History

The Swedish Seaman’s House was hotel and Swedish consulate with a meeting room, which was adapted for use as a chapel.The building designed by Stanisław Płoski (in 1935) was commissioned in the mid-1936.

Description

It is located on the edge of the city centre, in fact, on the boundary between the port and the city, on a corner plot. The building consists of two sections, is asymmetrical, and was built on an L-shaped plan with a highlighted corner, which incorporated the entrance to the building. The articulation of the body is determined by the function: in the eastern part, the hotel wing is lower, features a typical structure without decoration, whereas the northern part was intended for the eyes of guests — the taller wing housed a consulate and more important hotel rooms. The façades of the building are asymmetrical and differently arranged. The lower (hotel) wing was plastered smoothly and was devoid of any decoration; the taller wing housing the consulate was lined with stone tiles — the ground floor and corner entrance arcades. The first floor is faced with brick, and a clearly outline cornice runs just above the windows of the ground floor. The windows providing additional illumination for the chapel are framed by pilaster strips, the textures of which resembles the face of the ground floor.

Viewing of the building is only possible by prior arrangement.

compiled by Dorota Hryszkiewicz-Kahlau, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Gdańsk, 08-10-2014.

Bibliography

• Sołtysik M.J., Gdynia miasto dwudziestolecia międzywojennego, urbanistyka i architektura, Warszawa 1993;
• Sołtysik M.J., Na styku dwóch epok. Architektura gdyńskich kamienic okresu międzywojennego, Gdynia 2003, s. 329-333;
• Sołtysik M.J., Modernistyczna Gdynia - dziedzictwo lat międzywojennych, [w:] Renowacje i zabytki 2010, nr 4 (36), s.60-73;
• http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architektura_Gdyni
• http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dom_Marynarza_Szwedzkiego
• http://modernizmgdyni.pl/?p=793