Henryk Genello was an architect who rendered great service for the Polish railway architecture during the 2nd Polish Republic. Together with engineer and architect Hipolit Hryncewicz, he designed around 50 railway stations in the Eastern borderlands, in the Vilnius Headquarters of the State Railways. In the 20s of the 20th century, he was designing in national style, while at the end of the 20s his designs already bore distinct modernist traits, and in the 30s they became totally functionalist. A valuable realisation of Genello and Hryncewicz was a representative “modernised” railway station on the border in Stołpce, essential for the evolution of Polish railway architecture of the 2nd Polish Republic. At the turn of the 20s and 30s of the 20th century, Genello designed railway stations on the Ustroń – Wisła line. They were realised in national style, partly wooden, inspired by the Polish mountain resort architecture of Zakopane. Another important Genello’s realisation of 1935 was a small building of a railway stop – Zułów, which in the 2nd Polish Republic had a memorative character of Marshall Piłsudski silhouette. It probably was the last “national” realisation in the Polish railway architecture. His works done in this style were characterised by simplicity, pure form, and drew on local types and motives of Polish architecture. Undoubtedly, Henryk Genello was better fulfilled when he designed in the earlier, historicising style, creating his own type inspired by local motives. His later functional realisations are characterised by simplicity, pared-down and austere form of elevations deprived of detail. It is certain that Genello belonged to the most important railway architects of the 2nd Polish Republic, working since 1932 as adviser in the Ministry of Transport, he shaped railway architecture of that time from its administrative and technical side. The same function Genello performed during the first years after the war.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.