Grunwaldzka street in Bydgoszcz

Built in 1910,[8] by Theodor Patzwald

Early modernism

The first owners of the tenement were the Goltz brothers (Gustaw, Rudolf and Oskar) who, as construction managers, conducted many projects in the city. In July 1912, a restaurant and a cafe -Parkhaus- were arranged, with an area as a summer garden: at that time, the place was giving onto the Bydgoszcz Canal,[9] which was covered only in the 1970s. The same year, the Goltz brothers sold the ensemble to C.A. Franke, a local successful entrepreneur. In that period, the building housed the office of the then Royal School of Arts and Crafts, as well as the house designer, architect Theodor Patzwald.

Later on, during the interwar, the landlord was August Latte, owner of a cheese warehouse and a factory.[10] During the recent renovation of the ensemble in 2015, a mural was created on the wall deprived of opening: it displays advertising with old-fashioned features from the 1920s.[11]

The early modernist style still keeps influence from Art Nouveau: curved bow windows, a broken segmental pediment, a vegetal motif and two grand loggias adorned with slender columns and wrought iron grillwork.

• 
  View of the ensemble at 1/3
• 
  Old-fashion style advert mural

1880s[12]

Eclecticism

Early in the 1880s, a restaurant was run there by Reinhard Zindler.[12] In the 1920s, another restaurant stood there, with a cafe, called Dom Parkowy, run by Teodor Sikorski.[10]

1906[8]

Late Art Nouveau

The initial address of the building was 19 Berliner Straße. First register landlord was Gustav Templin, a tradesman.[13]

Although the frontage lost its architectural decoration, one can still appreciate the large canted bay window overlooking the entrance, with a floral motif at its base.[9]

• 
  Facade onto the street

1900s[8]

Late Art Nouveau

Located at first at 17 Berliner Straße, the landlord at its construction was Stanislaus Bonneberger, a shoemaker.[14]

The frontage has lost many of its architectural details, but still exhibits late Art Nouveau style mixed with modernist influences. Noticeable are the wrought iron balconies, a few adorned cartouches and the decorated entrance lintel.

• 
  Building at Grunwaldzka 14

In December 1808, the city hall of Bromberg bought 1 ha of land next to the road leading to Szyszkówka (today's Czyżkówko district), to establish a catholic cemetery: first burials were only performed in 1811, when Prussian authorities banned burying the dead in church cemeteries.[15] Starofarny Cemetery was the first catholic cemetery in the city for which the access road (today's Grunwaldzka street) was cobbled in 1828. In 1855, the cemetery was enlarged by 0.40 ha through purchasing an abuting plot; with several other acquisitions the burial ground reached an area of 1,425 ha.[16] The area entered the city limits in 1877, when Okolo district merged with Bydgoszcz territory. During the second half of the 19th century, the cemetery was embellished: in 1886, a new stone fencing was erected and in 1892, tree avenues were created with chestnuts, maples and lime trees. Since Prussian authorities did not allow the creation of additional catholic parishes during the end of the 19th century, Starofarny cemetery soon got packed: in 1906, eventually, a new parish cemetery was established in the northern suburb of the city, called Cmentarz Nowofarny (English: New parish cemetery), to distinguish it from the Cmentarz Starofarny (English: Old parish cemetery).

During the Nazi occupation, Starofarny cemetery was repeatedly damaged so as to wipe out Polish traces within the city. Following an order from occupying authorities to remove Polish inscriptions from the tombstones, Hitler Youth militias destroyed Polish tombstones, beating inscriptions and damaging the fence. In particular, on a Sunday of April 1942, SA and SS troops stormed the cemetery, smearing Polish gravestones with cement and destroying metal elements of the graves.[16]

Between 1945 and 1964, burials were carried out anew in family graves and in neglected places from the 19th century, which were no more tended. Finally, the last burial took place on July 11, 1964. The cemetery was then declared closed on July 15, 1964, by Bydgoszcz authorities and renamed Municipal cemetery. In the late 1970s, urbanization plans regarding the area where Focha, Kruszwicka, Nakielska and Grunwaldzka streets meet imposed to bulldoze a northern strip of the cemetery. Work started in 1978: it included reconstructing the fence, razing chapels and exhumating some graves. The operation was badly carried out and several errors led to the destruction of a 17th-century chapel, the loss of many family crypts -some of them being work of art edifices- and the demolition of the caretaker's house. The wrought iron grating elements of the main entry gate were returned to the church of the Poor Clares where it originated from.

Those misbehaviours triggered the establishment of a Social Committee for the Rescue of Starofarny Cemetery Monuments, headed by architect Stefan Klajbor, which succeeded in listing the cemetery on the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Heritage List (No.601242 A/879, June 28, 1983).[17] In 1985, Metropolitan Curia in Gniezno handed over the management of Starofarny Cmentarz to Bydgoszcz administrative authorities.[15] In 1991, a restoration plan of the facility was launched, comprising, among others:

• a reconstruction of the fence;
• tending the corner of 1870 French soldier tombs;
• rebuilding the 17th century chapel.

