Topolowa Street, Kraków

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Topolowa Street is a historic street in Kraków, located in the Grzegórzki district. It runs from the eastern side of Kraków Główny railway station, starting at the intersection with Bosacka Street, to the Mogilskie Roundabout. The street features two- and three-story tenement houses built in eclectic and modernist styles.

History
- The street was laid out in 1801 along an old road from Kleparz to Mogiła. It was first called Mogilska Street, then Strzelecka Street, and served as the main link to Rakowicki Cemetery.
- After 1847, the construction of Kraków’s railway station split the street; the western part became Kurniki Street. The street gained its current form around 1878.
- Between 1906 and 1910, Józef Piłsudski lived at numbers 24, 16, and 18.
- During the Nazi occupation, performances of Tadeusz Kantor’s Independent Theatre were held in the apartment of Tadeusz Brzozowski on Topolowa Street.
- The name Topolowa was adopted around 1880, likely referring to poplar trees along the road to the cemetery.

Buildings
Topolowa Street is known for its well-preserved historic buildings, mainly two- and three-story tenements in eclectic and early modernist styles. Notable buildings include:
- 5 Topolowa Street – Mańkowski Palace (1901–1903), designed by Józef Sowiński and Władysław Kaczmarski. It housed the Lenin Museum from 1954 to 1990.
- 6 Topolowa Street – An eclectic-Art Nouveau tenement by Leopold Tlachna (1907).
- 18 Topolowa Street – Historicist tenement by Jan Sas-Zubrzycki (1889–1890), with a plaque commemorating Józef Piłsudski on the façade.
- 20–22 Topolowa Street – Former St. Anne Women’s Division School, in a historicist Art Nouveau style by Jan Zawiejski (1903–1906).
- 36 Topolowa Street – Neo-Renaissance tenement by Józef Weinberger and Karol Janecki (1893).
- 46 Topolowa Street – Modernist tenement by Adam Czunko and Władysław Kleinberger (1910), with a stained-glass window depicting poplar trees above the gate.

The street also features several representative façades and historic interiors, reflecting Kraków’s architectural diversity from the late 19th to early 20th centuries.