Hotel Europejski

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hotel Europejski from Krakowskie Przedmieście
After the reunification, only a 3-star hotel
The hotel in the 1920s (block on the right half of the picture), on today's Piłsudski Square, still stood the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
General Johannes Blaskowitz (left) next to General Maximilian von Weichs in Warsaw in autumn 1939. Hotel Europejski in the background on the left

The Hotel Europejski (Polish: Europa-Hotel , also known as the European Court or Hôtel de l'Europe ) was built in several construction phases from 1855 to 1877 on Warsaw's boulevard Krakowskie Przedmieście . The building, built in neo-renaissance style, was one of the most luxurious hotels in Europe until the 1910s. In World War II it was destroyed and rebuilt in the late 1950s. It served as the Orbis Group hotel (under the Hotel Orbis Europejski brand ) until 2005 and has only been partially let since then. The owners are planning a major renovation and reopening as a hotel. It would then be the oldest hotel in Warsaw that is still in use.

location

The hotel is located between Krakowskie Przedmieście Street (to the east) and Piłsudski Square (to the west). The main entrance is on General-Tokarzewski-Karaszewicz-Strasse to the south, on the opposite side of the street is the entrance to the barracks of the Warsaw garrison commandant's office (adjacent to the "house without edges" ). Ossoliński Street runs to the north, with the Potocki Palace next to it . Opposite the Europejski, on Krakowskie Przedmieście Street, is the Bristol Hotel . Norman Foster's “Metropolitan” building is in the immediate vicinity . Until 1926, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral was also in the vicinity

The official address of the hotel is 13 Krakowskie Przedmieście Street.

history

In the 17th century there was an estate in place of the current building. Later Stefan Wierzbowski , Bishop of Poznan and founder of Nowa Jerozolima (now the city of Góra Kalwaria ) built a palace here. In 1687 the palace fell into the possession of the Radziwiłł family and subsequently to Jerzy I. Lubomirski from Słuszków . The oldest known view of the building dates from around 1726, when it was a one-story building with a two-story front facade. After Lubomirski's death in 1753, the palace was acquired by Ignacy Ogiński , Grand Marshal of Lithuania . The facades were designed under him in the Rococo style. At the time of Ogiński, a scandal broke out when he accused his landlord of raping peasant women.

The next owner was the Grand Hetman of Lithuania and composer Michał Kazimierz Ogiński . In 1790 the politician and composer Michał Kleofas Ogiński took over the manor house; he organized important concerts and balls here. After the fall of the republic, Ogiński left Warsaw. The palace passed into the hands of Józef Puzyna de Kosielsko and in 1804 to Ferdynand and Rozalia Gerlach. Gerlach, who came from a wealthy Warsaw carpenter family, converted the palace into a rest house and later into a larger hotel. The ground floor was rented to shops - including one of the first photo studios in Warsaw ( Jan Mieczkowski ).

In 1855, the Przeździecki & Pusłowski company acquired the Gerlach hotel and built it in its place in several stages (from 1855 to 1859 and from 1876 to 1877) based on a project by chief architect Henryk Marconi , his assistant Marceli Berendt , his son Leandro Marconi and his brother Ferrante Marconi (plasterer) a luxurious hotel in the so-called “Roman Renaissance style”. After its completion, it replaced the neighboring Hotel Angielski as the “first house on the square”. In the 19th century, the Europejski was considered one of the best hotels in Central Europe and the most modern in the Russian Empire . The elegant house with its characteristic, rounded corners of large windows and Ionic columns on the first and Corinthian columns on the second floor was lavishly furnished on the inside and had a restaurant , a pastry shop , a billiard room , a reading room , the "Pompeii Hall" as well a banquet hall. There were various luxury apartments on the first floor, while Józef Chełmoński's “Salon of Fine Arts” was opened on the second floor at the end of the 1870s . Stanisław Witkiewicz , Antoni Piotrowski and Stanisław Masłowski worked in the studio . The building was later rebuilt several times (a general renovation took place in 1907), but never lost the characteristics of the Renaissance.

