The complex comprises a railway station and a number of administrative, residential and technical buildings erected between the end of the 19th century and the 1920s.

History

The railway station in Dęblin was built at the junction of important railway routes, at the intersection of Vistula River Railroad with the Dęblin-Dąbrowa Railroad and the railroad leading to Łuków. In addition to its essential role in passenger and goods transport, the Vistula River Railroad was important strategically, because it connected the Modlin Fortress and the Dęblin (Ivangorod) Fortress - Russian fortresses in the Kingdom of Poland - with the fortresses of Volhynia.

The complex of railway buildings was constructed in several stages. In 1896, the first two-storey multi-family houses were erected (no. 5 and 7 Dworcowa Street), and in 1900 – a brick railway station and a residential-administrative building called Belvedere (no. 16 Kolejowa Street). In 1920, a water tower was built. Between 1921 and 1926, four wooden multi-family villas were built, three of which still exist today: no. 1, 3 and 13 Dworcowa Street. In 1923, another building was built for residential, administrative and healthcare purposes (no. 11 Dworcowa Street) and three brick multi-family villas (no. 15, 17 and 23 Dworcowa Street). In 1924, a large wooden station building was added to the existing railway station, with comfortable rooms for purposes of passenger service.

In 2003-2005, a general renovation of the railway station was carried out. The two buildings were joined together then. As a result, the layout and original function of the interiors were significantly altered, and so was the arrangement of some of the entrance openings (e.g. the entrance in the platform-facing elevation through which passengers had entered the brick building no longer exists, as it was replaced by an entrance in the new vestibule adjoining the gable wall).

Description

The complex of the railway buildings is located almost entirely to the south-west of the railway track, along Dworcowa (Railway Station) Street.

The railway station consists of two buildings adjoining each other with their gable walls – the older is a brick building and the newer one is made of timber. The brick building was erected on a rectangular floor plan with two vestibules. It is a two-storey, cellared building. The brick-and-plaster building is topped with a gable roof covered with sheet metal. The outer walls facing the street and the platform have a similar structure - they are four-axial, two-storey, divided by frames and lesenes. The storeys are separated by spaced cordon cornices with decorative panels in between. Under the eaves, there is a profiled crowning cornice. The window openings are topped with a semi-circular arch, surmounted at the top by surrounds with keystones. 

The wooden building follows a long rectangular floor plan (approx. 50 m) and has one storey. Built as a skeleton structure, the building is plastered inside, whereas its outside walls are covered with timber boards. The building is topped with a gable roof with two huge dormer windows illuminating the interior with natural light. They are covered with mansard roofs. The elevations are covered with decorative formwork. Originally, the interior was one-bay in its central part (with a spacious ticket hall, bar and a waiting room), however, it was completely transformed during the last refurbishment. Inside, there are preserved carved ceiling decorations and wooden poles in the former waiting room.

The residential-administrative building, the so-called Belvedere (no. 16 Kolejowa Street) built on a two-section floor plan, consisting of the main section with a residential attic, covered with a half-hipped roof and a perpendicular, one-storey wing under a gable roof. The walls are made of red brick and the roofs are tiled. The elevations are embellished with plastered panels. Between the wings, there is the main entrance preceded by a two-section arcade supported by a column.

The residential-administrative building (no. 11 Dworcowa Street) located opposite the railway station has two storeys and was built on a rectangular floor plan. The building was subsequently enlarged, with two annexes having been added. It is a brick-and-plaster building with a hipped roof. The five-axial façade has two storeys separated by a pronounced cordon cornice. In the middle, there is an open vestibule in a semi-circular arcade supported by columns. On the sides, there are blind arcades with rectangular windows. The outermost window openings are wide, sectionally closed on the ground floor.

Multi-family houses (no. 5 and 7 Dworcowa Street). These are two identical buildings – two-storey, erected on a rectangular floor plan, two-bay. These brick-and-plaster buildings have gable roofs. The façades are eight-axial and have two avant-corpses with triangular gables accommodating the staircases. Each of the rear elevations has one avant-corps on the axis. All elevations are delicately articulated with frames and lesenes.

Villa-type multi-family houses (no. 1, 3, 13 Dworcowa Street). Wooden, one-storey, with a habitable attic: no. 1 and 3 - covered with hipped roofs with dormer windows; no. 13 - with a more varied shape, covered with a mansard roof, with wide dormer windows reminiscent of the railway station building, with vestibules in the side elevations. Over the vestibules, there are verandas.

Villa-type multi-family houses (no. 15, 17, 23 Dworcowa Street), erected according to same design, representing the “national style”. Two-storey, with habitable attics. Made of bricks and plastered, covered with mansard roofs, with dormer windows. The front elevations (partially remodelled) are five-axial and have a three-axial, three-storey central part, surmounted on the ground floor with sloping buttresses that turn into lesenes. On the ground floor, there is an open vestibule with a balcony. The outermost sections are uniaxial, originally with open loggias on both floors (built-up on the ground floor). The upper ones are flanked by Tuscan columns. The central avant-corps in building no. 23 is topped with the preserved original stepped gable with spheres.

The water tower was erected on an octagonal, two-section floor plan. The lower section is high and tapers slightly upwards. It supports the overhanging tank covered with a pyramidal, stepped roof with a spire on top.

Metal water crane (from 1942) situated next to the railway depot.

Access to the site is limited.

compiled by Bożena Stanek-Lebioda, National Institute of Cultural Heritage, Branch Office in Lublin, 10 October 2017

Bibliography

• Record sheets (1-12): Railway station, residential buildings, administrative buildings, water tower. Dęblin, compiled by Stanek-Lebioda B., 1993, Archives of the Voivodeship Office for the Protection of Historic Monuments in Lublin and Archives of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Warsaw.
• Kurzyp K., Dęblin. Szkice z dziejów miejscowości i okolicy, Dęblin 1994, pp. 77-83.
• Zabytki architektury i budownictwa w Polsce, vol. 22: Województwo lubelskie, Warsaw 1995, p. 54.