New life is beginning for the until recently abandoned House of Books in the center of Poznań. The modernist "plomba" has been restored and expanded. Offices have been turned into interesting apartments for rent. A bookstore opens on the first floor, as it used to. There is a restaurant, a wine bar and a meeting place.
Poznan's "House of Books" opened on December 5, 1975, three days before the start of the Seventh Congress of the Polish United Workers' Party (the same day the Central Station in Warsaw was opened). It was the last modernist "plomba" in the pre-war buildings on the former Gwarny Square.
House of Books in Poznań, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975); reconstruction design by Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski) view of the front and corner elevations of the building from the early 20th century
photo: Jakub Głaz
Since 1955, the modern dominant feature at this point in the downtown was the free-standing Okrąglak, an iconic department store designed by the famous Marek Leykam. Patching the post-war gaps in the neighboring frontages came a little later. The 1960s saw the construction of the highly successful Roxana fashion house (later "Domar") by Kazimierz Waniorek. In the early 1970s - supersam (later delicatessen) "Kasia" with Społem office building.
Dom Książki in Poznań, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975); reconstruction design by Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski) space in front of Dom Książki (former Gwarna Square), on the left - Okrąglak, on the right frontage of 27 Grudnia Street with former "Domar" and Społem office building ( in the background).
photo: Jakub Glaz
House of Books in Poznan, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975); reconstruction design by Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski) view from 27 Grudnia Street, on the left former Domar (Roxana fashion house), on the right - Okrąglak
photo: Jakub Głaz
Finally, the axis of the important downtown street 27 Grudnia was closed from the west by a seven-story Book House designed by Bogdan Bednarek and Zygmunt Lomski. It occupied the plot left by a two-story remnant of a tenement destroyed in 1945. The building acquired a simple modernist form with a deep arcade and a front elevation with six bands of windows lined with bright ceramic tiles.
House of Books in Poznań, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975); reconstruction design by Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski)
photo: Jakub Glaz
House of Books in Poznań, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975); reconstruction design by Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski),
arcade along Gwarna Street
photo: Jakub Głaz
The facade was also enlivened with irregularly placed coffers with the word "books" in five languages. The arcade included a spacious one-story pavilion extending into the courtyard beyond the outline of the main body of the roof. The whole was topped by a neon sign composed of letters almost three meters high. The layout and tectonics of the facade were considered by architect and architectural historian Prof. Piotr Marciniak as a
a belated reminiscence of Le Corbusier's pre-war designs for the Porte Molitor building (according to "Experiences of Modernism. Architecture and urban planning of Poznań during the communist era").
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House of Books in Poznań, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975); reconstruction design by Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski),
view from Mielżyńskiego street
photo: Jakub Głaz
three floors of literature
The first floor and two subsequent floors were occupied by an extensive bookstore (600 sq. m.), later besieged by customers until the 1990s. Higher up were located the offices of the nationwide Book Trade Headquarters Dom Książki (the Poznan facility was part of it). On the top floor, as Głos Wielkopolski reported on the day of the opening, there was a
bookseller's club, which will host meetings, lectures and exhibitions.
The first exhibition presented 25 years of activity of the "House of Books" in Poznan.
From the 1990s, the bookstore's popularity waned, and the building began to decline. The facade was disfigured by chaotic advertisements and banners. A tall cell phone antenna haunted the roof. The coffers were dismantled, the neon sign stopped shining. In 2014 the truncated bookstore was closed and - after years of unsuccessful attempts - the building was sold to a private investor (unofficially for PLN 6 million). The new owner planned an office function, even had a building permit, but the intentions ended.
House of Books in Poznań, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975); reconstruction design by Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski),
status as of spring 2023
photo: Jakub Głaz
In 2022, the House of Books was bought back by Constructa Plus, a Poznan-based real estate development company, which has already made a name for downtown Poznan once by restoring - after a building disaster - the exterior form of the eclectic "iron" tenement at the junction of Ogrodowa and Krysiewicza Streets. Constructy Plus co-owner Joanna Janowicz announced the renovation and expansion of the building according to a new design, the conversion of office space into full-size apartments, and activities related to the building's history and gastronomy in the first floor.
