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Abrams Tower, which I first named La luz (The Light, in Spanish), was born in 2005 and operated from 2006 until 2011, in the western Polish city of Wrocław, Poland’s 3rd largest city. Prior to the end of WWII, it had been Germany’s 4th largest city, known as Breslau.
The building required far greater restoration than I knew when I signed the lease agreement and the first year entailed a long and arduous process of obtaining a mountain of permits from a post-communist bureaucracy, let alone to operate a restaurant and wine bar. The building, which was previously the first wine bar in the city, was owned by a student organization and was purchased in late 2004 by Polish author, Olga Tokarczuk. She won the Noble Prize in Literature in 2019.
This section of the website visually documents photos I took of the city since my first visit in 1989, as the Berlin Wall was being torn down nearby, of the building originally known as Baszta (what was conceived as a tower that guarded the once medieval city center), its restoration, art exhibitions, promotional posters and invitations of events and activities, the restaurant, its food, drinks and menus, published articles, reviews and an award received from Trip Advisor.
Also included are 3D renderings that were intended as a proposal to Ms Tokarczuk, for an ambitious exterior restoration, that unfortunately never was to be. Far sadder, after all of the devotion, funds and effort I invested in a building I did not own in a foreign country, today it rots, no longer serving any public function. This profound experience nevertheless resulted in the inspiration for the conception and realization of Abrams Tower West, in Los Angeles, California, which is also documented on this website.
Abrams’ Tower Events 2008 – 11
