The former buildings of Gymnasium No. 43 and IX Lyceum named after Klementyna Hoffmanowa in Warsaw in the register of monuments! After a long struggle, the modernist quarter at 29-31 Emilia Plater Street, where the Komuna Warszawa Theater has been operating for several years, will be preserved, although skyscrapers could have been built in its place. With the protection of the modernist monument, however, Warsaw has gained much more - the prospect of further development of an extremely valuable initiative that animates and colors cultural life in the capital.
A skyscraper could be built on the site of two modernist schools at 29-31 Emilia Plater Street. The fate of the buildings was fought over by Warsaw's artistic circles and social organizations, led by the Bęc Zmiana Foundation and the Komuna Warszawa Theater, which has its headquarters in one of them. A light in the tulen came on when the former educational facilities were entered in the Municipal Register of Historic Places. As numerous examples show, such a form of protection is definitely not enough, which is why Marcin Dawidowicz, the Mazovian Voivodeship Historic Preservation Officer, put the "dot over the i" - the modernist school buildings on Emilia Plater Street in Warsaw were entered in the Register of Historic Monuments!
Modernist schools on Emilia Plater Street in Warsaw entered in the register of monuments!
Grzegorz Laszuk, artistic director of the Komuna Warszawa theater, which leases one of the school buildings from the city, was the first to announce the entry of the schools on Emilia Plater Street in the register of monuments:
These are the excerpts from the justification for the entry of the former gymnasium No. 43 and Hoffmanowa High School into the register of monuments:
The appearance of the building was influenced by clearly defined design assumptions, which responded to the needs of the residents: the area of the former pomological garden is to be a green reserve for the residents of Downtown. (...) The artistic value of the ensemble is evidenced by the functionally refined, as well as aesthetically innovative composition of the ensemble. (...) it is also a carrier of scientific values. It is a valuable source of knowledge about the urban concepts implemented in the Warsaw Downtown area. (...) At the same time, it is a testimony to educational construction in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including in particular the nationwide campaign to build the so-called "thousand-schools
Modernist checkerboard on Emilia Plater Street
The 1961 school buildings were designed by Jerzy Baumiller and Jan Zdanowicz at 29-31 Emilia Plater Street on the site of the former Pomological Garden, destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising. This was not their only joint project - the duo also created a school at 111 Staffa Street and multi-family buildings at Niemcewicza and Czerniakowska Streets, all in Warsaw. The latter, incidentally, won the title of Mister Warsaw.
The building of the thousand-year-old school on Emilia Plater Street in Warsaw
designed by Jerzy Baumiller and Jan Zdanowicz, 1961, photo: Komuna Warszawa
The educational quartet at 29-31 Emilia Plater Street in Warsaw consists of two relatively low, three-story buildings with shallow arcades, loggias and facades filled by tall, strip windows. Thanks to the functional arrangement of the blocks, which breaks the typical pattern of development conducted around an inner courtyard along the perimeter of the quarter, Baumiller and Zdanowicz succeeded in filling the plot with an architectural checkerboard in which the school buildings are interspersed with spacious courtyards. A wide green belt separates them from the downtown street grid.
Today, 65 years after its completion, the courtyards are full of both light and shade provided by tall, spreading trees. Although the last students and pupils left the walls of both institutions in 2019, the modernist quarter on Emilia Plater Street in Warsaw is still bustling with life.
The school building at 31 Emilia Plater Street in Warsaw.
Photo: Panek © CC BY-SA 4.0 | Wikimedia Commons
Skyscrapers in place of modernist school
The inclusion of the schools on Emilia Plater Street in the register of monuments right now is no coincidence, and is related not only to their history in the context of Warsaw's Downtown and the excellent design of Jerzy Baumiller and Jan Zdanowicz. When Warsaw submitted a draft of the General Plan, it became clear that for the plot of land on which the modernist buildings stand, the future may be preparing their demolition and the construction of a 125-meter skyscraper.
Plans to build a skyscraper on the site of the modernist buildings of the former Gymnasium No. 43 and IX Lyceum named after Klementyna Hoffmanowa have been talked about for a good dozen years - in2014, the two schools were moved to new buildings, and the first concept for the development of these was created during the 2017 Local Area Plan procedure.
