Tadeusza Kościuszki street, Bydgoszcz

During its existence, the street bore the following names:[4]

• 1880s-1920: Königstraße (English: King's street)
• 1920-1939: Ulica Tadeusza Kościuszki
• 1939-1945: Markgraf Gero Straße
• Since 1945 Ulica Tadeusza Kościuszki.

1912[5]

Early Modern architecture

The first owner was Veronika Szeszinski, the widow of laborer (German: arbeiter).[6]

Although the straight lines of the facade tend to reveal early modernist trends, one can still notice the Art Nouveau influence in the round bay window or the wooden pitch roof visible on top of the frontage onto Kościuszki street. Furthermore, the entrance on Świętojańska street kept preserved a beautiful wrought iron grille bearing the date of "1907".

• 
  View from the street
• 
  Facade on Kościuszki street
• 
  Grilled entrance door

1888-1889[5]

Eclecticism

The commissioner of the building was Julius Schlauke, living at "10 Brunnenstraße" (today's Chwytowo street).[7] He was a restaurateur in the nearby city of Ostromecko, east of Bydgoszcz, located along the Vistula river.[8]

• 
  Corner view of the building

1904[9]

Eclecticism

The owner was Ludomira Schirmer, the widow of a mail employee.[9]

• 
  View of the facade from the street

1930s

Modernism

• 
  View of the facade from the street

1905[6]

Art Nouveau

Then registered at "2 Königstraße", the owner was Ludomira Schirmer, also landlord at Nr 1.[6]

Although damaged, the top of the facade still displays some Art Nouveau motifs: some floral patterns and festoons.

• 
  Main frontage on the street

1905-1907[10]

Art Nouveau

Then registered at "58 Königstraße", the first landlord was Konstantin Bogulawski, a journeyman roofer.[11]

Recently renovated in 2022,[12] the building had probably more decorations. The facade displays balconies, stacked above the entrance, closed by an wrought iron grille gate. The top of the frontage is decorated with an Art Nouveau festoon motif and balanced by the presence on both sides of wall gables.

• 
  Refurbished frontage

1892-1893[10]

Eclecticism

Adolf Hartkopf, a secretary in the railways, was the fist landlord of this large villa.[13] Living at Nr.5, Hartkopf was also owner of the adjoining villa at Nr.7.[13]

The large house is slightly offset from the street main frontage, creating a small front yard. The eclectic facade boasts architectural details: pediments on windows, a corbel table and an adorned pedestal supporting a finial.

• 
  View from the street

1893[14]

Eclecticism

The building then registered at "57 Königstraße" was commissioned by Andreas Krahn, a postman, living at Nr. 9.[14]

Renovated in 2022, the facade boasts lean and symmetrical features: one can notice in particular the large entrance door, topped by a fanlight.

• 
  Main frontage

1889-1890[10]

Eclecticism

Adolf Hartkopf owned and lived in this villa before moving to his next acquisition at Nr. 5 a few years after the construction of this house in the early 1890s.[15]

The villa architecture singles out from the rest of the street abodes. With its large roof overhanging a columned loggia, its style evokes American colonial architecture.

• 
  The villa ca 1930s
• 
  The house today

1889-1891[10]

Eclecticism

The building was commissioned by Andreas Krahn, a postman,[14] also landlord of the tenement at Nr.6. The local architect Anton Hoffmann lived there in the late 1880s.[16]

The edifice, revamped in 2022,[3] features in particular a bossage ground floor, the original entrance grill flanked by pilasters, pediments on the first floor and a corbel table.

• 
  Main frontage

1910-11[10]

Late Art Nouveau

The trading company "Hermann Onck" was the commissioner of the building.[17]

Refurbished in 2022, the tenement presents two almost-similar shifted bodies boasting balconies, avant-corps, oeil-de-boeufs and wall gables.

