Tenement at Gdanska street 91, Bydgoszcz

Tenement at Gdanska street 91
Polish: Kamienica Gdańska 91 w Bydgoszczy
Tenement from Gdanska Street Tenement from Gdanska Street
Bydgoszcz Location within Poland
General information
Type	Tenement
Architectural style	Historicism
Location	Gdanska Street 91, Bydgoszcz, Poland
Coordinates
Groundbreaking	1898
Completed	1899
Client	Carl Bradtke
Technical details
Floor count	4
Design and construction
Architect	Fritz Weidner

The Tenement at Gdanska street 91 is a habitation building located at Gdańska Street N°91, in Bydgoszcz.

Location

The building stands on the western side of Gdańska Street, between Świętojańska Street and Chocimska street.

It stands close to remarkable tenements in the same street:

• Alfred Schleusener Tenement at N°62;
• Józef Święcicki tenement at N°63;
• Eduard Schulz Tenement at N°66-68;
• Rudolf Kern Tenement at N°70;
• Tenement at Gdanska street 71;
• Tenement at Gdanska street 75;
• Ernst Bartsch tenement at N°79;
• Paul Storz Tenement at N°81;
• Otto Riedl Tenement at N° 85.

History

The house was built in 1897-1898 by the architect Fritz Weidner, a German builder who came to Bydgoszcz at the end of the 19th century, and had a frantic building activity in the city between 1896 and 1914. The architect lived in the tenement he built at Gdanska 34 from 1912 on.

In the same area, Fritz Weidner built houses at the following addresses:

- Mix Ernst tenement and movie theatre at Gdanska St. 10 in 1905;

- Thomas Frankowski Tenement at Gdanska St. 28 in 1897;

- George Sikorski Tenement at Gdańska St. 31, in 1906;

- Max Rosental Tenement at Gdanska St. 42 in 1905;

- Ernst Bartsch tenement at Gdańska St.79, in 1898;

- House at Freedom Square 3, in 1903.

The tenement was first owned by a master stonecutter, Carl Bradtke who lived until 1898 in Dworcowa street (German: Bahnofstrasse) before moving to his new house in 1899. He still kept his shop of "Marble commodities" at Bahnofstrasse 52 until start of WWI. Carl Bradtke also commissioned another local architect, Joseph Święcicki, for the construction of a nearby tenement at N°93.

Features

The house presents forms of prussian Historicism, at a transition time from the Eclecticism to Secession movement. The facade has gables with different forms, bay windows, loggias and various shaped windows.

The main frontage is flanked with triangular topped gables. The middle section play on symmetry, through the network of arcades and open loggias, while the upper part is purposefully designed asymmetrically.

This design is a choice undertaken by Fritz Weidner: to part from stuccoes for decorative arrangement as architectural elements.

Interiors have noteworthy elements, especially the ceiling in hallway and entrance adorned with flower stuccoes.

The building shows similarity with a neighbouring one, at N°79, also designed by Fritz Weidner.

Gallery

• Bdg Gdanska91 3 07-2013.jpg

  Noticeable asymmetric facade

• Bdg Gdanska91 4 07-2013.jpg

  Crow-stepped gable

• Gdanska 91.jpg

  Detail of an open loggia

See also

• Gdanska Street in Bydgoszcz
• (Polish) Downtown district in Bydgoszcz
• (Polish) Fritz Weidner

Bibliography

• (Polish) Jastrzębska-Puzowska Iwona: Poglądy artystyczne i twórczość bydgoskiego architekta Fritza Weidnera. [w.] Materiały do dziejów kultury i sztuki Bydgoszczy i regionu. zeszyt 5. Pracownia Dokumentacji i Popularyzacji Zabytków Wojewódzkiego Ośrodka Kultury w Bydgoszczy. Bydgoszcz 2000
• (Polish) Bręczewska-Kulesza Daria, Derkowska-Kostkowska Bogna, Wysocka A., [i inni]: Ulica Gdańska. Przewodnik historyczny, Bydgoszcz 2003

References

Panorama on facades of Gdanska street. Tenement at N°91 is on the left

Panorama on facades of Gdanska street. Tenement at N°91 is on the left