It was designed by Stefan Szyller, hailed as one of the most eminent Polish architects of the Historism era. The structure includes steel and reinforced concrete elements.

History

The building was constructed in the years 1899-1901, based on the winning design by Stefan Szyller in a closed competition for the management board of the Credit Union of Warsaw Industrialists It was located on a corner plot in place of the former buildings. The front building, hosting shops and the Credit Union headquarters, was linked on the south-west side with an older outbuilding at the rear of the plot, where apartments for the Credit Union employees were located. The construction works were carried out by an enterprise of Władysław Czosnowski; the carpentry works were performed by the Horn brothers company, stone work by Józef Norblin and stuccowork by Zbigniew Uranicki. Zygmunt Otto was an author of the group of sculptures crowning the corner of the building. In line with the canons of the era, the function and prestige of the bank’s headquarters were highlighted by the lavishness of architectural and sculptural decoration of the front façade and representational spaces. The lower section of the building was occupied by 7 two-storey shops and the corner main entrance led through the representational staircase to the banking section on the third floor. Management board rooms were located on the side of Złota Street, while a cash desk room with facilities, among others, a treasury, bookkeeping rooms and an archive were located on the side of Zgoda Street. The hall was partitioned by cast iron columns into three naves, with a taller central nave, illuminated from the top with side windows, with the light entering from the attic through skylights in the roof planes. Due to its location on the ground floor, the treasury was secured with iron reinforcement of the walls and reinforced concrete ceilings. Underneath it, the space for a canteen for the Credit Union employees was separated. In 1906 a brutal robbery took place in the building. In 1920 the Credit Union was transformed into the Bank of Polish Industrialists SA, which was liquidated in 1933. Later, the building housed a branch of the Municipal Savings Bank. In the interwar period, a neon with a slogan “Get rich, Poles” was installed on the corner of the front façade above the entrance, while the abbreviation “KKO” was placed on the parapet. The lower section of shop windows was also walled up. The building survived World War II with slight damage. During the renovation around 1945 several modifications in the layout of rooms were introduced, adapting them to office needs. Until 1997 the building was home to offices of trade unions. Modern renovations introduced subsequent changes, among others, in 1968 the residential outbuilding was redesigned. The painted, stucco, metal craftwork décor, wooden door joinery and a decorative fireplace were preserved mainly in the former bank section. Since 2000 the building has undergone thorough renovations and alterations carried out by a private owner. Between 2008 and 2010 the outbuilding and an adjacent part of the front building were demolished. They were replaced with a semi-circularly curved modern wing rising above the modified roof of the historic building and an atrium sharing with it a glass roof cover. Underground garages were placed under the building. The front façades regained their original appearance with shop windows of the ground floor. The window joinery was meticulously restored and the elements of the décor of the representational staircase were subject to conservation works.

Description

The historic building is located in a compact setting of the centre of the city, on an irregular plot in an obtuse corner of Złota and Zgoda streets. It is well exposed through being located on the axis of Jasna Street, at a small square at the intersection of four streets. The feature is made of brick, with original steel elements of the wall structure and new reinforced concrete ceilings. It has three storeys and a basement, currently hosting the garage. The Italian Renaissance décor with elements of Art Nouveau contains references to work and wealth. The front façade is three-storey, asymmetrical, fifteen-axial with three-axial faux projections (one of them forms the façade on the side of Złota Street). The entablature optically partitions the façades halfway along its height into two storeys articulated by composite pilasters and pairs of columns on the corner axis, reflecting the initial partition into commercial and bank sections. The two-storey lower section pilasters are rusticated and feature capitals decorated with cartouches. The walls are pierced by large rectangular shop windows. Above them, there are windows with decorative grillwork and a passage gate on the side of Zgoda Street. In the projections, the shop windows are partitioned by Tuscan pilasters and the windows on the upper floor - by decorative corbels. The main entrance is located in a rounded corner and features a semi-circular window at the top, crowned with a cartouche with a monogram of the bank over the keystone. Pilasters on the third floor feature a core decorated with panels, while those framing the projections are smooth and contain capitals with masks and pendants with laurel wraths and motifs of work tools. The arcaded windows on that storey are adorned with profiled arcades with a keystone resting on Tuscan pilasters as well as pairs of corbels of cornices under the windows. In the projections, the windows are clustered in groups of three and are crowned with decorative cartouches with plant motifs. The front façade is crowned with entablature with a corbel frieze, above which there is a masonry balustrade parapet with vases on edge plinths in particular sections of the projections and an Art Nouveau parapet made of sheet metal. The corner is accentuated by a group of allegorical sculptures “Work and Frugality”, located over the full parapet. What draws attention in the redesigned interiors of the building is the preserved and renovated décor of the vestibule and representational staircase with stucco decorations and two painted plafonds performed by Bronisław Wiśniewski as well as a wrought balustrade with candelabra initially powered by coal gas, signed by K. Siarkiewicz, similarly as the decorative grillwork on the main door.

The structure can be viewed from the outside.

Compiled by Małgorzata Laskowska-Adamowicz, National Institute of Cultural Heritage, Regional Branch in Warsaw. 26.04.2018

Bibliography

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