House of Books in Poznań, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975); reconstruction design by Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski),
An arcade on Gwarna Street with a café and bookstore garden
photo: Jakub Głaz
And so it happened. The first floor will open on June 1 with the premises of Bookowski, a respected Poznan bookstore, and the connected restaurant Page, run by the owners of Constructa Plus. The basement houses a wine bar and a small stage - a place designed for meetings and discussions. The floors are divided into 40 apartments: one- and two-bedroom apartments. The first ones are about 25 sq. m., while the second ones are about 40 sq. m. After analyzing market expectations, the developer abandoned the originally planned three-room units. The apartments have one-sided light: from the front (east, 27 Grudnia Street, with a view of Okrąglak) or the backyard (west and south). The "courtyard" units have balconies or loggias.
House of Books in Poznań, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975); reconstruction design by Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski)
view from the top floor apartment, Okrąglak in the middle, Mielżyńskiego Street on the left, 27 Grudnia Street on the right, in front of Okrąglak you can see work on backfilling the external basement
photo: Jakub Glaz
House of Books in Poznań, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975); reconstruction design by Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski),
New wing added over one-story pavilion in courtyard
photo: Jakub Głaz
no longer an ad hanger
The investors entrusted the design work to Piotr Marciniak, quoted here a moment ago (and the Litoborski+Marciniak studio, which he was still co-leading at the time). Two years after the announcement, we can see the results of the work of the designer and his team. From the front, the building (listed in the provincial register of monuments) looks almost identical to the one in 1975. The facade retains a cleaned ceramic cladding of glazed ceramic tiles (so-called "przyborski"), complemented by custom-created elements.
House of Books in Poznań, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975); reconstruction design by Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski),
Facade lined with glazed tiles, with restored coffers
Photo: Jakub Głaz
The one-story pavilion has, as before, walls finished with characteristic washed plaster. The individually designed muntins of the first floor's window divisions allude to the steel original. The neon sign on the roof was recreated by Piotr Heinze, well-known in Poznań, owner of Reklama, the company that created the first sign half a century ago (it is now made up of two rather than three rows of neon tubes). Gone are the ugly telephone masts. They are now lower and stand on the roof on the courtyard side, invisible from the front. The restored letter coffers on the facade look identical to the original. Instead, the window bands have undergone a slight change. They have the same divisions, but the dark color of the slightly forward vertical divisions (which gave the window strips some lightness and spatial expression), visible in the 1975 photograph and present until before the reconstruction, has disappeared.
House of Books in Poznań, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975); reconstruction design by Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski),
washed plaster and window divisions referring to the original on the first floor elevation
Photo: Jakub Głaz
A diametrical change has taken place in the courtyard instead. A one-story pavilion (which had previously been demolished and reconstructed) was added here by five residential floors. The new wing thus created is adjacent to the former communication riser. The windows here have the same shapes, but do not form bands. There are also balconies and loggias (at the front they could not be created to preserve the shape of the facade). Instead, there are no apartments on the sixth floor, but there is a spacious greened terrace for all residents, especially those who will not have balconies. It offers a view of the center and the nearby Imperial Castle.
House of Books in Poznań, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975);
reconstruction proj. Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski)
photo: Jakub Glaz
House of Books in Poznań, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975);
reconstruction proj. Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski) new wing added over first floor pavilion in courtyard
photo: Jakub Glaz
new life of the courtyard
Contrary to fears, the new segment has not overwhelmed the irregular courtyard surrounded by outbuildings of neighboring tenements. It is still quite bright, and the new green arrangement has raised the quality of this space. On the blind wall of a neighboring tenement, a neat, abstract mural was created - on the initiative of Constructa - the form of which was selected in a student competition. In the rented first floor of one of the outbuildings, the investor intends to open a bakery, and in the premises next door - a bicycle shop.
