The ‘Polish National Style’ in Interwar Architecture: The Case of Railway Station Buildings

Abstract

The article is devoted to the formation of the ‘national style’ in Polish architecture. It outlines the evolution of architectural forms characteristic of particular currents of the ‘national style’ in nineteenth and early twentieth-century-architecture. It introduces the broad historical, political, social, and cultural context of the development of the ‘national style’ in Poland under the occupation of neighbouring powers. This context has significantly contributed to the extremely intense involvement of artists in search for forms of this style both on a practical and a theoretical level, as reflected in numerous publications cited in the article. The idea of the ‘national style’ was implemented both in sacred architecture and in residential and public utility architecture. A short study cannot present the entire range of objects created at the time. Therefore, the article focuses on a small but significant and coherent group of railway facilities constructed after Poland regained its independence in 1918. In the interwar period, the railway was a lever for the state’s economic development, when new stations were built and others rebuilt with state funds. The stations were treated as visual gates of the city, model objects for the local population rebuilding their homes damaged in the war. Rooted in domestic architecture, they were to shape local and foreign travellers’ image of the Republic of Poland. The article gives numerous examples of railway stations of the interwar period, representing the last phase of the ‘national style’ called the ‘manor style,’ which draws its formal sources from a typical aristocratic residence—the Polish manor. The issue is presented in the context of the heavy damage that station buildings suffered during World War I, which triggered a strong construction movement. The uneven development of railway networks during the partitions, which had to be counterbalanced after regaining independence, is also addressed. The study is based on illustrative archival material and numerous publications from the period.