History

The railway station was built in 1838. It was originated by Piotr Steinkeller – a banker and industrialist, and by Count Henryk Łubieński – vice-president of the Bank of Poland Company “Warsaw-Vienna Railroad Society”. Work on the construction of the railway began in 1840 and was supervised by the chief engineer of the Bank of Poland, Stanisław Wysocki. Due to financial problems, the Society was quickly dissolved, and the construction of the railway was continued by the authorities of the Kingdom of Poland. To win the tsar’s support for the investment, the railroad was routed in such a way so as to include Skierniewice (from 1830, the tsar’s summer residence) and a separate line to Łowicz (from 1838, the tsar’s estate). The construction of the 307 km long section between Warsaw and the border of the Austrian partition in Maczki was divided into sections. The first one from Warsaw to Grodzisk was officially opened on 14 June 1845. In the same year, the section to Skierniewice was opened. The entire railroad was ready in April 1848.

The first building of the station in Skierniewice, the so-called the tsarist railway station was built as early as 1846 according to a design created by Adam Idźkowski. In a publication issued by the architect, the building was described as “Kafenhauz and restaurant at the railway station in Skierniewice next to the imperial garden”. It was erected at the edge of the palace park. When designing it, the architect used elements of Moorish architecture - as an important element of the tsarist residence building complex. It was a monumental, three-part building with the main hall on the axis. Its representative function was emphasized in the second storey of the northern elevation with a window crowned with a horseshoe-shaped pointed arch. Another such window, although a triple one, is placed in the southern elevation.

In 1870, the primate’s palace in Skierniewice became the property of Prince Aleksander Bariatyński. The station building was intended solely for the service of the tsar and his guests. A ballroom and a café were also opened in the building, befitting its official function.

In September 1884, a meeting of three emperors took place in Skierniewice – Alexander III, William I and Franz Joseph I. They held talks in the Skierniewice palace. On the second day of the meeting, a performance was staged in the main hall of the imperial station, prepared by actors from Warsaw who had come here on a special train together with officials and guests of the court.

For many years after the First World War, the first tsarist railway station was used as an orphanage and then as a school. It burned down in January 1945. The ruin was demolished. According to Professor Tadeusz Jaroszewski, “the tsarist station designed by Adam Idźkowski was one of the best examples of the oriental trend in the Polish architecture of the 19th century.”

The present-day railway station was built in 1874. It was situated several hundred metres to the west of the tsarist railway station. Its designer was Jan Heurich (father).

The building of the new station burned down in 1914, however, it was later rebuilt. It survived the Second World War. After the war, it was plastered from the outside, which changed the architectural character of the building. In 1954, the walls of the cash desk hall were decorated with socialist realist paintings in the sgraffito technique, designed by Mr. and Mrs. Mieszkowski (?). The paintings depict scenes from the Ursus tractor factory, work on the plan of Warsaw, harvesters at work and scenes from the construction of the railway, with the motif of a worker and a kolkhoznik. The scenes are accompanied by the following caption – Culture and Art - this is the greatest means of bringing nations closer together.

In 2003, the station building was thoroughly renovated. At that time, the plaster was removed from the brick elevations, which were cleaned and restored to their external appearance from the end of the 19th century.

Description

The building, erected in the 19th century, was situated on the north-eastern outskirts of the town - today in its centre. It is positioned to the south of the railway tracks, with its longer elevation parallel to the platforms. Built on a plan of an elongated rectangle (longer side approx. 160 m) with three avant-corpses in the northern, track-facing elevation. The southern elevation faces the spacious station square. In the longer elevations, there are 30 axes, in the western one - 2. In the eastern elevation, there are 5 axes on the ground floor and 6 on the first floor.

In line with the principles of the utilitarian architecture that were prevailing then, the building was erected in a style now referred to as brick or rundbogen (German: full arch). It is a modest, irregularly patterned architecture in which brick walls are articulated by rhythmically spaced openings topped with a full or segmented arch.

It was built from ceramic bricks, unplastered. The station building consists of three two-storey structures. The central one is five-axial and the side ones are three-axial. The structures are connected with one-storey, seven-axial pavilions. From the west, the two-storey building is also adjoined by a five-axial, one-storey pavilion. Three avant-corpses project out from the longer elevations in each of the higher structures. They are covered with steep four-hipped roofs with dormers and roof windows. The connectors are covered with gable roofs, in which dormers were inserted as well. The roofs are tiled. The elevations of the connectors are highlighted by high, rectangular window openings topped with full arches. Each of the openings is additionally emphasized by a narrow, brick frame. The elevations of the connectors are crowned with an under-eaves cornice. The window openings on the axis of each of the connectors are flanked by a pair of octagonal pillars, which extend above the crowning cornice and are topped with turrets, with a solid attic section with blendes in between. On the elevations of the western pavilion, however, the axis is not articulated in this way.

More lavish decorations are used on the elevations of the tall parts of the building. On the ground floor, there are high, rectangular window and door openings, topped with a full arch and separated with octagonal pillars. The pillars continue to run above the cornice crowning the first storey. In the surfaces between them, there are also rectangular window openings topped with full arches – single or bipartite ones. Above them, there is an arcaded frieze, above which, under the crowning cornice, there is a simplified frieze in the form of a crenelated parapet. The octagonal pillars, above the cornice, are topped with crenelated turrets, each covered with a little roof. On the axis of the building, there is a triple entrance arcade, emphasized with rusticated plasterwork.

The interior layout matches the architectural structure. The central, two-storey edifice contains the main hall of the station, serving as a through passage between the platforms and the station square. In the western wing, the interior is divided into small rooms and is used as an office. In the connector and in the two-storey structure to the east of the main hall, there are facilities for passengers. The interiors represent the Classicist style. The halls are connected by double arcades resting on pillars. The arches of the arcades and walls are topped with profiled cornices. In the connector, there is a ticket hall. The walls of the hall are divided into decorative panels by pilasters. Each of them has a grooved shaft and is topped with an Ionic head. The decorative panels are pierced with cash desk windows. Above them, there are mini paintings in the sgraffito technique produced in the 1950s. These are socialist realist genre scenes, preserved and restored during the renovation of the railway station in 2003.

The site is open to the public.

Compiled by Agnieszka Lorenc – Karczewska, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Łódź. 26 February 2018

Bibliography

• Record sheet, Railway station in Skierniewice, drawn up by Murawska E., 1991, Archives of the Voivodeship Monuments Protection Office in Łódź and the Archives of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Warsaw,
•  Paszke A., Jarczyński M., Koziarski S. M., 150 lat Drogi Żelaznej Warszawsko-Wiedeńskiej, 1995,
• Roguska J., Z dziejów kształtowania się masowej architektury utylitarnej. Dworce w Królestwie Polskim [in:] Architektura i Urbanistyka w krajobrazie historycznym Królestwa Polskiego 1815 -1914. Materials from the Scientific Session organized by the Association of the Monuments Protection Officers in Radziejowice, held between 6 and 8 May 1992.
•  Jaroszewski T. S., Od klasycyzmu do nowoczesności, Warszawa 1996.
•  Lipska - Szpunar M., Dworzec carski, http://www.skierniewice24.pl/index.php/poznaj/item/15-dworzec-carski-w-skierniewicach