Hotel Polonia (Warsaw)

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The "Hotel Polonia Palace" after the renovation. To the left (veiled) the "Metropol"

The Hotel Polonia (also: Hotel Polonia Palace ) in Warsaw is a 5-star hotel of historical importance. In 1945 in particular, it played an important role as the seat of diplomatic missions in destroyed Warsaw. The building has been a listed building since July 1, 1965 (No. 762-A) and was extensively renovated at the beginning of the 2000s.

location

The hotel at Aleje Jerozolimskie 45 (formerly number 39) is located in Warsaw city ​​center near the intersection with Marszałkowska Street . Diagonally across the street is the Palace of Culture and around 400 meters from the Warsaw Central Station . Before the war, the hotel was initially facing the then Dworzec Wiedeński (German: Wiener Bahnhof) and, after its demolition in 1919, the Dworzec Główny (German: Hauptbahnhof), which also no longer existed .

history

The seven-storey hotel building was built on a plot of land that previously housed a cantor (exchange office) and the greenhouse of the Bracia Hoser company (German: Gebrüder Hoser ) converted from an iron foundry . Hotel construction began in 1909 and was completed in 1913. The architects were Józef Holewiński (responsible for spatial planning) and Juliusz Nagórski (facade and interior design). The client was Count Konstanty Przeździecki. The aim was to create a hotel that would surpass other luxury hotels in Warsaw in terms of comfort. Central heating, hot and cold tap water, electric clocks, and rotary telephones were provided in each room. A heated garage was kept in the rear ulica Nowogrodzka 38 for guests arriving by car. The hotel was to be modeled on the French grand hotels of the time. The facade was designed in the style of the Parisian Beaux-Arts architecture - early modernist with classical echoes. The mansard roof , which is rather unusual in Warsaw, also contributed to the Parisian appearance . In the magnificently designed interior, the ceilings and walls were kept in the Louis-seize style.

The opening took place on July 14, 1913. In a German Warsaw guide from 1913, the minimum room prices are given as 4 marks . In 1920 H. Kozieradzki became the owner of the hotel.

In 1924 the “Palais Dancing” restaurant (now Restauracja “Ludwikowska”) opened with a grand ball. The restaurant quickly became one of the most popular meeting places for Warsaw society. Actors, singers, visual artists, writers, business people and politicians met here. Jan Kiepura sang often . Regular guests of the time were Adolf Dymsza , Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński , Mieczysława Ćwikliska , Kornel Makuszyński , Maria Pawlikowska , Leon Schiller , Stefan Żeromski and Julian Tuwim .

In 1927 the painter Kazimir Malevich had his first international exhibition in Polonia. On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of this exhibition, the hotel organized another exhibition of Malevich's paintings in 2007. A conference room in the hotel was also named after the painter in 2009.

During the occupation in World War II , German officers stayed in the hotel. The Polonia is the only Warsaw hotel that was not damaged in World War II. It was able to reopen on April 13, 1945. In the 1940s it was the best hotel in the largely ruined city. Many embassies and other diplomatic missions stayed here temporarily. Most of the rooms were occupied by the US Embassy. In 1945 Dwight D. Eisenhower lived in the hotel, a large banquet was held in his honor, and the people of Warsaw cheered him on his arrival at the hotel. In addition to many other politicians, Charles de Gaulle also stayed here in the post-war period.

The hotel, expropriated after the war, was incorporated into the city's own hotel group Syrena (owner of the Saski , MDM and Metropol hotels , among others ). This company was sold by the city in 1997 to Wiener Bau Holding AG ( Ilbau holding company ) for $ 24 million. The sale was controversial. The new owner began a major renovation of the building in the early 2000s. Apart from the outer walls, not much has been preserved, which is why the hotel is one of the most modern hotels in town today. It now has 206 rooms and suites. The € 30 million renovation was completed in 2004. In 2005 the second reopening was celebrated with 500 invited guests.

Litigation

In 2006, the City of Warsaw removed ownership of the hotel from Syrena . This measure was the result of a restitution procedure initiated by the Grabinski family for the return of an approximately 800 square meter property on which half of the Hotel Metropol stands today. The Warsaw city government found that the sale of the Syrena Hotels in 1997 was illegal. The city insisted on a compensation payment from the Syrena Group to the heirs, the (current) Strabag subsidiary saw the city in the obligation to do so. The legal dispute is pending, so the unattractive post-war hotel “Metropol” cannot be demolished and replaced with a modern office building - just as the Syrena Group had planned.

See also

literature

  • Julius A. Chroscicki and Andrzej Rottermund, Architectural Atlas of Warsaw , 1st edition, Arkady, Warsaw 1978, p. 72

Web links

Commons : Hotel Polonia  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b c according to Joachim Barmwoldt, huge annoyance about the Polonia Palace at AHGZ Online from July 8, 2006
  2. ↑ Józef Holewiński (1878-1952) was a Polish architect
  3. ^ Juliusz Nagórski (1887-1943) was a Polish architect
  4. ^ From an advertisement for the Hotel Polonia-Palace in the magazine “Restaurator i Hotelarz Polski”, issue 9 from 1927
  5. ↑ Thus the cheapest rooms were as expensive as in the Europäische Hof and more expensive than in the Bristol , Englischer Hof and Brühl (3 Marks each), according to Signpost through Warsaw. Brief guide through the city of Warsaw with special consideration of everything that the German soldier, civil servant and traveler needs to know , Verlag der Deutschen Staatsdruckerei Warsaw, Warsaw 1913, p. 18
  6. ^ Adolf Dymsza (1900-1975) was a popular Polish comedian
  7. ↑ Mieczysława Ćwiklińska (1879-1972) was a Polish film and theater actress and singer
  8. ^ Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska, b. Kossak (1891-1945) was a Polish poet known as the "Queen of Lyric Poetry"
  9. ↑ a b according to Information on Polonia Palace Hotel History on the Syrena Group website (in English)
  10. ↑ according to an interview with the managing director of the Syrena Group Krzysztof Szadurski, Tradition and modernity ( Memento of the original from October 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.warsawfaces.pl 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. from 2010 (in English)
  11. ↑ according to Information sala in. Kazimierza Malewicza w hotelu “Polonia” Warszawa, May 29th, 2009 ( Memento of the original from January 27th, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been 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 Obieg.pl from June 3, 2009 (in Polish)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.obieg.pl

Coordinates: 52 ° 13 ′ 44.7 ″  N , 21 ° 0 ′ 37 ″  E