Noteworthy is the villa of the co-owner and founder of the sugar factory, Leon Grabski, dating from 1883, rebuilt in the 1920s in Renaissance style, as well as the administrative building designed in classicist style by the architect Stefan Cybichowski in 1924.

History of the structure

The “Gniezno” sugar factory originally the Limited Partnership “Cukrownia Grabski, Jeschke i Spółka - Gniezno” was established in 1881 by Leon Grabski and Adolf Jeschke. Until 1918 it was run by Leon Grabski, then by Edward Grabski, co-owner of the sugar factory, owner of an estate in Bieganowo and a tannery in Gniezno, a social activist of merit for the town. The construction of the sugar factory began in March 1882, and already in October production began, when 20 thousand tons of beets were processed. In 1883, for the needs of the sugar factory, a narrow-gauge railroad line was built to Odrowąż, 18 km long, to transport sugar beets. The sugar factory production buildings were erected on the Balcerkowo manor farm. Between them and Wrzesińska Street, a residence of the sugar factory owners was built in 1883, surrounded by a park, with an orangery built in 1927. Next to the park, the administrative building of the sugar factory with a separate garage building from 1921, designed by architect Stefan Cybichowski, was built in 1924. In 1937 the modern sugar factory processed about 55,000 tons of beet and produced 9,213 tons of sugar. During World Wars I and II the sugar factory was under German receivership. In October 1945 it was nationalized and changed its name to “Cukrownia Gniezno”. In 1947, on the initiative of the sugar factory employees, a monument was erected on the factory premises, commemorating the employees of the sugar factory, murdered during the German occupation in 1939-45. The sugar factory owners’ villa was adapted in 1959 as the sugar factory kindergarten. In the 1990s the privatized sugar factory was bought and taken over on 13 July 2001 by a German company Pfeifer und Langen, which quickly finished production, moved the equipment and machinery to the sugar factory in Gosławice and demolished the production buildings in 2004. The sugar factory in Gosławice was named “Cukrownia Gniezno” with the seat in Gosławice. Currently, the only buildings left from the entire industrial complex are the administration building with garages and the villa of the sugar factory owner, which were subject to conservation protection in 2004. The 16-hectare site of the former sugar factory was put up for sale by Pfeifer und Langen.

Description of the structure

The complex of buildings remaining after the former sugar factory in Gniezno is located at 24/26, 28 and 28a Wrzesińska Street. It consists of a spatially separated and separate residential complex with a villa and an orangery, currently a hotel with a restaurant, situated on a fenced plot surrounded by greenery and a park. Next to it, at no. 28 Wrzesińska Street with an entrance gate originally leading to the former sugar factory, an administrative building has been preserved, now the “Ambulatorium” clinic, with the former garage no. 28a currently used by the Cooperative Bank and an orthopaedic clinic.

The villa, erected in 1883, was rebuilt in the 1920s probably by the architect Stefan Cybichowski in a form resembling Renaissance architecture. The building was adapted as a kindergarten and renovated several times. It recently underwent a major renovation and has been adapted as a restaurant and hotel. Although it has been modernized, it has not lost its original character, and its surroundings have retained a clear spatial composition and layout from around the 19th century. The main axis of the park, preserved until the present day, ran along an east-west line. It is marked out by an entrance gate, the existing tree stand, with a partially preserved alley accented by a symmetrically located fountain in front of the main entrance to the centrally located villa. South of this axis, from a side entrance, there is an alley ending with a gate leading to the sugar factory administration building. The western side of the complex is closed by an orangery built in 1927, also called a greenhouse, with a view of the now non-existent industrial buildings of the sugar factory. The villa was built on a fragmented rectangular floor plan, enriched with central avant-corps to the east and west. In the front and garden elevations, the avant-corps are emphasized by spacious terraces, and the side avant-corps by a balcony. The one-storey building is covered with a high hipped roof with sheet metal. The brick building has plastered elevations divided by cornices and decorated with imitated rustication in the ground floor and harmoniously arranged rectangular windows framed by profiled surrounds. The adjacent administration building was designed in classicist style by architect Stefan Cybichowski. The building is made of brick, two-storey, covered with a high mansard tile roof. The plastered elevations are accented with high column porticoes with arcades in the axes, lesenes in the corners and a corbel cornice, referring to traditional Polish architecture. The interior of the building retains the original layout of the rooms and the panelling, stucco and door carpentry that are elements of the architectural design of the main hall.

Visitor access: The structure can be viewed from the outside.

Compiled by: Radomiła Banach, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Poznań, 08.01.2018

Bibliography

• Encyklopedia Gniezna i Ziemi Gnieźnieńskiej, TMG 2011
• Dzieje Gniezna, ed. J. Topolski, PWN Warszawa 1965, pp. 530,534, 703-04,764