You have few reasons to visit the district of Przymorze apart from to marvel at one of the longest residential buildings in Europe. Known as Falowiec (The Wave), the communist-era residential block stretches for nearly a kilometre (860m officially), boasts three kilometres of drainpipes, and has three separate bus stops to service its estimated 7,000 residents. Constructed between 1970 and 1973, the monstrosity was originally four separate ten-storey tower blocks. Possibly to alleviate housing shortages, more likely in a moment of madness, city planners decided to go hell for leather and link each building together. For whatever reason the link-up work did not run in a straight line and the completed structure runs in a meandering line, hence its nickname. All this a far cry from the 1950s, when Przymorze had no asphalt roads and was little more than a few potato fields. If you’re curious to see for yourself head up to ul. Obrońców Wybrzeża.

Falowiec comments Add Yours

• Editor_Gdansk - Gdansk 14 June 2011
  Thanks Mirek for the info. We have had information about Falowiec in our guides for over 10 years and this is the first time someone has pointed out our mistake. We did drive along the road next to the building once which is where we came up with the distance of a kilometre that we mentioned.
• Mirek - Gdynia 12 June 2011
  Please try to be more precised. The said building at Obroncow Wybrzeza is some 860 meters long. It is actually the third longest residencial building in Europe. The First one is in Viena second one in Rome.Mirek W - Licensed tour guide.