Thomas Frankowski Tenement (Bydgoszcz)

Thomas Frankowski Tenement is a house located in Bydgoszcz, at Gdanska Street 28.

Thomas Frankowski Tenement
Polish: Kamienica Thomasa Frankowskiego w Bydgoszczy
View from Gdanska street
General information
Type	Tenement
Architectural style	German Historicism
Classification	N°748678-Reg.A/1582), 16th February 2011.[1]
Location	Gdańska Street 28, Bydgoszcz, Poland
Country	Poland
Coordinates	53°7′42″N 18°0′22″E
Construction started	1897
Completed	1898
Client	Thomas Frankowski
Technical details
Floor count	4
Design and construction
Architect	Fritz Weidner

Location

The tenement stands on the eastern side of Gdanska Street, near the intersection with Krasinski street.

History

On the site of the tenement was an earlier building, dating from approximately 1875. Actual house was commissioned by landlord Thomas Frankowski, a rentier.[2] It has been built in 1897-1898 by the architect Fritz Weidner. At the time, the address was Danzigerstrasse 156, Bromberg.

Fritz Weidner was a German builder who came to Bydgoszcz at the end of the 19th century. He conducted frantic building activity in the city between 1896 and 1914. From 1912, he lived in the house he built for himself at Gdańska St.34.

In the same area, Fritz Weidner built houses at the following addresses:[3]

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

From 1909, the building housed the headquarters of the Bydgoszcz branch of Józef Madejewski's Institute of Trading Science created in 1892: the organization led educational courses related to geography, trade, modern communications, shorthand and typing.

During interwar period, the edifice housed Seifert & Forster's workshop,[4] specialized in repairing cars and bicycles.

Architecture

The tenement presents forms of German historicism, in a transitional phase between the eclecticism and secession style.

The whole facade is purposefully designed on asymmetry, which is a means of architectural expression, with stucco decoration for decorative arrangement on various elements: windows, arcade-loggias, bay window, balcony s gables and Peak ornaments.[5]

Inside, original staircase, doors and decorative stained glasses are still preserved.

The building has been put on the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Heritage List, N°748678 Reg.A/1582, on February 16, 2011.[1]

Gallery

• 
  Ad for Joseph Madejewski's Institute, 1910
• 
  Loggia
• 
  Bay windows
• 
  Detail of roof and Gable

See also

• Gdanska Street in Bydgoszcz
• Bydgoszcz
• Fritz Weidner

References

1. zabytek-kujawsko-pomorskie issued 28.02.2014
2. Adress und Telefonbücher von Bromberg-1898-p.48
3. l (3 April 2013). "Te kamienice Fritza Weidnera stoją do dziś". bydgoszcz.wyborcza.pl. bydgoszcz.wyborcza. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
4. Adress und Telefonbücher von Bromberg-1926-p.66
5. Jastrzębska-Puzowska Iwona: Poglądy artystyczne i twórczość bydgoskiego architekta Fritza Weidnera. Materiały do dziejów kultury i sztuki Bydgoszczy i regionu. zeszyt 5. Pracownia Dokumentacji i Popularyzacji Zabytków Wojewódzkiego Ośrodka Kultury w Bydgoszczy. Bydgoszcz 2000

Bibliography

• (in Polish) Bręczewska-Kulesza Daria, Derkowska-Kostkowska Bogna, Wysocka A., [i inni]: Ulica Gdańska. Przewodnik historyczny, Bydgoszcz 2003
• (in Polish) Jastrzębska-Puzowska I., Architekt Fritz Weidner i jego rola w kształtowaniu nowego oblicza Bydgoszczy na przełomie XIX i XX wieku - UMK, Toruń 2002.
• (in German) Iwona Jastrzębska-Puzowska (Bydgoszcz/Bromberg) - Der Bromberger Architekt Fritz Weidner – Kunstauffassung und Werk