A hundred years after it opened, the Wilanow railway station is alive again. Culture, a cafe and a historic carriage are coming

At ul. Kostki Potockiego 31 stands a building that most Wilanow residents have walked past hundreds of times without quite knowing what it was. For years it housed a post office, and for much longer before that, a railway station connecting this part of Warsaw with the city center. Now, after a general renovation completed in spring 2026, the building is starting a new life as a place for culture.

The story goes back to 1891, when the Wilanow Railway opened, a narrow gauge line connecting Wilanow with Plac Unii Lubelskiej. The wooden station buildings along the route were badly damaged during the First World War, so the design of new, brick stations was commissioned from architect Konstanty Sylwin Jakimowicz. The Wilanow building, completed in 1926 in manor house style, contained ticket windows and a summer waiting room, with staff housing in the side wings. It survived the Second World War without major damage and served travelers until 1971, when the railway stopped running and residents switched to cars and buses. From 1979 to 2016 it housed a Polish Post branch, and in 2021 the building was entered into the register of historic monuments.

What is coming inside

The general renovation began in autumn 2024. The district allocated around 7 million zloty for it, and the work was carried out by the firm A Projekt. The schedule slipped, since the finish was originally planned for 2025, but the restoration, in line with the design, was completed in May 2026. The building was renovated from the foundations to the roof and adapted to meet the needs of people with disabilities.

Once finished, the building was divided functionally into three parts. The central, most representative part will hold a new branch of the Wilanow Culture Center, with space for chamber concerts, lectures, presentations and exhibitions. This is a separate, additional location for the institution, which has so far run classes at places including a former rectory in Powsin and at ul. Kolegiacka 3. The southern part will hold a tourist information point selling souvenirs, a cloakroom and restrooms, and next to the building, on the south side, a restored Wilanow Railway carriage from 1937, built at the M. Lilpop, Rau and Loewenstein works, will be placed. The northern part, on the ground floor and in the attic, will go to a cafe with a summer garden set up in the patio.

For Wilanow this is more than just another renovated building. It is a piece of the district's hundred year old history brought back to life, given functions that residents will actually use day to day, not just at anniversary exhibitions.