History

The decision to establish a technical university in Gdańsk (Technische Hochschule Danzig) was taken in Berlin in 1899. Previously, the Uphagen family sold the city authorities a plot located in Wrzeszcz in the vicinity of the non-existent cemetery of St Nicholas. The general designer was architect Albert Carsten, who worked with Hermann Eggert and Georg Thuer. Between 1900 and 1904, the following buildings were erected: Main Building, Institute of Chemistry, Institute of Electrical Engineering, Machine Laboratory, and several smaller structures. The official opening took place on 6 October 1904. About 200 students and more than 400 auditors were registered; staff consisted of about 60 employees; studies lasted four years. Shortly afterwards, the university underwent extensions. In 1909 a building for the Strength of Materials Laboratory and in 1912 the Institute of Hydromechanics were erected and the Machine Hall was extended. In 1929 the Auditorium Maximum was added to the Main Building, and then the building of the Electrical Engineering Faculty and the pavilion for Hydromechanics were enlarged. In 1928, a student hostel designed by Hermann Phelps (now “Bratniak”) was erected outside the area of the complex. In May 1945, the partly destroyed buildings were taken over by the Gdańsk University of Technology. Since then, the university area was significantly enlarged to the west and south and many new buildings were erected, and the existing ones underwent extensions.

Description

The Gdańsk University of Technology complex is located in Wrzeszcz at the end of a short street (now Narutowicza Street) perpendicular to Wielka Aleja (now Zwycięstwa Avenue). The oldest part of the university occupies a fenced plot covering an area of about 6.5 ha, defined by Traugutta Street, Bracka Street, extension to Łukasiewicza Street, and the area of a park formerly occupied by a cemetery. The historic building were designed in the Renaissance Revival style and are reminiscent of Northern Mannerism. The main composition axis of the complex is marked by Narutowicza Street lined with double rows of lime trees. At its end is a gate based on stone piers crowned with obelisks and flanked by twin buildings on both sides (houses of a caretaker and mechanic). Behind them, on the axis, is the Main Building which is the central component of the complex. The Main Building adjoins the building of the Faculty of Chemistry to the east, the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering (1912) to the west, behind which is the building of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and the former Machine Laboratory with a boiler house at the end; these structures are located along the inner route, which forms the axis perpendicular to the main axis of the layout. The Machine Laboratory adjoins a coal storage to the south; to the east of it is the former stoker’s house; and further southeast is the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry and Technology (1938); in the south-western corner is the Strength of Materials Laboratory (1909), which was extended by the buildings of the current Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering around 1940; the buildings adjoin the Building “B” (1969), which is a ten-storey cuboid connected with the Main Building with a narrow connecting section.

All historical structures of the complex are built of brick; the façades of the buildings are faced with stone, partitioned horizontally with contrasting strips of sandstone, and lavishly decorated with stone detail (including strapwork, volutes, cartouches, relief voussoirs, pinnacles).

The Main Building is the dominant structure; it was built on a rectangular floor plan and features two inner yards. The building has four storeys; its wings are covered with tall gable roofs; the yards were topped with self-supporting glass roofs with in 2004. The façades are symmetrical; the avant-corps along the central axes and in the corners are crowned with two or three ornamental gables; the central avant-corps of the front façade incorporates a decorative entrance portico. The interior features a cellular layout; a representative hall and two circular staircases are between the yards. At the end of that hall, in the southern wing of the building are reading room, Senat Hall and lecture hall, located on the subsequent floors.

The historic monument is open to visitors.

compiled by Teofila Lebiedź-Gruda, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Gdańsk, 11-12-2014.

Bibliography

• Andrzejewski M., Piwek A., Politechnika Gdańska [w:] Encyklopedia Gdańska, red. naukowa B. Śliwiński, Gdańsk 2012, s. 807-808.
• Andrzejewski M., Piwek A.,Technische Hochschule Danzig [w:] Encyklopedia Gdańska, red. naukowa B. Śliwiński, Gdańsk 2012, s. 1046-1048.
• Karty ewidencyjne (tzw. białe karty): Gmach Główny Politechniki Gdańskiej, Gdańsk, ul. Narutowicza 11/12, autor E. Szymańska, Z. Maciakowska, 1986, w zbiorach OT NID w Gdańsku.