The school building at 29 Emilia Plater Street
Photo: Wistula © CC BY-SA 4.0 | Wikimedia Commons
There's no denying it - from an investment point of view, this is an extremely attractive plot of land, well connected, located in the very center of Warsaw near the Marriott Hotel and other high-rise buildings, and the plan allowed the construction of a building as high as 160 meters. From the perspective of the social and cultural life of downtown Warsaw, the demolition of the schools would be an irreparable loss of a place whose activities already far exceed the vision of modernist architects, and have the potential for much more.
The activities of the Komuna Warszawa Theater were honored with the Residents' Award in the Architectural Award of the President of the City of Warsaw in 2024.
photo: competition materials
Komuna Warszawa, or a cultural foundation in the heart of the capital
If a skyscraper were built on the site of the former Hoffmanowa Gymnasium and High School, Warsaw would lose much more than a fine example of modernist education architecture. One of the buildings has been home to Komuna Warszawa, a social cultural institution focused on off-site theatrical activities, since 2020.
The theatrical aspect of Komuna Warszawa's activities is just the tip of the iceberg, as dozens of cultural events, artist residencies and activities aimed at the local community take place every year within the walls of the thousand-year-old building on Emilia Plater Street. The role that the Komuna Warszawa theater plays for Varsovians and Varsovian women is reflected in the awarding of the Residents' Prize in the 2024 Architectural Competition of the Mayor of Warsaw. Komuna Warszawa's offer is complemented by Turnus, a café and contemporary art gallery founded by Kamila Falecka and Marcelina Gorczynska.
Tim Etchells' neon sign in front of the building
Photo: Pat Mic © Komuna Warsaw Theater
Emilia Plater 29-31 socio-cultural quarter
While investors were sharpening their teeth for an attractive plot of land on Emilia Plater Street, there had been talk for several years about the creation of a "Socio-Cultural Quarter of Emilia Plater 29-31." The project for the transformation of this space, created with respect for the modernist architectural fabric, and at the same time adapting the buildings and the entire quarter to serve a variety of functions resulting from the activities of the Komuna Warszawa Theater, was prepared in Maciej Siuda's studio.
Marta Ziółek's dance classes on the field next to the modernist school buildings - the field was renovated thanks to a project in the civic budget, submitted on the initiative of Komuna Warszawa Theater
photo: Komuna Warszawa
The Komuna Warszawa Theater's activities at the former school site already emphatically demonstrate that not every building that has ceased to serve its original function must be demolished and replaced with new architecture. The adaptation project that would turn the schools on Emilia Plater Street into a "Socio-Cultural Quarter" is a vision that further explores responsible thinking about our cities' resources.
In addition to spaces conducive to conducting activities in the field of performing arts, the vacant building, which formerly housed Hoffmanowa High School, has been designed with infrastructure for a School of Future Professions, whose students would learn, among other things, how to process, grow plants and mushrooms or work with wood, metal and 3D printing. The project as a whole is accompanied by comprehensive landscaping, which would help make the modernist premise on Emilia Plater Street an even more multifunctional, social area and open to the city.
Schools on Emilia Plater Street included in the register of monuments!
Photo: K. Jabłoński © public domain | Wikimedia Commons
Some protection for Turnus and Komuna Warszawa Theater
Thanks to its entry in the register of monuments, the modernist schools housing the Komuna Warszawa theater and Turnus are relatively safe - according to the law, it was already impossible to carry out any construction or demolition work on the plot on Emilia Plater Street from the moment the procedure for entry in the register of monuments began. Now the protection is indefinite, although an appeal can still be filed against the entry in the register of monuments. If one is filed, the case will have to be handled by Culture Minister Marta Cienkowska, but the decision would have to be challenged by the city, which owns the land.
Instead, the implementation of the vision for the redevelopment of the schools, developed by Maciej Siuda, is in question. Now that the buildings have been placed on the Register of Historic Places, any work on the buildings and changes to their surroundings will have to be approved by a preservationist.