House of Books in Poznań, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975); reconstruction design by Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski),
courtyard, left - first floor of new wing with restaurant, opposite - tenement with new mural
photo: Jakub Glaz
House of Books in Poznań, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975); reconstruction design by Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski),
mural on neighboring tenement in the courtyard
Photo: Jakub Głaz
Piotr Marciniak summarizes the work on the building:
It was a very interesting, but also challenging project. The problem was the lack of complete documentation and surprises during the survey and remodeling work. Contrary to modernist doctrine, the construction and workmanship of the building were quite traditional, and, as was common at the time, not very careful. It was also difficult to find a contractor willing to restore the missing façade tiles. No one produces such anymore. It's also hard to find specialists in traditional washed plaster. Another challenge was to place contemporary installations in the building in such a way that they did not disfigure the roof and facade. Huge problems were posed by the ironwork and woodwork. Recreating its forms was not easy while maintaining contemporary standards and requirements.
House of Books in Poznań, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975); reconstruction design by Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski),
Tenements in the courtyard, on the left a fragment of the first floor of the Book House
photo: Jakub Glaz
House of Books in Poznań, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975); reconstruction design by Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski),
view from the courtyard towards 27 Grudnia St., on the right the entrance to the residential section
photo: Jakub Głaz
wild boar and terrazzo
Few of the original solutions have been preserved in the interiors, but they have been supplemented with arrangements and furnishings with a modernist character. On the first floor, the original irregular stone floor, typical of the 1960s and 1970s, the so-called wild boar, catches the eye. It was also possible to preserve the terrazzo flights of stairs. However, the destroyed landings on the floors have been made anew in a combined technique, combining terrazzo and wild boar very neatly.
House of Books in Poznań, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975); reconstruction design by Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski),
one of the apartments, interior design by Ego-Studio
photo courtesy of ©Constructa Plus
In addition, the contemporary interior design is the work of two studios. The common spaces and first floor were designed by Oyka design studio. The interior of the apartments is the work of Ego-Studio by Ewa Gawronska-Olejniczak. And so - in addition to terrazzo, the corridors are finished with, among other things, chechotte cladding and fine tiles. The interior of the restaurant loosely refers to the 1960s and 1970s (including a characteristic lamp in the convention of the later decade). The décor of the basement harmonizes equally casually with the "infernos" designed in the 1970s , i.e. basement drink bars with a dance floor connected to hotel dining rooms. The very functionally designed apartments were furnished with, among other things, furniture from the era or referring to it. Equipped with almost everything needed, they are suitable for immediate occupancy.
House of Books in Poznań, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975); reconstruction design by Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski),
interior design by Ego-Studio
photo courtesy of ©Constructa Plus
it couldn't have been better
The renovation, adaptation and reuse of the Book House should be rated highly. One: a degraded and abandoned building in the center has gained a second life of good quality. Two: it was possible to preserve and emphasize the qualities of modernist architecture (including typical workmanship imperfections, which only emphasizes the authenticity of the building).
House of Books in Poznań, Gwarna Street - designed by Bogdan Bednarek, Zygmunt Łomski (1975); reconstruction design by Piotr Marciniak (Marciniak+Litoborski),
view from the sidewalk of Gwarna Street, next to which a courthouse arcade is being renovated
Photo: Jakub Głaz
Three: important for revitalizing the center is the residential function, and not in the form of micro-wallets, but normal small apartments. Fourth, high hopes are raised for the first floor with a restaurant, a meeting place, a friendly arcade and a restored bookstore (a very difficult business today). Restoring the genius loci of the place is as important as the renewal of the architecture.
Gwarna Street in Poznan - view toward the south (House of Books on the right, out of frame)
Photo: Jakub Głaz
Let's hope, then, that the House of Books will begin a successful transformation of Gwarna Street, which gained the least during the recent and positive transformation of downtown streets (Projekt Centrum) and - despite the renovation - looks rather substandard.
