Seen as the final element of “the Eastern wall”, the sprawling development that had reimagined much of Marszalkowska in striking 60s style, the Forum Hotel opened its doors on January 24th, 1974.

Having first decided on building a Western standard hotel in the centre of the capital, the authorities quickly came to the conclusion that no-one in Poland was qualified to actually do so. As such, the Swedes were called in, specifically architect Sten Samuelson. Using imported materials and labour, it was to take just two-years for the edifice to be completed.

Standing 96 meters in height, at a stroke it became Poland’s second tallest building after the Palace of Culture & Science. As the first modern era skyscraper in Warsaw, it divided opinion. Locals nicknamed it ‘the chocolate bar’, thanks to its yellowish brown façade, while one critic, Jerzy Waldorff, went as far as to declare it Sweden’s revenge for their 1656 defeat at The Battle of Częstochowa.

Others loved it. Regarded as the top hotel in Poland, the lobby bar became a ‘see and be seen’ hangout. Employing an 800-strong battalion of staff, the hotel seemed the epitome of the future. There was air-conditioning, silent elevators, and a lighting switchboard which informed staff whether rooms were occupied or had been cleaned.

A symbol of reborn Warsaw, those who could afford to visited the Pollena hair salon or hung out in the Maryla café. Most famous of all, however, was the Soplica restaurant with its rotating spit. Foreigners were the main target though, and the hotel’s finest moment came when ABBA checked in in 1976.

The hotel returned to the headlines in mid-zeroes after its cladding was replaced by the sleek silver skin seen today – shock was the initial response. Now, fifty years after it first opened, the hotel, today operating as the Novotel Centrum, remains a cherished feature on the local landscape: not just a symbol of rebirth, it has become part of the patchwork urban fabric that makes Warsaw so unique.