The structure has retained the same function from its inception to the present day.

History

On 11 June 1929, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Marine Department, Port Department approved the construction of the port cold store according to a design by Ateliers B. Lebrun, Societe Anonyme, Nimy, Belgian company. The work was led by Engineer Rostkowski from Towarzystwa Robót Inżynierskich, S-ka Akcyjna in Poznań. The port cold store was built in two stages: a three-storey structure (consecrated by bishop Okoniewski on 13 July 1930) was erected in 1929-1930; the building was extended by three storeys in 1932-1934. After the extension, the building became the most modern and one of the largest cold stores in the world. Before the extension, it covered a cooling area of 10,000 m2, accommodated 700 cars of food, and was the fourth largest cold store of this type in Europe. After the extension, it covered a cooling area of 15,695 m2 and accommodated 1,100 cars.

It no longer has its original machine park and cooling system, but still serves its function.

Description

The cold store is located at the western end of the Polish Quay, on a separate plot of land. The six-storey building is complex, fragmented, and built on a rectangular floor plan. To the west, it adjoins a two-storey structure erected on a C-shaped floor plan, which is used for technical and administrative purposes. The wings of that structure form an inner yard, which is closed off to the west by two single-storey cubic guardhouses and a gate connecting them. The structure rests on Raymond’s stilts (5.5.-11 m in length). The cold store is a reinforced concrete structure; the exterior and interior walls are built of brick; the roof are flat and covered with tar paper. The brick façades are partitioned by plastered pilasters, which are spaced in the same way as the components of the reinforced concrete structure hidden in the interior. The structure is horizontally partitioned with a string-course cornice running around the whole building at the level of the fourth storey. The building of the cold store does not have any window openings. The northern façade has four steel unloading balconies. The central part of the west and east façade features blind windows with brick decorations. Originally, the interior could be accessed via two railway sidings; now only the southern one is visible.

The north façade of the administrative and technical building has nine axes, is pierced by an entrance (now a steel gate), and partitioned vertically by three brick pilasters. The western façade terminates in a brick attic; an entrance located in a shallow recess on the central axis is flanked by two pilasters. The northern axis of the façade features a row of window openings, whereas the southern axis is windowless.

The southern façade has eight axes and is pierced by two entrances in shallow recesses.

The eastern wing with an auxiliary utility room adjoining the cold store has seven axes and has an entrance in the northern corner.

The ground floor and second-storey level of the southern wing is partitioned vertically by window openings and massive pilasters. A rounded balcony rests on the pilasters to the south. The eastern part of the wing was occupied by a machine room and condenser, the western part by offices.

The building can only be viewed from the outside.

compiled by Dorota Hryszkiewicz-Kahlau, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Gdańsk, 31-10-2014.

Bibliography

• Sołtysik M.J., Gdynia miasto dwudziestolecia międzywojennego, urbanistyka i architektura, Warszawa 1993;
• Sołtysik M.J., Modernistyczna Gdynia - dziedzictwo lat międzywojennych, [w:] Renowacje i zabytki 2010, nr 4 (36), s.60-73;
• Karta ewidencyjna zabytków architektury i budownictwa Chłodnia, Gdynia, Ewa Stieler, 1988;
• Chłodnia i składy portowe w Gdyni, [w:] Tygodnik Mleczarski, nr 29, 16.07.1930, Poznań;
• http://gdynia.fotopolska.eu/Gdynia/b65927,Chlodnia_Igloport.html