Kronenberg Palace Warsaw

Kronenberg Palace at the end of the 19th century

The Kronenberg Palace was a residence of the Warsaw banker Leopold Stanisław Kronenberg . It was built at the end of the 1860s based on a design by Friedrich Hitzig and demolished almost 100 years later. The palace was located on what was then Evangelical Square (today Małachowski Square) across from the Evangelical Trinity Church .

history

In 1867 the Warsaw banker Leopold Stanisław Kronenberg bought property no. 1348 on what was then Evangelical Square; the following year he acquired part of the neighboring property No. 1076. Kronenberg commissioned the Berlin architect Friedrich Hitzig to prepare a design. The construction work was carried out from 1868 to 1871.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a tenement house designed by the architect Jan Fryderyk Heurich was added to the southern fire wall.

The building was hit by an incendiary bomb in September 1939 and fell victim to the flames. Thanks to the solid quality, the walls survived the war in good condition. The reconstruction was possible, but the ruins were torn down as remnants of capitalism in 1961/1962.

The Victoria Hotel was built on the property from 1974 to 1976 .

architecture

The palace with two upper floors and a high mansard roof faced the square with its main facade . In the middle of this facade was a loggia with three arcades , supported by two pairs of Corinthian columns and crowned by a triangular pediment . The facade was flanked by three-axis risalits . In the middle of the building was the main staircase with a glass ceiling. The owner's living quarters and reception rooms were located on the first floor, the sons' apartments and guest rooms on the second floor.

A warm air heating system and a luminous gas system were located in the basement. A carriage hall, service apartments and a stable were built in the courtyard.

The sculptural decoration of the facades was created by the Warsaw sculptor Leonard Marconi : the gable figures and four caryatids below the loggia.