The PKS station on 3 Maja Street in Gdansk, which is planned for demolition, may gain conservation protection. Although the matter is not a foregone conclusion, the Pomeranian Regional Monument Conservator has initiated proceedings to enter the building in the register of monuments. This is the result of a request from social activists and the petition "Let's save the PKS Station in Gdansk!".
A spark of hope has appeared that the PKS station in Gdansk, planned for demolition on 3 Maja Street, will gain protection. Just last year, the owner of the site, PB Górski, filed an application to demolish the building, built in the 1970s to a design by Bernard Coft. The reason: the investor plans a new development with a greened plaza at the site. One of the buildings would serve mainly as a travel service, while the other would house services, offices, hotel functions and apartments for rent. The project is being prepared by Studio Kwadrat.
conservator reacts
But in January, Pomeranian Regional Monument Conservator Dariusz Chmielewski began administrative proceedings to include the PKS station in the register of monuments. This does not mean, however, that the station will be added to the register; instead, the demolition application will be suspended until the matter is clarified.
It is in the public interest to protect valuable cultural assets for future generations. [...] It was therefore deemed in the public interest to consider strengthening conservation oversight and examining, as part of the administrative proceedings, whether or not the building qualifies for inclusion in the register of historical monuments , that is, whether the historical, artistic and scientific values of the building exist to a degree that justifies such protection
-reads the conservator's decision.
It is during these studies that it will become clear whether the station will become a monument. The conservator's decision is related to the application for entry in the register, which was submitted in December by the Association for the Protection of Postwar Architecture from Bydgoszcz. An online collection of signatures is also underway for the petition "Let's save the bus station in Gdansk!" which has been signed by more than 740 people.
The world knows hundreds of examples of successful revitalization of modernist buildings from the 1960s and 1970s. Gdansk should not go for the simplest option: bulldozer and emptiness. We call for a halt to the demolition and start the process of consultation and preparation of a concept for the revitalization of the facade and preservation of key architectural elements
-wrote Jędrzej Włodarczyk, author of the petition, in his justification.
Project of a new development at the site of the PKS station in Gdansk
© Studio Kwadrat
appeal for revitalization
It is the conservator's duty to take into account the residents' and experts' demand and examine the building for architectural values worth protecting. Especially since the Olivia Hall or the LOT building are already protected. I am surprised that the developer was not able to design a concept in which this building would be incorporated into the new development. The lump is very interesting, unfortunately the building has not been renovated for years. It would be good if more people recognized the qualities of this architecture
- says in an interview with A&B Jędrzej Włodarczyk, the author of the petition.
The decision to preserve the building divides Gdansk residents. Among those in favor of protecting the station is Prof. Jacek Friedrich, an art historian from the University of Gdansk.
This is really elegant architecture, reflecting the spirit of the time very well. Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer monuments of this type: in Gdansk, the slaughter of post-war modernism has been going on for more than a quarter of a century
- Prof. Friedrichpoints out.
He adds that it would be enough to clean the building of later impurities "to see that this simple, unpretentious architecture is already part of our cultural heritage today, which is finally worth protecting systematically."
