Warsaw Central Station, Warsaw, Poland


Related person
Eric Haddenham (was created by)
Description
The Warsaw Central Train Station, or Warszawa Centralna, was constructed as a flagship project of the Polish People's Republic_access during the economic boom fueled in the 1970s by Western loans. It was to replace the inadequate Warsaw Główna. The station encountered substantial problems from the very beginning, however, and soon became a white elephant. The station's design was innovative but was altered many times during construction, adversely affecting the quality of the construction work and the station's functionality. Also, for propaganda reasons, it was decided to complete the station hastily so that it would be ready for Leonid Brezhnev's 1975 visit to Warsaw. This haste further degraded the quality of the construction, necessitating immediate repairs, which continued through the 1980s. Nevertheless the structure was advanced for its time and incorporated such things as automatic doors and escalators. Since the mid-1980s, Warsaw Centralna has been in decline. The Warsaw city government is contemplating demolishing the station and replacing it with a new one, either at the same location or farther from the city center. Tentative plans are to demolish the present station in 2014 and replace it in the same location by 2018. Before then, in 2010-2011 the station will receive a cosmetic upgrade in time for the Euro 2012 championships
Style/Period
1970s (1970 - 1979)
Brutalist
Material
concrete
Source
Warsaw Life (2011, November 8th). From the website http://www.warsaw-life.com/services/services_details/355-Warszawa_Centralna