Since 1998, the work has been supported by private funds collected locally during All Saints' Day. In 2018, further contributions also made possible additional renovations such as fencing and family chapels.[18] In 1994, city authorities reopened the cemetery for burials, especially for local distinguished people.

• 
  Fence
• 
  Main entry gate onto Grunwaldzka street
• 
  Tomb monument
• 
  General view
• 
  Family chapels
• 
  Tomb statue

Beginning 20th century[8]

Early Modern architecture

The three buildings date back to the same period, transitioning from fading Art Nouveau to canted forms of early modernism. This shift appears differently on each of them. While the elevation in the middle (No. 22) is bare of any decoration, its neighbours still display some elements of the late 19th century style:

• wrought iron volutes in the car passageway, adorned portal and oeil-de-boeuf for No. 20;
• semicircular transom for No. 24.

• 
  View of the frontages from the street

Late 1890s[8]

Eclecticism

Located at the time as the last edifice within Bromberg city limits on the avenue, its first landlord was Thomas Diete, who established there a tavern To the Golden Star (German: Gasthof Zum Goldener Stern).[14]

The decoration of the late 19th century have been lost today. Few elements (pediments) remain from the eclectic architectural details, as one can see from early pictures.

• 
  Building at 26 Grunwaldzka after renovation

1875-1899

In 1868, Carl Fiebrandt, a journeyman, founded a small mechanical at workshop 11 Dworcowa Street producing and repairing agricultural machinery. Looking for a place to expand his industry, he bought in 1875, a plot in Okole suburb, at the intersection of Schaussestrasse and Granzstrasse (today's Grunwaldzka and Graniczna streets) and built there a large one-story hall. He quickly realized that the rapid expansion of railways could be a bonanza for him. Hence in 1892, he dedicated exclusively the production to signaling and train traffic control devices.[19] In 1899, Fiebrandt established the C. Fiebrandt & Co-Eisenbahn-Signalbau-Anstalt Gesellschaft (English: Railway signal building company). During WWII, the firm produced shells for machine guns that were handloaded in the Bromberg Dynamit Nobel AG Factory located in the southern forest area of the city.[20]

After WWII, the firm was taken over by the state treasury and get its name changed first to Bydgoska Fabryka Sygnałów Kolejowych (English: Bydgoszcz Railway Signal Factory-State Enterprise), then in 1958 to Bydgoskie Zakłady Elektromechaniczne (English: Bydgoszcz Electro-Mechanical Works) or BELMA. In 1951, the factory started to produce for army: it is now its business staple.[21] In 2018, the firm celebrated its 150th anniversary from its production site located in the vicinity of Bydgoszcz, at Białe Błota.

Today are still visible the wrought iron grate of the main gate, flanked by two front buildings onto Grunwaldzka street at Nos 30 and 32.

Early 1880s[12]

Neo-Renaissance, elements of Neo-Baroque

The edifice was initially located on Okole village land, under the address 5 Chaussee Straße: the landlord was Ludwik Dürr, a butcher. His son Ernst took over the business and ran it till the late 1920s. A butcher shop has been operated there till the outbreak of WWII.[22]

The elevation is rendered unbalanced by the heavy bossaged bay window featuring a loggia. The left side shows adorned windows with festoons in cartouches, pilasters, curved pediments bearing a stylized coat of arms and a top corbel table.

• 
  Facade at 34 Grunwaldzka
• 
  Detail of the pediment

1850-1900[8]

Eclecticism

Situated in Schleusenau suburb, at 9 Lindenstraße, it was the property of a carpenter, Heinrich Gürich.[23] In the 1910s, the ground floor housed a plumber store ran by Friedrich Kolbe (see gallery) at 107 Chaussee straße.

The balanced facade has been renovated in 2017.[24]

• 
  Renovated elevation

1894,[9] by Józef Święcicki and Karl Bergner

Neo Baroque, Rococo and Mannerism

Dr Leonhard Tonn began to run a pharmacy at this spot before commissioning the house. He contracted architect Józef Swiecicki who worked with Karl Bergner; builder was well-known entrepreneur Carl Rose.[9] In March 1894 Dr. Tonn established the Löwen Apotheke Laboratorium für chemische und mikroskopische Untersuchungen - Dr. L. Tonn (English: Under the lion-Pharmacy laboratory for chemical and microscopic analysis). On October 15, 1924, while Bydgoszcz ahd reintegrated Polish territory, the shop was sold to Piotr and Henryk Umbreit, two brothers from Poznań. In 1880, they had already founded in their city a pharmaceutical and chemical warehouse, at that time the second Polish medicine factory in Poznań.[25] In parallel, a medical cabinet opened in the house: in May 1926, dr. Teofil Kowalski from Warsaw succeeded to dr. Keslinger, from Gdańsk. During the Second World War, the management of the pharmacy was taken over by German chemist Georg Kubisch, a member of SA from Gdańsk, and the name changed to Löwen Apotheke. In 1940, the pharmacy receives the name Hindenburg Apotheke since it was also used as a training facility for chemistry students. In 1951, the firm was nationalized as Social Pharmacy No. 12, but its original name Pod Lwem was reinstated in 1978.[26]

