Skyscrapers of Warsaw: Marriott Hotel

Marriott Hotel

Main data:

Height to the roof: 140 m
Total height: 170 m
Number of floors: 43
Year of construction: 1989
Designers: Jerzy Skrzypczak, Andrzej Bielobradek, Krzysztof Stefański
Location: Al. Jerozolimskie (Jerozolimskie Avenue) 65/79

In the 1980s popularity of Polish Airlines LOT started to grow. That was why this company decided to build in Warsaw new, luxurious hotel, so that their clients could stop in it. The skyscraper's construction lasted nearly for the whole 1980s and was finished in 1989. In that time such high buildings were yet rare in Warsaw. Also because of that this new, five-star hotel quickly gained much popularity and prestige. The building is managed by well-known hotel corporation Marriott. Another (but not very popular) name of the building is LIM Centre. LIM stands for first letters of the names of companies who cooperated when constructing the building - LOT, Ilbau - main contractor and Marrott.

Marrott's architecture is actually rather not outstanding, but it seems to be quite well done. The building is dark green, what goes well which the neighbouring Intraco II, which is light blue. The shape of Marriott is actually a completely simple box, the only diversities are white edges and two dark belts, one on the top of the skyscraper and one more less in the half of its height, it divides the office part of the building and the hotel.

The building consists actually of two parts. The skyscraper is only one of them. The second part is only two-floored but has much more area. It is called LIM Gallery. 40 luxurious shops, cafes, restaurants and a casino are located here. On higher floors there are offices of LOT, and more less from the half of the height floors with hotel rooms begin. They are located on 20 floors, there are here altogether 522 rooms and 63 apartments. On the highest floor the "president" apartment is located - it is the most luxurious one in the whole city, it has an unique view. The building is 140 metres high, which is approximately the same height as the neighbouring Intraco II. But if we count also the antenna which is located on the roof, the total height will be 170 metres and that makes Marriott fourth highest building in Warsaw (actually equally as Intercontinental Hotel).

It is justified that Marriott was given five stars. In every room there is air-conditioning, satellite link, guests can also use sauna, swimming pool, conference halls, 9 bars and restaurants, so Marriott has all facilities that modern, European hotel should have. The building has also a connection with passage which goes under Jerozolimskie Avenue to the central station.

But sometimes it can happen that the privacy of the hotel's guests is interrupted. On 14th of June 1998, 34-year-old at that time Alain Robert, whose passion is climbing on skyscrapers without any protection, decided to reach the top of Marriott. He had already climbed before on 30 other buildings, including 450-metres high Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, which is one of the highest in the world. At first he wanted to choose Palace of Culture to climb, but finally he decided that this would have been too easy, because on Palace of Culture there are many window sills and balustrades that would have made the climbing too easy his opinion. But on the other hand, climbing on Palace of Culture could have occurred very dangerous, because its elevation is highly damaged and some parts of it could have just come off and the climbing could have ended tragically. Alain Robert needed only 17 minutes to reach the roof of Marriott, while his photographer, who used stairs, needed 27 minutes. Robert managed to do that on the second trial, on the first one he had to resign. But just after reaching the top he was stopped by the building's security guards, because the climbing was done illegally. At first he even was to be fined, but finally it ended just with a rebuke.

More information about the building, espacially about the possibilities of renting offices here can be found on the website of LIM Joint Venture: www.lim.com.pl.