The Hotel Warszawa is a historic
skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...
hotel in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, located on
Warsaw Uprising Square
Warsaw Uprising Square (Polish: ''Plac Powstańców Warszawy''), still popularly known by its former name Napoleon Square (Polish: ''Plac Napoleona''), is a square in the central Warsaw district of Śródmieście.
Located at the junction of '' ...
along
Świętokrzyska Street. Built between 1931 and 1933 in the
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
style as the Prudential House, and commonly known as the Prudential, it served as a base for the British
Prudential Insurance Company
Prudential Financial, Inc. is an American Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 500 company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, retirement planning, investment management, and other products and services to both retail and institutional customers thr ...
. It was the tallest building in
interwar Poland
The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World ...
.
History
![Warsaw Uprising - Prudential Hit - frame 2a](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Warsaw_Uprising_-_Prudential_Hit_-_frame_2a.jpg)
At the time of its construction, the eighteen-story, 66m Prudential House was the sixth tallest skyscraper in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
, after the
Telefónica Building
The Telefónica Building, in Spanish ''Edificio Telefónica'', is a skyscraper in Madrid, Spain. It is located in Gran Via 28. At the time of construction it was the tallest European skyscraper with 89 m of roof height, until in 1940, when the ...
, the
Boerentoren
The Boerentoren ( en, "Farmer's Tower"; officially the KBC Tower, originally the Torengebouw van Antwerpen) is a historic tall building in Antwerp, Belgium. Constructed between 1929 and 1932 and originally high, it remained the tallest building ...
, the
Ullsteinhaus, the
Siemensturm and the
Bel-Air-Turm). Built using a steel framework, it was the tallest building in Warsaw until the
Palace of Culture and Science
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...
was completed in 1955. Designed by
Marcin Weinfeld, the Prudential House included office space on the lower stories and luxurious apartments further up. The steel framework, which was innovative at the time, was designed by
Stefan Bryła
Stefan Władysław Bryła (Polish pronunciation: ; born 17 August 1886 in Kraków – died 3 December 1943 in Warsaw, Poland) was a Polish construction engineer and welding pioneer. He designed and built the first welded road bridge in the world ...
and
Wenczesław Poniż. Construction started in 1931 and used up over 2 million bricks, 2 thousand
tonnes
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United States ...
of concrete and 1500 tonnes of steel.
In 1936, a 27-meter
antenna
Antenna ( antennas or antennae) may refer to:
Science and engineering
* Antenna (radio), also known as an aerial, a transducer designed to transmit or receive electromagnetic (e.g., TV or radio) waves
* Antennae Galaxies, the name of two collid ...
was constructed on the roof by professor
Janusz Groszkowski Janusz () is a masculine Polish given name.
It is also the shortened form of January and Januarius.
People
*Janusz Akermann (born 1957), Polish painter
*Janusz Bardach, Polish gulag survivor and physician
*Janusz Bielański, Roman Catholic priest ...
, who started the first
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
broadcasts in Europe from the facility. The Prudential House soon became a symbol of modern Warsaw and was featured in numerous contemporary films and advertisements.
The structure was heavily damaged during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, particularly during the
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occ ...
, when it was hit by approximately 1,000 artillery shells, including by a 2-tonne
Karl-Gerät
"''Karl-Gerät''" (040/041) (German literally "Karl-device"), also known as ''Mörser Karl'', was a World War II German self-propelled siege mortar (''Mörser'') designed and built by Rheinmetall. Its heaviest munition was a diameter, shel ...
mortar shell, leaving only the steel framework standing. The artillery damage bent the tower sideways, but it survived the war and was featured on numerous anti-war posters.
The tower was completely rebuilt after the war as a hotel, and its design style was changed from early modern to
socialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ch ...
. The building's original architect, Marcin Weinfeld, adapted the building to its new role as a hotel. The Hotel Warszawa opened in 1954 and included 375 rooms, a large restaurant, a café and a night club.
In 2002, the Hotel Warszawa closed and the building was sold. In 2010, it was purchased by the Likus Group, which began a slow and controversial refurbishment. The façade was returned to its pre-war
art deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
form, while the socialist-realist interior was completely gutted and rebuilt in a contemporary style.
In November 2018, the 142-room Hotel Warszawa reopened as a luxury five-star hotel.
Gallery
File:Plac Napoleona i Prudential przed 1939.jpg,
File:Warschau. Kantoorgebouw van een verzekeringsmaatschappij in functionalistische s, Bestanddeelnr 190-0024.jpg,
File:Cyprian War.jpg,
File:A Varsói Felkelés tere (Plac Powstancow Warszawy), a Prudential biztosító (a II.vh után Varsó hotel) 1931-34. között épült, jelenleg üres székháza. Háttérben a Kultúra és Tudomány Palotája. Fortepan 16814.jpg,
File:29-12-2019 Warszawa Prudential.jpg,
See also
*
PAST
The past is the set of all events that occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience t ...
*
Architecture of Warsaw
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...
*
List of tallest buildings in Poland
Poland has 56 high-rise buildings that stand at least tall, being also one of 17 countries in the world to have a supertall skyscraper (building that rises at least ).
Historically, the title of the tallest building in Poland since the Middle ...
External links
Hotel Warszawa official websiteEmporis Building Database
References
{{Reflist
Buildings and structures in Warsaw
Art Deco architecture in Poland
Art Deco skyscrapers
Buildings and structures completed in 1931
Commercial buildings completed in 1933
Prudential plc
Hotels established in 1954
Hotel buildings completed in 1933