Modernist Gdynia

Gdynia differs from the old Pomeranian towns. There are numerous maritime references: round windows reminiscent of ship portholes, sharp shapes of buildings resembling ship hulls, superstructures modeled after the captain's bridge, and external stairs like ship gangways… There are few such large, compact ensembles of modernist architecture in Europe as in Gdynia.

The city, built as a Polish dream, a "window to the world," as part of an ambitious economic plan, was simultaneously a showcase for young Polish architects, urban planners, decorators, and interior designers. The modernist downtown of Gdynia was shaped in a very short period during the 1930s, which further reinforced the symbolic message of "white architecture" and the "sunny city."