At its opening, the pharmacy was equipped with oak furniture imported from Berlin, the bronze lion painted in gold came from Italy.The emblem is one of the few original preserved pharmacy emblems in Poland.[9] The building boasts a rich decoration dominated by various styles elements (Neo Baroque, Rococo and Mannerism). Together with the standing golden lion, the house is characterized by its onion dome bearing a weather vane with a lion silhouette.

• 
  Elevation on the street
• 
  Pharmacy emblem
• 
  Neo Baroque onion dome
• 
  Detail of the weather vane

End of 19th century-1905,[8] by F. Pretzel[9]

Art Nouveau

Built in Okole suburb at 7 Chausseestraße, its owner was a merchant, Carl Raddatz.[23] The Raddatz family kept the property till the outbreak of WWII.[22]

The building has undergone an overhaul in 2017, underlining the stuccoed motifs, especially on the pedimented wall dormer giving onto Grunwaldzka street.

• 
  View from the street crossing

1885[8]

Eclecticism

Constructed on Schleusenau ground in the late 1880s, it has been commissioned by Ludwig Wegener, a boatsman.[27]

The building endured a renovation in 2016.

• 
  Facade on Grunwaldzka street

1958-1959[8]

Modern architecture, Neoclassical architecture

This large edifice was commissioned by the firm BELMA settled at No. 30/32. It was designed as a cultural and educational center (Polish: Dom Kultury) for the benefit of BELMA employees and later also for students from nearby schools. During holidays in particular, the institution used to organize puppet theater performances and film screenings.[9] Today the edifice houses the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Tax Office in Bydgoszcz.

The facility has a large auditorium with a stage. It is an architectural example of Socialist realist construction. In Bydgoszcz, it is the second largest public facility built after 1950, after the Pomeranian Philharmonic.

• 
  View of the facade on Grunwaldzka street
• 
  Detail of the portal with columns

Registered on the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Heritage List (A/1681 July 24, 2015).[17]

1890[8]

Eclecticism

Eduard Schulz, the house investor, was a secretary of the railway. The property remained in the hands of the Schulz family during the interwar period.[9]

On the facade boasts a collection of ornamentation:

• a main entrance flanked by corinthian style columns;
• a bossage wall on the ground floor;
• the first belt course supports pilasters and a columned loggia with a round architrave;
• the second string course carries two series of round top mullioned windows separated by an oeil-de-boeuf;
• a large cornice tops the frontage.

This house has been refurbished in 2019.[28]

• 
  Building before renovation

1890[8]

Art Nouveau

The commissioner of this building was Marie Jacobowski, owner of tenements at No. 57 and 59, where she lived.[23] After a heavy fire damage in 2012,[29] the municipal authorities have decided in 2019 to sell the property to private hands.[30]

Although damaged, the main elevation offers to the viewer topping loggias crowned by a festoon, a bay window with geometrical motifs and an adorned portal.

• 
  View of elevations at 53 and 55
• 
  Frontage onto the street
• 
  Detail of the portal at 55 Grunwaldzka

End 19th century[8]

Eclecticism

Both buildings (along with No. 55) were the property of Marie Jacobowski, who lived at 59.[23] Between the early 1900s and the end of the interwar period, the ground floor at 57 housed a tobacco shop.[22]

Facades did not keep the architectural richness: still noticeable are the corner wrought iron balconies facing each other across Kanałowa street. The tenement at 57 has been refurbished in 2017–2018.

• 
  Building at 57 (far right) before renovation

End 19th century[8]

Eclecticism

While No. 72 and 74 had private owners, the tenement at 78 was initially the property of the Prussian Eastern Railway, as its location commanded a view on the line from Bromberg to Kaliningrad. After 1920 and the restoration of the Polish state, the house was taken over by the Bydgoszcz Railway (Polish: Bydgoskie Koleje Powiatowe), the local district of the Polish State Railways (Polish: Polskie Koleje Państwowe).[22]

All three houses are in a neglected state and few details still prevail, apart from the decoration around the windows (pediments, garnished lintel and cartouches).

