Community rallies to save Elmhurst home, longtime hub of Polish culture
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The Elmhurst home of late Walentyna Janta-Połczyńska, the last living member of the Polish government-in-exile during World War II, served as a cultural hub for Polish ex pat elites for much of the 20th Century. Eagle photo by David Brand
By David Brand
For more than a half century, a wooden house on quiet 43rd Avenue in Elmhurst served as a cultural hub for Polish expats, welcoming artists, scholars and leaders who lived in New York City after escaping the post-World War II Iron Curtain.
The house belonged to Walentyna Janta-Połczyńska, a secretary to the prime minister in Poland’s World War II government-in-exile, who died in April at age 107. In her role as government official, Janta-Połczyńska translated key reports into English that revealed the conditions inside Nazi-occupied Poland and exposed the Holocaust to the world.
After the war, she and her husband, writer and journalist Aleksander Janta-Połczyński, bought the house in Elmhurst and opened their doors to prominent Poles who had fled the new Communist regime. Other 20th Century luminaries, like Mahatma Gandhi and Vladimir Nabokov, Charlie Chaplin, also stopped by the salon, according to Nowy Dziennik.
Today, however, the historic home is in danger of being torn down by a developer who plans to erect an apartment building on the property, adjacent to a park, according to community members.
The Elmhurst History & Cemeteries Preservation Society and other local activists have called on the city to grant the property landmark status, based on the home’s significance as the epicenter of Polish culture in the second half of the 20th Century.
“This was the hub of writers, artists, visiting students, professors, this was a hub of the artistic, cultural, literary Polish emigre world in New York,” said Janta-Połczyńska’s niece Karolina Rotafinski Merk in a new video rallying support for landmark status.
The video was created by community leader Alfonso Quiroz, who is running for a soon-to-be-vacant council seat in District 25, which includes Elmhurst. Quiroz has organized other neighbors to advocate for landmark status for the historic house, known as the Janta home.
“Elmhurst is one the oldest established neighborhoods in New York City, with a history dating back to before the Revolutionary War, and it's being swallowed up by unscrupulous developers,” Quiroz said. “The clock is ticking and time is of the essence. We can no longer sit back and watch these cultural gems disappear from our landscape.”
The Janta home, located at 88-28 43rd Avenue is owned by an opaque LLC, according to property records.. The representative for 88-28 43rd Ave LLC, attorney Fuqiang Zhang, did not immediately respond to requests for information.
A recommendation submitted to the city’s Landmarks and Preservation Commission draws on local Polish American newspapers to detail the deep historical significance of the home, and of Walentyna Janta-Połczyńska’s work. After exposing the Holocaust and proving a key figure in Poland’s government-in-exile, she went on to foster Polish cultural life in New York City.
Left: Walentyna Janta-Połczyńska, then Walentyna Stocker, in the office of the Polish Government-in-exile in 1945. Right: Aleksander Janta-Połczyński in 1944. Images via Landmark Preservation Commission recommendation
The landmark proposal already has the backing of the influential Historic Districts Council.
“This house was known as the nucleus of the Polish emige elite and the couple hosted esteemed Polish authors such as Czesław Miłosz, Jerzy Giedroyc, and Marek Hłasko. Jan Karski also paid visits to this home,” wrote Kelly Carroll, the director of advocacy and community outreach at HDC, in a letter of support.
Carroll pointed out that the home, built alongside four other similar houses in 1911, has only one recorded alteration in its 109-year history.
“The house’s value as a physical touchstone to the story of these people’s lives far outweighs its negligible alterations,” Carroll wrote. “We urge you to designate this home of these heroes so that their stories will not soon be extinguished.”
The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission has evaluated the property and will conduct further study, said spokesperson Zodet Negron.
“After carefully reviewing the materials of the request, LPC determined that further study is needed to determine whether the building retains sufficient integrity to convey its cultural and historical significance,” Negron said. “We will consider conducting further study of this potential resource within the context of the agency's priorities within the five boroughs.”