In the interwar period, the owner company was transformed into a joint stock company with the partners Zofia Czetwertyńska and Jan Przeździecki and was renamed Hotel Europejski Spółka Akcyjna (HESA). In 1944, the building largely burned down as a result of the Warsaw Uprising . In 1945, Stefan Czetwertyński received permission from the City Reconstruction Office ( Biuro Odbudowy Stolicy ) to rebuild the hotel. Before that happened, the owners were expropriated by decree of the Bierut government in 1948 . In 1949, parts of the building were rebuilt under Bohdan Pniewski and until 1959 first assigned to the Political Military Academy ( Wojskowa Akademia Polityczna ) of the Ministry of Defense and later to the Ministry of Transport .

In 1959 the state tourism company Orbis took over the building, arranged for the complete reconstruction and opened the hotel on July 2nd, 1962 as "Orbis Europejski". The facade was faithfully restored, and adjustments were made to the interior. Before the construction of modern hotels Victoria , Solec and Forum that was Europejski the best hotel in town. In 1965 the band The Golden Gate Quartet gave their only concert in Poland here.

In 1993 the HESA company was reactivated by the community of heirs of the pre-war owners. Years of legal proceedings followed for the return, until the last instance (Naczelny Sąd Administracyjny - NSA) awarded the property and building to the heirs. In 2005 the transfer of ownership took place. As a result, Orbis closed its hotel operations on June 30, 2005. At the same time, the heirs stated that they would modernize the hotel and develop it again into a luxury hotel.

future plans

It was planned to completely renovate the hotel by the end of 2012 for around 50 million złoty and to convert it to meet the modern requirements of business travelers. In addition to the existing four floors, another one - probably for use as office space - is to be built. For years, investors and the city's monument protection office have been negotiating for the building to be raised by three meters. A planned installation of underground parking spaces under the building and the replacement of a building in the hotel's inner courtyard were, however, undisputed. According to the renovation permit issued at the end of 2010, historical decorative elements that still exist in the interior must be preserved. Up to now largely unused attic spaces may be expanded. The addition of an additional floor was finally allowed, but must not change the current look of the building. It is assumed that the additional storey can be accommodated in the existing roof space, so there is no increase in the exterior of the building. Originally planned additional dormers may not be built into the roof. Some rooms - especially on the ground floor - are currently being rented to companies and restaurant operators.

References and comments

  1. ↑ according to Signpost through Warsaw. Brief guide through the city of Warsaw with special consideration of everything the German soldier, civil servant and traveler needs to know , Verlag der Deutschen Staatsdruckerei Warsaw, Warsaw 1913, p. 18 as well as an advertisement of the hotel on p. 7 of the advertising section
  2. ↑ according to Reinhold Vetter: Between Wisła / Vistula, Bug and Karpaty / Carpathians in: Poland. History, art and landscape of an old European cultural nation , DuMont Art Travel Guide, 3rd edition, DuMont Buchverlag, ISBN 3-7701-2023-X , Cologne 1991, p. 159
  3. ↑ Michał Tadeusz Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski (1893–1964) was a Polish general and the founder of the resistance movement supporter of the victory of Poland ("Służba Zwycięstwu Polski")
  4. ↑ a b according to Jerzy S. Majewski, Krakowskie Przedmieście 13 - hotel Europejski , Gazeta.pl from October 4, 2007 (in Polish)
  5. ↑ according to Information Polska architektura XIX wieku ( Memento of the original from March 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bordeux.net archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at Bordeux.net (in Polish)
  6. ↑ a b according to Tomasz Urzykowski, Hotel Europejski znów luksusowy i wyższy o trzy metry in Gazeta.pl on October 12, 2010 (in Polish)
  7. ↑ according to Information Reprywatyzacja - Hotel Europejski w Warszawie ( Memento of the original from January 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the Grocholski family (in Polish)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.grocholski.pl

See also

literature

  • Julius A. Chroscicki and Andrzej Rottermund: Architectural Atlas of Warsaw , 1st edition, Arkady, Warsaw 1978, p. 80

Web links

Commons : Hotel Europejski  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 14 ′ 30 ″  N , 21 ° 0 ′ 52 ″  E