Hotel MDM
The MDM Hotel, built after the Second World War , is located in Warsaw . It is part of the Marszałkowska Dzielnica Mieszkaniowa residential area (MDM), which is part of the city's inner city district (Śródmieście Południowe). With its location at the front of the busy Plac Konstytucji , it forms a central vanishing point of the Ulica Marszałkowska, which runs from north to south . The 3-star hotel is now operated by a private hotel group.
location
The building at Plac Konstytucji 1 is the southern middle end of the Plac Konstytucji, which was re-routed after the war . It is at the same time the northern wing of a building block that extends along the southern continuation of Marszałkowska and Ulica Waryńskiego from here . The MDM Hotel is not right in the middle of the Marszałkowska extension . The eastward part of this street is designed as a one-way street from Plac Unii Lubelskiej to Plac Konstytucji . The busy Waryńskiego runs west of the hotel . Right in front of the hotel is the counter-clockwise rotating roundabout of Plac Konstytucji .
history
The Hotel MDM is an integral part of the MDM district. It was built as part of the first construction phase (MDM I) of this district. Just like the adjacent and neighboring buildings, the design came from the specially founded “MDM” workshop of an architects' working group under the direction of Józef Sigalin . Other important architects were Stanisław Jankowski , Jan Knothe and Zygmunt Stępiński . Construction began on August 1, 1950, and the ensemble was completed on July 22, 1952.
The original planning by the architects envisaged the construction of a high-rise building on the site of the hotel, which should dominate the entire square. A follow-up plan provided for the construction of this high-rise in an area further south. The realization of this project (by Jan Knothe) would have led to the demolition of the Church of the Redeemer on the nearby Plac Zbawiciela . In the end, both plans were not implemented, today's hotel building was built on the south side of the square, and the Church of the Redeemer, which was damaged in the war, was renovated.
The neon sign “Podróżuj Lotem” ( LOT fly ) was on the roof of the building for several decades . In Andrzej Wajda's film “Niewinni Czarodzieje” ( Innocent Witcher ) from the 1960s, this advertisement can be seen above the hotel in the first scene. In the hotel there was the popular dance club “Pod Kandelabrami” ( Under the Candelabra ), which referred to three huge street lamps in front of the hotel.
Even before the political change in Poland, the MDM hotel was incorporated into the city's own hotel group Syrena (owner of the Saski , Hotel Polonia and Metropol hotels ). This company was sold in 1997 by the city of Warsaw to Wiener Bau Holding AG ( Ilbau holding company ) for $ 24 million. The sale was controversial. The Syrena Immobilien Holding AG , owner of Hotele Warszawskie "Syrena" Sp. Z oo , is now part of Strabag SE . In the 2000s, the Hotel MDM was completely renovated and refurbished.
Architecture and equipment
The height of the seven-story hotel corresponds to that of the surrounding buildings. Like the entire MDM district, the facade is in the style of Socialist Realism . The hotel seems to rest on a two-storey (later walled up) archway. In fact, it is only located on the east front, from there it continues in the block wing extending on Marszałkowska . The facade with its cornices and pilaster strips is structured according to the classical model. The flat roof is surrounded by an attic with a cornice. On the side of the building there are around 4 meter high monumental sculptures depicting workers.
After modernization, the hotel now contains 137 rooms and 5 suites. There is also a meeting room and four conference rooms for up to 390 participants. The restaurant “La cucina Italiana” and the “Upstairs Bar & Bistro” offer a view of Plac Konstytucji . The hotel is a member of the Worldhotels AG association , which unites around 450 hotels in 65 countries.
On the ground floor of the building, catering facilities (“U Szwejka”, “Green Café”) and a travel agency have been set up to the right and left of the hotel entrance.
References and comments
- ^ Advertisement for the Polish version of the Strictly Come Dancing dance competition on TVN
- ↑ Presumably this high-rise was also intended to cover the sight of the church tower on Plac Zbawiciela , which was undesirable in socialist urban planning at the time
- ↑ according to Mateusz Szczepaniak, Marszałkowska Dzielnica Mieszkaniowa - seria I and II ( Memento of the original from January 7, 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. at Nasza Stolica on November 5, 2010 (in Polish)
- ↑ Since the fall of the Wall, the lettering installed there has changed frequently
- ↑ according to Jerzy S. Majewski, Propagandowy MDM, June 2, 2008 (in Polish)
- ↑ according to Information pl. Konstytucji ( Memento of the original dated February 3, 2016 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. at Ulica Twojego Miasta (in Polish)
- ↑ according to Article Prywatyzacja never wyszła? ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at Gazeta.pl on February 9, 2005
- ↑ according to Information about the Hotel MDM ( Memento of the original from November 18, 2011 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 Worldhotels AG website
See also
literature
- Jerzy S. Majewski, Spacerownik. Warszawa Sladami PRL-u, Books of Walks. Landmarks of People's Poland in Warsaw , from the series: Biblioteka Gazety Wyborczej , Agora SA, ISBN 978-83-932220-0-1 , Warsaw 2010, p. 48 ff. (In Polish and English)
- Maria Wojtysiak (Conc.), Monika Kapa-Cichocka (Red.), MDM-KMA-Warsaw-Berlin. The Architectural Legacy of Real Socialism in Warsaw and Berlin , Dom Spotkan z Historią, ISBN 978-83-62020-39-3 , Warsaw 2011
Web links
Coordinates: 52 ° 13 ′ 17.1 ″ N , 21 ° 0 ′ 59.3 ″ E