• 
  Main frontage

1930s[10]

Modernism

The current building replaced another which has been standing on that plot since the 1880s.[1]

The features of the tenement, refurbished in the early 2020s, are closer to the Art Deco Streamline Moderne, en vogue in this period.

• 
  View of the facade from the street

1911-1912[10]

Late Art Nouveau, early Modernism

The building had for first landlord Johann Kujawski, declared as "masonry builder".[18]

The tenement mixes Art Nouveau details (ornated main door, round top windows, round bay window, festoons and floral cartouches) and early modernist features (vertical lines, oblong openings).

• 
  Main frontage
• 
  Door at 18

1886-1887[10]

Eclecticism

The edifice is one of the oldest original ones in the street. It was ordered by Adolf Grabarski, a builder living at "27 Prinzenhöhe" (today's Lubelska street).[19]

The one-storey building, renovated in 2019,[20] presents eclectic architectural details.

• 
  Nr.20 from the street

1905[10]

Art Nouveau

August Winter, a merchant, was the first owner of the edifice.[21]

The revamped ensemble[3] comprises:

• on the left side, a one-level house with a wrought-iron balcony and an Art Nouveau wooden entrance door;
• on the right side, a two-storey tenement featuring pilasters and an adorned top gable.

• 
  Ensemble at Nr.22
• 
  House at Nr.22

1910-1911[10]

Late Art Nouveau, early Modernism

The tenement, then at "48 Königstraße", had been commissioned by Johann Czaplewski, a master painter, who had his studio there.[18]

The large renovated[3] building exposes few Art Nouveau details, but displays many architectural elements such as a large bay window overhanging the ornamented door, the two wall gables and the top eyelid dormers.

• 
  Main frontage
• 
  Adorned wooden door

In the 1910s, this large plot was occupied by the cigars and cigarettes factory Orianda, owned by Stefan Stawiński.[3] From 1915 onwards, the company had a branch in Brodnica.

Stefan Stawiński personally bought tobacco in Russia and imported it to his factories in Bydgoszcz and Brodnica. Over the following years, the company developed dynamically. and in 1925, Stawiński expanded his business to kitchenware, under the same name.[22]

• 
  Advertisement for "Orianda", ca 1920s

1906, by Paul Sellner

In 1906, a 5 hectares (12 acres) plot of land at the corner of Kościuszki and Chocimska streets, in downtown district, was bought by shoe-business entrepreneur Antoni Weynerowski[23] to increase the capacity of his former workshop in 34 Swiętej Trojcy street (non existent today). Antoni asked architect Paul Sellner to design a modern factory complex[24] with two storeys, an attic, facilities for workers and a freight elevator.

• 
  View from street crossing
• 
  Facade Chocimska street
• 
  "Kobra" logo, on Kościuszki street

1896–1897[10]

Eclecticism

The tenement was first listed at "Königstraße 45" (today's Kościuszki street), owned by a merchand, Friedrich Guse.[25] At the turn of the 20th century, another merchant, Antoni Cywiński, purchased[26] and kept it till the start of WWII.[27]

Distinctive style facades with eclectic details (pediments, empty cartouches, bossage on the corner elevation) mixed with plain orange bricks.

• 
  Corner view
• 
  Door onto Chocimska street

1895[10]

Eclecticism

The tenement was initially the property of Franz ßawlowski, a mason living at today's 26 Chocimska street, who put it for renting.[28]

Nicely renovated in 2017, both elevations exhibit stuccoed motifs around the openings, a corbel table on the eaves as well as a delicate mascaron above the entrance on Chocimska street.

• 
  View from street crossing
• 
  Mascaron

1880s[1]

Eclecticism

Joseph Zbylski was a railway worker.[8] The Zbylski family kept ownership of the building till the mid-1925s.[26]

The house still keeps his front yard and its original fencing.

