelazna 64 tenement house – 1990 and 2025. Source: Social Archive of Warsaw www.tubylotustalo.pl and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
Żelazna 64 before and after the renovation. Photo by Adrian Grycuk, CC BY-SA 3.0 PL, via Wikimedia Commons and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
Detail without and with balcony. Photo by Fred Romero, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
The corner of the tenement building past and present. Photo: UD Wola and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
