Changes at ul. Piłsudskiego. Historic tower is back on Grand Hotel

‘Known as Hôtel du Nord at the beginning of the 20^th century, it was one of the most elegant buildings in Wroclaw,’ stresses the investor of current renovation works, Wroclaw development company Rafin, which is the owner of four historic Wroclaw hotels: Europejski, Polonia, Piast and Lothus.

In the course of building works, only fragments of walls from the side of Piłsudskiego and Kołłątaja streets have remained of the former Grand Hotel. The entire middle of the building was dismantled. The completed part of works includes the reinforcements of arches and lintels of the façade from the side of ul. Kołłątaja and the driving of almost 300 reinforced concrete piles protecting the foundations of adjacent buildings.

‘We have rebuilt all walls of the hotel. Now we work from the side of ul. Gwarna. The bedplate and walls of the underground storey are completed. We are starting façade works from the side of the MDK building at ul. Kołłątaja. After the removal of scaffolds from this part, we will start fitting window frames, which was selected under the supervision of the monument conservator. The complete façade from the side of the Main Railway Station and ul. Kołłątaja should be unveiled by the end of June 2022,‘ says Piotr Wiak.

Grand Hotel to be opened in 2023

The revitalised Grand Hotel will have 172 rooms: 148 in Grand Hotel and 24 suites in the hotel part at ul. Gwarna. A car park for hotel guests will be built under the hotel. On the roof of the building, an open SkyBar will be located. The building will contain conference rooms. The Grand Hotel revitalisation project was prepared by the Wroclaw studio GREG architekci.

History of ul. Piłsudskiego

The current ul. Piłsudskiego was the peripheral ul. Ogrodowa at the beginning of the 19^th century.  The name was not accidental, because it was a place of residence of gardeners whose plots were adjacent to the street.

Its importance increased after the construction of the Górnośląski Railway Station and then the Main Railway Station. It became the location of tenement houses, mansions, hotels and restaurants, as well as the building of the National Silesian Sejm (currently the Supreme Technical Organisation /NOT/).

Some of nearly 30 hotels built there at the turn of the 20^th century have survived till today: Piast (formerly Kronprinz), Grand (Hôtel du Nord in the past), Europejski, pre-war Hohenzollernhof and Polonia (formerly Viel Jahreszeiten).