• 
  The house seen from the street

1896[28]

The building was commissioned by Franz Pawlowski, a mason builder,[28] at the same time as the tenement he had built at present day 16 Chocimska street. Franz Pawlowski lived at today's 26 Chocimska street.[28]

The tenement, in need of restoration, still holds some fragments of decoration, mainly pediments and cartouches.

• 
  Main frontage on the street

1882[1]

The house retains a nice large wooden entrance door.

• 
  Entrance door

The ensemble was closed down in 2017, following the Polish education system reform.[29] Part of the building now houses a vocational school (Polish: Zasadnicza Szkoła Zawodowa Wiedza) and "Orlik", a sport complex.

In 2013, a mural portraying detective Sherlock Holmes was unveiled, in reference to the nearby "Londynek" area.[30]

• 
  Main building
• 
  Sherlock Holmes mural

1893[14]

This building at then "39 Königstraße" was ordered by Wilhelm Bablitz, a master cooper.[14] Bablitz was living at "18 Kujawierstraße" (today's Kujawska street).

The tenement is in dire state and retains very few architectural details.

• 
  Main frontage on the street

1891[15]

The edifice has been renovated in the 2010s.

• 
  View of the building from the street

1880s,[1] by Anton Hoffmann[16]

Eclecticism

One of the oldest edifices in the street, it has been designed by local architect Anton Hoffmann.

The tenement needs renovation, but still exhibits eclectic architectural details.

• 
  View from the street

1895[8]

Eclecticism

August Käding, working as a pointsman, was the first owner of the building. He was living at "72 Danzigerstraße" (present day 129 Gdańska street.[8]

Many decorative elements has been lost, leaving the slight avant-corps, the large entrance door and some window pediments.

• 
  Facade on the street

Jutrzenka is a food industry enterprise, set up in 1951 in Bydgoszcz from the aggregation of nationalized companies dating from the pre-war period. It has been incorporated in 2014 into the Colian Holding, seated in Opatówek in the Greater Poland Voivodeship.[31]

Initially the site had been producing hardtacks for the army: during WWII, it was operated by "Heinis Knakebrot-Backerei G.m.b.H.".[32] In 1950, it became the "Jutrzenka plant Nr 1". Its activity was transferred to a newer factory and now the plot is the seat of "Colian Logistic".

• 
  The factory in the 2000s

1915[17]

Art Nouveau, early Modernism

The tenement, then at "34 Königstraße", was first owned by Wladisław (Wladislaus) Czarnecski, a master builder.[17]

The building displays the same details as at its inception, in particular a remarkably Art Nouveau-adorned portal.

• 
  Main frontage
• 
  Adorned wooden door
• 
  The building in the late 1910s

1909[33]

Early Modernism

First registered landlord was Friedrich ßansegrau, a carpenter.[33]

Apart from the light ground floor bossage, few elements are noticeable on the facade.

• 
  Main frontage on the street

Ernst Schmidt Oil refinery, fat factory and resin oil distillation (German: Ölraffinerie, Fettfabrik und Harzöldestillation von Ernst Schmidt) was located on the plot between Kościuszki street, Gdańska street and the railway tracks.[34]

In 1890, Ernst Schmidt, living at 14 Dworcowa Street, launched a drive belt factory. In 1904, he expanded its activity to the production of chemical and technical preparations. For this purpose, Schmidt built at then "29/31 Königstraße" a factory complex with a 900 square metres (0.22 acres) hall equipped with a steam drive.[35]

The oil factory was established in 1904, the resin distillation plant two years later. The raw materials and oil distillates were imported (America, Russia, Bohemia).[36] Best seller products were carbolineum and automotive lubricants.

The firm was disbanded after the end of the First World War: the vast plot was constructed with tenements onto Kościuszki and Gdańska street.[26] The buildings on Kościuszki street are today in a derelict state.[37]

• 
  Picture of the plant ca 1906
• 
  Partly Partly abandoned tenement at 60
• 
  Derelict building facing the railway tracks