• 
  Buildings at 72 74
• 
  Building at 78

Early 20th century[8]

Art Nouveau

The commissioner was Heinrich Seellen.[13]

The building has been deeply refurbished in 2019, after a sell by the municipal authorities to a private company.[31] The thorough renovation highlights Art Nouveau motifs, such as the stuccoed patterns on the top of each wall gable crowing the two terraces.

• 
  98 Grunwaldzka before restoration
• 
  98 Grunwaldzka refurbished

Early 20th century[8]

Modern architecture

The ensemble was owned by the Prussian Eastern Railway (German: Preußische Ostbahn) and built in three stages: 1904 (houses 108 to 114), then 1911 (102 and 104) and 1912 (116-118). The railway company housed here its employees, mostly drivers and auxiliary staff, together with some low-level officials. Up to 50 families used to be accommodated in this housing blocks.[9]

A modern project of residence is planned to be squeezed at 106 (only free plot) in 2020.

• 
  Housing ensemble along the street
• 
  One of the houses

Registered on the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Heritage List (No.690851 A/1159 August 3, 2006).[17]

1936-1945[8]

Modern architecture

At the time of the re-creation of the Polish state, the area was part of the Czyżkówko village, which will be combined with Bydgoszcz territory in the late 1920s. The new district was subordinated to the downtown parish of the Holy Trinity, several kilometers away. In this situation, a dance hall was purchased in 1923 to be replaced by a chapel, consecrated on February 24, 1924.[32]

A request to create a new parish in this area was granted by bishop August Hlond and the parish was inaugurated on July 1, 1933, dedicated to Anthony of Padua, hence endorsing the separation from the Holy Trinity church. The construction of the church, funded partly by Antoni Laubitz, the bishop of Gniezno, began in 1936: the design was realized a year earlier by Poznań architect Stefan Cybichowski.[32] A decade before, Cybichowski had worked on the site of the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.[33] The edifice was not completed at the start of WWII and had been used by Nazi forces as a warehouse to store construction tools, while religious services were held back in the initial chapel. After the war, the church was left devastated and shelled, but after a hasty renovation, it had been consecrated anew by bishop August Hlond on December 1, 1945.[32]

The massive brick church has three naves, with a semi-circular northern chancel. The highlight of the building is the high square steeple, visible from Grunwaldzka street crossing. Inside, several stained glasses cover the openings. The central nave is separated by pillars with decorative goblets capitals supporting a vaulted roof.[32] Restoration works have started in 2020 on the facade and the tower.[33]

• 
  View from the church parvis
• 
  External view of the chancel
• 
  Detail of the steeple, still bearing some 1945 damages

1982-1991

Modern architecture

Grunwaldzka street cuts through a patch of forest before entering another urban area where stands the church. A pastoral center has been active in this area since in 1970. One of its member, Jadwiga Woś, donated a swathe of her land to have a chapel built. A first service was celebrated there on March 9, 1972, for the ten following years. The parish St. Maximilian Kolbe was erected on July 1, 1981.[34] The cornerstone of the church (coming from an ancient Roman temple on Lech Hill in Gniezno) was laid on May 25, 1983 in a ceremony attended among others by the Primate of Poland, Józef Glemp. On May 26, 1991, Cardinal Józef Glemp solemnly consecrated the new church in the Osowa Góra district.

The church is built in a modern style. On the main wall of the chancel one can admire a 7-m-high bronze bas-relief of the Parish Patron saint. The architectural structure also comprises catechetical rooms, a parish office and a daily chapel.

• 
  Grunwaldzka street through the forest before reaching the church
• 
  View of the church from the street
• 
  Northern view
• 
  The chancel with the bas-relief

The last estate on Grunwaldzka street prior to leaving Bydgoszcz territory, is Karczma Rzym (English: Rome Inn), a traditional restaurant. It offers traditional Polish cuisine and bears a name widely spread in Poland for such an establishment .

Karczma Rzym alludes to Adam Mickiewicz's Pan Twardowski, where a sorcerer (Twardowski) sellshis soul to the devil in exchange for eternal life and special powers. However, Twardowski, willing to outwit the devil, includes a special clause in the contract, stating that Satan will own Twardowski's soul only if he visits Rome – a place the sorcerer never intends to go to. The devil's trick relied on luring the sorcerer into a newly built tavern called Rome Inn.

Legend has it that Pan Twardowski spent some time in Bydgoszcz, where, as a celebration as well as a touristic attraction, a figure was recently mounted in a window of a tenement, overseeing the Old Market square. Every day at 13:13 and 21:13, third storey window at No.15 opens and Pan Twardowski appears, accompanied by music and a devilish laughter. He takes a bow, waves his hand, and then disappears, to the delight of gathered spectators.[35]

• 
  Restaurant Karczma Rzym
• 
  Pan Twardowski statue in Bydgoszcz
• 
  No.15 on Old Market Place