It was the first building to employ formal analogies to shipbuilding.

History

The tenement house was owned by engineer Stanisław Pręczkowski from Wejherowo. It was designed in 1928 and built in stages. The design was created by Tadeusz Jędrzejewski working for the architectural design studio “Biuro architektoniczne Włodzimierz Prochaska, Stanisław Garliński, Tadeusz Jędrzejewski. Inżynierowie architekci”. In 1930-1931, the construction work was carried out under the supervision of Bernard Dulny. During that period, the corner part of the building and a fragment overlooking the Kościuszko Square were erected. Between 1934 and 1935, a wing was added facing Kościuszko Square; the extension did not include a side outbuilding. The last stage of the construction work took place in 1936-1937. The stage involved the construction of a wing facing Żeromskiego Street and “Polonia” cinema.

Description

The building is located in the city centre, in the northern frontage of Kościuszko Square, at the intersection with Żeromskiego Street. The corner building is built on an L-shaped plan; its longer side extends along Kościuszko Square. The building and the cinema overlooking the yard have a rectangular floor plan with a diagonal eastern side. The imposing tenement house is located among typical urban frontage buildings. It has five floors at the corner and lower side wings. The layout is symmetrical; streamlined forms are combined with expressive shapes of the bodies; structural decorative components of the plastered façade were exposed. The pioneering juxtaposition of individual segments of the building clearly raises associations with a ship: the corner of the tenement which is higher by one storey was juxtaposed with the cylindrical form reminiscent of a captain’s bridge, which was additionally highlighted by metal balustrades of the balconies and a darker colour of the plaster. The ground floor was adapted for trade and services. The “Polonia” cinema overlooking the yard was added later (after the war — “Goplana” cinema). The building contains three staircases. It features a two-bay layout and is divided into small flats allowing the possibility of jointing the central flats into one large flat. The building has central heating. The preserved original furnishings include window and door joinery, interesting steel openwork balustrades of the balconies, and interior stair railings.

The structure can be viewed from the outside. The commercial part of the ground floor is open to visitors.

compiled by Dorota Hryszkiewicz-Kahlau, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Gdańsk, 08-11-2014.

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/Kamienica_Pręczkowskich
• http://modernizmgdyni.pl/?p=288