STALIN PALACES OR NOWOTKI COLONY

The makers of the Andersa Alley had a tough nut to crack. On one hand they had to match the old with the new, so they had to make the buildings they were designing to fit stylistically with the already existing, classic structures in the area as well as the already existing Muranów buildings. On the other hand – they had to create something different, something original, which would stand out in the landscape of this section of Warsaw. Additionally, that “something” had to adhere to the principles of social realism which was reigning at that time also in architecture. The realization was also impaired by the fact that there were two teams responsible for the project headed by Stanisław Brukalski: the team of Stanisław and Anna Szurmak and the team of Barbara Andrzejewska with Krystyna Jakimowicz. The visions of these two groups, working under the shared banner, “Miastoprojekt – Stolica” were only partially alike.                                 

In the end, tall, eight-story blocks with richly-ornamented fronts were designed to be built on the four corners of Andersa street. The southern wall was a vision of Barbara Andrzejewska, who wished to top one of the buildings on the corner of Andersa and Anielewicza streets (today’s Andersa 21) with an eleven-story tall tower, a reference in form to the Palace of Culture. This element, probably thankfully, remains today only on paper:

 

The seven-story buildings were supposed to go along the whole Andersa Alley towards the Żoliborz district, all the way to the place where in 1951 there were railway tracks for trains transporting debris out of Muranów. Close to the crossroads with Stawki street, the Andersa complex, which was a 500 meter long row of eight-storey buildings over 30 meters tall, ended with two smaller structures – mini-towers of three stories, the purpose of which was to be in harmony with the historic buildings on Bonifraterska street (especially the antique Fatebenefratelli church).

 

The fronts of the buildings were covered with “stucco, ceramics and stone tiles “. The authors dreamt of a Polish equivalent of the Karl-Marx-Allee (Stalinallee) in Berlin:

 

 

The result was its a bit poorer, Polish version of KMA:

 

 

Everything – together with the low-rise tenement blocks in the Nowe Miasto – was to create an attractive landscape from the side of the Vistula. At the stage of making projects, it was observed that the Nowotki street goes through the network of old city streets with old canal systems underneath. These old systems in some places held back the creativity of the architects and forced them to modify some initial plans. Because of the underground tunnels, they decided to break the straight line of the buildings in a certain place and open it in the form of a triangle with two arch-shape gaps (over the line where the canals ran). In order not to ruin the composition, an identical procedure was carried out on the opposite wall of the street, along with the gaps, which as a result was to produce a square in diamond shape. Unfortunately, the final realization diverted slightly from the original, whereas it was additionally destroyed a few years later by placing a typical 60’s box-shape block on the Western side of the street.
One of the three new West-East transportation routes, connecting Wola – via Muranow – with New and Old Town was to go across the diamond-shape square. This wheel-vehicle route was planned to start at Dzielna street, through Świętojerska to Freta, down the Vistula embankment all the way to the New Town square. The second, wide promenade for pedestrians was to go parallel to the Anielewicza street, starting in the Western part of Muranów and cutting through the round courtyard of the “people’s palace” at Andersa 13.  “Behind the palace, the Nowolipki street will go – by cutting across Andersa street – into the main alley of the Krasinski park, giving a beautiful view of the palace and a pedestrian route between New Town and Muranow“ (Stefan Rassalski, “The urbanization project of Nowotki street”. “Stolica“ 1952). The role of an inside-Muranow West-East route was given to the Anielewicza street, outlined on the axis of the old Franciszkańska and Gęsia streets. It was planned as a wide artery which “would see a wide flow of automobiles going towards Wola and Młynów “.

Wałowa street, running parallel to Andersa street, was supposed to take off traffic from the main alley by playing the role of a route for transportation vehicles going to the stores located at the street. Similar driveways were to be placed at the back of the western wall of Andersa street. This was because all the ground-floors of the newly-built buildings were planned to be stores, cafes and cinemas, only the higher stories were to be flats. As the architects have carefully counted, there would be a total of 110 various stores, service outlets, cafes and restaurants. Two cinemas were also planned in the vicinity of the Andersa alley – one in the corner of Anielewicza (the one with the eleven-storey tower), another one at the exit of Franciszkańska street.
The architects, still in the spirit of the “garden-city” concept, paid much attention to green areas. Apart from the areas without structures on them at that time – such as the Krasiński garden – as well as the green area in the middle of Andersa street, they assumed that the last, half-kilometer street circuit in Żoliborz will go through the un-urbanized green territories, going down the Vistual embankment and separating this part of Muranów from the station and the railway lines. Light would also play a significant role. Opposite buildings on the street would differ in many ways in terms of the profiles of the details ornamenting them and the light that reflected on them. “So, for example the western side of the tall part of the street, lit for a shorter time by eastern light, will be equipped in loggias to enrich the form, whereas the eastern side will have a detail that is not as expressive. If you don’t take light into consideration when making a project – then any detail, even the finest one, won’t play its part “. (Stefan Rassalski, “The urbanization project of Nowotki street”. “Stolica“ 1952)

 

The buildings on Andersa street, planned for 15 thousand residents, were quickly dubbed the “Nowotki colony” or the “Stalin’s palaces”. The characters of Hanna Krall’s short story, “Presence”, move into one of them, located on the eastern side, built on the ruins of a tenement block. After a few years they begin to suspect that the flat is haunted by ghosts: they feel someone’s presence, hear voices, on top of that have a spell of bad luck. Neither the exorcist nor priest help. They finally come to the conclusion that they are dealing with the ghosts of the Jewish residents of Nalewki, Franciszkanska and Wałowa and their only rescue has to be to call a rabbi.
“- My grandmother was born in Baligrod – said the rabbi. –She knew Warsaw. From her stories I remembered the word Nalewki. The only Polish word that I came here to Warsaw with: Na-le-wki....
- Here – the hosts livened up and pointed to the street outside the window – In the grandmother’s time this was Nalewki. In communist days it was Nowotki. In democracy days it’s Andersa… But dear rabbi, what do Jewish ghosts want from us? We mean them nothing ill.
- I am not surprised that you feel a Jewish presence – pondered the rabbi. – I’m surprised by people who don’t feel it. (...)
- This is where the fighting was. Bodies were not buried here. Do the souls of unburied people also go to heaven?
- I don’t know – said the rabbi.
- Maybe unburied souls wander the world....
- I don’t know.
- So what can you do for us rabbi?
- Pray. That’s all I can do....
He took out the prayer book and read a psalm in Hebrew.“ (H.Krall, “Presence”, from the volume “There, There won't be Another River”, Świat Książki, Warszawa 2007)
 
The Brukalski project, similarly as the previous project of Lachert, remained on paper in its original version. It was significantly modified during the construction. First of all, the “noble materials” for finishing the fronts of the buildings were not used. Secondly, the blocks themselves took on a different shape than it was planned (which can be seen on the scan of the model). The idea of erecting a Palace of Culture-like tower was given up. The subway station was not built and the tram rails were not removed. The street was not widened. Until today, the two-lane roads in both directions reach Marszałkowska street from the south and Bankowy square, where they join in a two-direction street with one lane towards north and one towards south, even though there is much free room for building an eastern road.
The public transportation-related plans also look less impressive than it had been planned. The diamond-shape square, located on the line of Franciszkanska street did not become a vehicle transportation node. Whereas the street going from Młynów and Muranów towards New Town and down the Vistula embankment is only a walking route for pedestrians, additionally limited by buildings erected on the western side of Andersa street. A similar fate met the route for pedestrians going through the palace at Andersa 13 street.