The area was originally a bog called Ciganska Bara (Serbian Cyrillic: Циганска бара, "Gypsy pond").

Marshy area covered modern location of the Belgrade Main railway station and parts of the Sarajevska and Hajduk-Veljkov Venac streets.

[2][3] During the high water levels in the Sava, the bog would also rise, forming a proper lake which reached the Bosanska (modern Gavrila Principa) and Sarajevska streets.

They lived in small huts or caravans (called čerge), between the high grass and rush, with their horses and water buffaloes grazing freely in the area.

As most of the huts were actually stilt houses, built on piles due to the marshy land, the area was gradually named Bara Venecija ("Venice pond").

After World War I, plans were made for further filling of the area next to the railway, in order to expand cargo section of the station.

On 9 March 1940, an agreement was signed with the "Danish Group" consortium, which was to pour 500,000 tons of sand on the area between the railway and the river, and from the station to the bridge.

City already hired the same consortium (made up of Danish companies "Kampsax", "Højgaard & Schultz" and "Carl Nielsen") to start construction of New Belgrade, across the Sava.

Many hangars and depots, asphalt plants and oil tanks are located here, due to the proximity of both downtown Belgrade and Sava harbor (Savsko pristanište).

The "Ložionica" complex, located within the railway station compound, includes boiler house, adjacent depot, turntable and water tower.

Construction of the original depot, water stop and coal loading ramp began in 1883 on a different location, closer to the central railway building.

[8] The complex was placed under the preliminary protection as the cultural monument and became dispatched ward of the Railway Museum where locomotives from the 19th century were exhibited.

Already in bad shape, after the construction of Belgrade Waterfront began and the Main Railway station was closed, the security was removed from the complex.

A month later, in late August 2018, a group of people undetected for days and using gas burners, cut and destroyed two priceless locomotives ("Pula" from 1864 and "Presek" from 1884), hand cast railway wagon, seven planes and two vertical drills.

[8] In August 2021, the government announced architectural design competition for the future "creative-innovative multi-functional center", the "hub of creative industry".

Design by "AKVS Architecture" studio includes the central plateau, boiler room transformed into arched gallery with 26 revolving doors, and new building with forested terraces and oxygen bubble with microalgae based photobioreactors.

When Institute for the protection of the cultural monuments wanted to contact the owner to fix it, all possible proprietors and leaseholders, including those named as such in the official papers (companies "Jugošped" and "Zepter", City of Belgrade, Republic of Serbia) denied the ownership.

[18] Ukrainian émigré architect, and informant of the OGPU (later NKVD), Pavel Krat, was given the task of reducing the façade to the basic social realistic style.

[19] With the construction of the Belgrade Waterfront since the mid-2010s, and the complete overhaul of the Sava Square, there were signals from the city and the investors, both for the restoration of the original, rich façade and for keeping the present appearance of the building.

National postal service, Pošta Srbije, announced it has no further need for the building, so the state, which is the official owner of the object, decided to sell it, foreseeing it might be adapted into the hotel.

[18] In February 2020, deputy mayor Goran Vesić announced the restoration of the original façade, after the reshaping of the Sava Square is finished.

[23] Situation changed again in June 2022, when city announced that the old building will be completely demolished, and the new one, replica of the old, Korunović's design, will be built from scratch.

The river one was smaller, but had an interior equipped for the prolonged stay of the soldiers, including quite efficient ventilation system and toilet.

As both bunkers were on the location of the controversial Belgrade Waterfront project, they were scheduled for demolition, despite the ideas of turning them into cultural or exhibition spaces, which is usually done with such objects in European cities.