It belongs to a group of similar buildings erected in place of railway facilities destroyed during World War I, along the former Warsaw-Vienna Railway, characterised by familiar form and symmetrical plan. The historicising form and decoration particularly reminiscent of Baroque expressed the quest and attempts at shaping the national style of then.

History

In 1840 the owner of the land of Guzów, Count Henryk Łubieński, undertook to erect a railway station along with necessary station buildings in Ruda Guzowska (currently Żyrardów) at the Warsaw-Vienna Railway constructed at his initiative. The building equipped with a waiting room, a ticket office and a room for officials was supposed to be erected for money borrowed from the Bank of Poland, where Łubieński served as a deputy chairman at that time. The construction of the railway station was completed in 1845 in the “Swiss” style, based on the design by Jan Jakub Gay, a constructor of multiple industrial facilities in factory settlement Żyrardów. However, the feature did not meet the requirements set by the Management Board of the railway, therefore Count Łubieński undertook to build it again from scratch. Unfortunately, he did not fulfil his obligations due to becoming subject of the legal proceedings and receiving a sentence for embezzlement. In the years 1872-1884, after the purchase of land by the company, a typical station building of the barracks type was erected in the so-called “brick style” as well as residential and hotel facilities and a water tower. The railway station was a single-storey building with a two-storey, three-axial central projection. It was considerably damaged during World War I in 1914, when the German troops were withdrawing. Its walls were used at the construction of the currently operating station (which can be seen in its body). It was a frequent technique used at rebuilding stations in the years 1918-1924 as part of the plan for the renovation of railway infrastructure after the wartime damage. The present station in Żyrardów was designed most probably by Romuald Miller in the first stage of these works, carried out in the years 1920-1922, in a style that was supposed to be “a visible sign of the Polish spirit.” It belonged to a type of larger railway stations with extended passenger service functions, similarly as the largest railway station along this line, namely in Grodzisk Mazowiecki. Next to it, a water tower was erected making use of a design used several times, also following the style inspired by the Baroque architecture. Most likely in the 1930s the station was extended by adding arcades with pavilions on the sides, underpasses under the tracks and a platform shelter. The shelter was demolished during the comprehensive refurbishment of the railway station in the years 2005-2007.

Description

The railway station is located in the centre of the town, on the northern side of the Warsaw - Łódź line’s railway tracks. It is a brick building, plastered, set on an elongated rectangular plan with projections on the axis of the longer façades, a centrally-located tower, low annexes on the shorter sides and arcaded links leading to side pavilions that were added later. A diversified body consists of cubic component parts of a different height, covered with steep roofs with a usable attic, with a large surface area and diverse forms. A two-storey, elongated central section is covered with a semi-gable roof with eyebrow windows from the north and south; its three-axial projections are covered with gable roofs, while single-storey, two-axial side sections feature three-sided two-tier roofs (the so-called Polish roofs). The adjacent lower parts with volute-shaped gables as well as elongated links are covered with gable roofs. The single-storey, western pavilion set on a rectangular floor plan, is covered with a hip roof, while the eastern pavilion on a square floor plan is covered with a tented roof. As recently as in the 1970s the roofs were clad with beaver tail roof tiles, which were later replaced with sheet metal. The symmetry and axiality of the building is emphasized by a turret located in the middle, gradually narrowing upwards, with a form similar to that in the railway station in Grodzisk Mazowiecki. However, it has a far more diversified shape of particular elements, with a quadrangular lower part with bow-shaped steep planes featuring oval dormers and double bulbous finial with a short spire. This element endowed the architecture with features of a public utility building. The form and lavish decoration of the site is reminiscent of the notion of the Baroque manor house of the nobility. The building is characterised by a rich repertoire of historicising elements synthesised in an innovative manner. What deserves attention is the tall, decorative gables of the projections, similar to those in the Pruszków railway station. They are two-planed, framed with volutes with a dynamic line, partitioned by entablature and Tuscan pilasters with a plinth and a sphere in the finial. Stone spheres also decorate the pedestals in front of the stairs leading to side entrances on the sides of the north projection and the preceding triple arcades. It features two massive and stocky columns with modernised Ionic capitals and is crowned with a balcony, whose balustrade, adorned with volutes on the sides, constitutes a wide, profiled string course of the building. Corners of the arcades and other parts of the building are highlighted by pronounced buttresses. Rectangular window openings on the first floor are adorned with profiled surrounds, while the windows on the ground floor are mostly placed in arcaded panels. The building also features oval windows and Diocletian windows - on the lintels. Arcades of the links are supported by distinctive bulbous columns. The eastern gallery with a cross vault leads to the building by stairs running towards the underpass. West arcades are built-up from the north and link the main body of the railway station with the former luggage office. The name of the station, written in Antiqua typical for the group of similar stations, can be seen on the projection on the side of the tracks and in extreme planes of the two-tier roof. The building represents a pass-through railway station type. In the main hall, a coffer vault is supported by four Ionic columns in the middle and by Tuscan Pilasters at the walls. Tile stoves have survived from the old fixtures and fittings.

The site is open to visitors.

Author of the note Małgorzata Laskowska-Adamowicz, National Institute of Cultural Heritage, Regional Branch in Warsaw. 13-02-2018

Bibliography

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