The first station with this name opened in 1949 in a cutting (now covered) on the Warsaw Cross-City Line between Marchlewskiego (currently Jana Pawła II) and Emilii Plater streets, a few hundred meters to the west of the current location and roughly on the site of the former Vienna station (pl).

It had two side platforms and a simple wooden station building on the street level.

The present structure was built between 1955 and 1963, based on the designs of architects Arseniusz Romanowicz [pl] and Piotr Szymaniak (overground portion) and Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts artists and alumni Wojciech Fangor, Jerzy Sołtan, Zbigniew Ihnatowicz [pl], Wiktor Gessler, Adolf Szczepiński, Bogusław Smyrski and Lech Tomaszewski [pl] (underground portion).

The overground part consists of two rectangular buildings without any facilities, being effectively oversized shelters for staircases leading to the platforms, ticket offices, etc.

Media related to Warszawa Śródmieście railway station at Wikimedia Commons