PAST (short for
Polska Akcyjna Spółka Telefoniczna,
Polish Telephone Joint-stock Company) was a Polish telephone operator in the period between
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
and
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It is notable for its main headquarters in
WarsawWarsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian Mountains. Its population as of 2009 was estimated at 1,709,781, and the Warsaw metropolitan area at approximately 2,785,000...
, which at the time of its construction was the first and tallest
skyscraperA skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building. There is no official definition or height above which a building may clearly be classified as a skyscraper...
in the
Russian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
and the tallest building of Warsaw. The fight for the building during the
Warsaw UprisingThe Warsaw Uprising was a struggle by the Polish Home Army to liberate Warsaw from Nazi German occupation during World War II. The Uprising began on 1 August 1944, as part of a nationwide rebellion, Operation Tempest. It was intended to last for only a few days until the Soviet Army reached the...
of 1944 also added to the legend of the place.
The Swedish-owned company Towarzystwo Akcyjne Telefonów "
CedergrenCedergren was a Swedish telecommunications company running the telephone network in Warsaw between 1900 and the interbellum. Named after its founder, Henrik Tore Cedergren, it was notable as the first official phone operator in that city and the company to finance the Cedergren building, the first...
" won a competition in 1900 to expand the Warsaw telephone network.
PAST (short for
Polska Akcyjna Spółka Telefoniczna,
Polish Telephone Joint-stock Company) was a Polish telephone operator in the period between
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
and
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It is notable for its main headquarters in
WarsawWarsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian Mountains. Its population as of 2009 was estimated at 1,709,781, and the Warsaw metropolitan area at approximately 2,785,000...
, which at the time of its construction was the first and tallest
skyscraperA skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building. There is no official definition or height above which a building may clearly be classified as a skyscraper...
in the
Russian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
and the tallest building of Warsaw. The fight for the building during the
Warsaw UprisingThe Warsaw Uprising was a struggle by the Polish Home Army to liberate Warsaw from Nazi German occupation during World War II. The Uprising began on 1 August 1944, as part of a nationwide rebellion, Operation Tempest. It was intended to last for only a few days until the Soviet Army reached the...
of 1944 also added to the legend of the place.
The Swedish-owned company Towarzystwo Akcyjne Telefonów "
CedergrenCedergren was a Swedish telecommunications company running the telephone network in Warsaw between 1900 and the interbellum. Named after its founder, Henrik Tore Cedergren, it was notable as the first official phone operator in that city and the company to finance the Cedergren building, the first...
" won a competition in 1900 to expand the Warsaw telephone network. For that purpose, two buildings were built at Zielna street in downtown Warsaw, holding the telephone exchange and the company's headquarters. The building, located at 37
ZielnaZielna is a street in downtown Warsaw, Poland. Initially one of the main streets linking the southern city centre with its northern part, it lost much of its significance in 1941, when the nearby Marszałkowska street had been extended across the Saxon Garden to the Bankowy Sq...
Street, was built between 1904 and 1910 and was constructed in two phases. The lower part, designed by L. Wahiman, I.G. Ciason and B. Brochowicz-Rogoyski, was completed in 1904-1905; the upper part was added in 1907-1910. The building was one of the first
reinforced concreteReinforced concrete is concrete in which steel reinforcement bars , plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen a material that would otherwise be brittle.-History:...
constructions of this magnitude in Europe.
The Cedergren license expired in 1922 and the building was consequently taken over by the PAST company. This is why it was referred to by Varsovians either by the name of Cedergren or PAST, or, colloquially,
Pasta . During the German occupation of Poland, it was the regional telephone center for
General GovernmentThe General Government refers to a part of the territories of Poland under German military occupation during World War II and that were a separate part of "Greater Germany"...
. During the
Warsaw UprisingThe Warsaw Uprising was a struggle by the Polish Home Army to liberate Warsaw from Nazi German occupation during World War II. The Uprising began on 1 August 1944, as part of a nationwide rebellion, Operation Tempest. It was intended to last for only a few days until the Soviet Army reached the...
, on August 20, 1944, the building was captured by Polish
insurgentsAn insurgency is an armed rebellion against a constituted authority when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognised as belligerents.[Oxford English Dictionary second edition 1989 "insurgent B. n...]
of AK battalion „Kiliński” after 20 days of bloody fighting. The building was severely damaged. It was rebuilt in a simplified architectural form after
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The company was not recreated after the war and its assets were nationalized by the Polish communist authorities.
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