The renovation of the façade of the former administrative building of the power station in Powiśle, Wybrzeże Kościuszkowskie 41, corner of Tamka Street, took less than a year. Most of the worn sandstone cladding, much of which dates back to before the war, was removed from the façade. The modernist edifice is now the headquarters of E.ON Polska, which carried out the modernisation on the basis of designs and recommendations by the Mazovian Regional Monuments Conservator.
Modernisation work on the building at the intersection of Tamka Street and Wybrzeza Kościuszkowskiego in Warsaw began on 31 May 2023 and was completed at the end of March this year. E.ON Polska decided to carry them out based on the current state of the façade. Due to the natural deterioration of the building and repeated devastation, it was decided to carry out extensive works. Their aim was to restore the original, pre-war character of the building’s stone façade.
The modernist building before renovation. Photo: Krysiul, CC BY-SA 3.0 PL, via Wikimedia Commons
Electricity appeared in Warsaw at the end of the 19th century. With time, the idea of electrification gained momentum. As a result, in 1904 the first central Warsaw power station, also known as the city power station, was opened in Powisle. The location was chosen for its proximity to water in the Vistula River flowing nearby and its close proximity to the city centre. It was not long before residents were able to stroll through the illuminated streets. First, the city centre – the most representative district of Warsaw – lit up. The Warsaw of the interwar period needed more and more energy, so the power station was expanded. In 1937, it came under the administration of the City of Warsaw. At that time, as part of the creation of the so-called monumental Warsaw, the construction of the power station’s administrative headquarters began.
The impressive edifice was built in 1937-39 in the functionalist style, based on a design by Czesław Jabłoński and Józef Korszyński. The building was equipped with high-speed lifts, its own telephone exchange and a representative, spacious, five-storey atrium with square pillars lined with dark marble with white veining. Further plans to develop the power station were interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, and it played a significant role during the defence of Warsaw. In 1939 it came under artillery fire from the German army. After the capitulation of Warsaw, the Germans took over supervision of the facility, but they retained the Polish management of the power station.
The building was also to be one of the most important strategic points during the Warsaw Uprising. The insurgents managed to keep the power station in their hands until 4 September 1944. After the end of hostilities, the power station was rebuilt and restarted. As early as 25 September 1945, it began supplying power to the city once again. Despite its location at a point where fighting was intense, the building was not seriously damaged. Traces of those events, in the form of gunshots, can still be observed on the façade of the building.
Due to its architectural and historical value, it was entered in the register of historical monuments. After the war, it became the headquarters of an energy company, and today it is the headquarters of a company involved in the distribution of electricity in Warsaw. The year 2017 gave rise to a project to revitalise the power station, which, under the name Elektrownia Powiśle, has become a new tourist attraction on the map of the capital.
The building that houses E.ON Polska’s headquarters has the status of a historical monument, so the Mazovian Provincial Conservator of Monuments was asked for conservation recommendations before the work began. Based on these, a project of works was created, which was approved by the conservator, and permission for modernisation was also granted by the Warszawa Śródmieście District Office. The course of the works during implementation was controlled by MWKZ. On a day-to-day basis, supervision of the work was also provided by the project team – a building inspector and a person in charge of the conservation work. These people, employed by E.ON Polska, worked on the basis of the designs and recommendations of MWKZ.
As part of the modernisation work, the stone facade panels were replaced with new ones, treated and prepared in accordance with the original 80-year-old technique. This was an absolute requirement for the start of the work set by the conservator. The stone was given the right texture by hand, using a method and tools identical to the original, taking into account all technical guidelines. The stone needed for the modernisation work was sourced from the same quarry as the original, in the pre-war period.
Together with the Mazovian Provincial Conservator of Monuments, a formula was also agreed to honour the people and history associated with the site. A fragment of the stone façade with visible traces of wartime shelling was designated, which was secured and preserved in its original form. On the Tamka Street side, the memorial plaque and memorial monument were restored along with part of the existing original façade. The modernist edifice now looks as it did in its glory years, but the historical fragment is a reminder of its past.
Source: E.ON Poland
Read also: Architecture in Poland | Elevation | Metamorphosis | Modernism | Warsaw
