The railway station of Lwow

The first three photos above show the old neo-Gothic train station built between 1861 and 1862 in the city of Lemberg (the German name) a.k.a. Lwow (the Polish name), the capital of Galicia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Evidently it was designed more with administration than railway operation in mind as only 26 years later in 1888 the Polish architect Władysław Sadłowski was selected to design a new train station.

The final project, prepared in less than a year, encompassed a large, horizontally-oriented main hall, with two large train yards located in the background. The main entrance was topped with a large dome made of bolted steel and stained glass. Both wings of the symmetrical building were constituted by two pavilions, each with a smaller cupola. The main entrance was flanked by a set of Tuscan columns and large mythological sculptures, with the one representing Hypnos being the most notable. Since Sadłowski was the main representative of the William Morris' Arts and Crafts movement in Poland, his project included not only the architectural part of the future building, but also the ornaments and decorations. The project of three waiting halls (one for each class of travellers) was prepared in cooperation with other graduate of Sadłowski's alma mater, Alfred Zachariewicz. The first class waiting hall was modelled after English gentleman clubs and was equipped with dark, luxurious Viennese-style furniture, resembling the works of the Wiener Werkstätte. The second class waiting room was modelled after 19th century Bürger houses in Galicia, while the third class waiting hall was equipped with simple wooden pieces of furniture, modelled after the Zakopane style of Polish Gorals made by the artist Tadeusz Obmiński. The ornaments featured in the tunnels leading to the platforms and in the platforms themselves were prepared by a Kraków-based company of Józef Górecki. Made of bent steel, the balustrades and railings bore direct resemblance to the style of the Paris Métro ornaments designed by Hector Guimard. A design for the registers was constructed in Zieleniewski Maschinen und Wagonbau-Gesellschaft Werk Sanok.

The construction took from 1899 until 1904,when the station was opened to the public.

As those who have the new book Seeds in the Storm know, in 1939 the eastern half of the recreated Polish state was invaded by the Soviet Union, who decided the Polish state no longer existed; the area was made part of the Ukraine, the city was respelt Lviv and the railways were integrated into the Soviet railway system. This meant, among other things, the Soviet broad gauge instead of the standard gauge. The station suffered major damage during the war, including a completely destroyed locomotive shed.

There was debate on whether to restore the building or to dismantle the ruins and build a new station. Architect G.F. Domashenko managed to achieve agreement, and between 1949 and 1953 the old structure was given a contemporary Stalinist interior, while a full reconstruction of the outside preserved its original view. The most recent major restoration was carried out in 2003.