It is an example of monumental architecture from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries in the Lublin region. It was designed by Gustaw Landau-Gutenteger, an architect from Łódź, and has become an essential ingredient of the urban landscape of the centre of Lublin.

History

The building was erected between 1899 and 1900 on a large plot of land purchased by the Lublin Industrialists’ Loan Bank. It was to accommodate not only the Loan Bank, but also banquet rooms, offices and guest rooms. It was designed by an architect from Łódź, Gustaw Landau-Gutenteger. It is a magnificent and representative building, which serves as a monumental landmark in the corner of Litewski Square. Positioned at the intersection of two streets, it had two long three-storey elevations topped with a dome over a rounded corner with columns in the giant order. The newly erected front building was accompanied by two outbuildings in the courtyard. Before 1910, a third outbuilding was added. It filled the north-western corner of the plot and thus an architecturally consistent internal courtyard was formed.

The edifice contained the so-called “breakfast rooms” and a confectionery founded by W. Rutkowski. In 1930, from the side of Krakowskie Przedmieście, a veranda with a glass roof was erected in front of the confectionery.

During World War II, the building was transformed into the so-called Deutsches Haus (Germans’ House) - the veranda was removed then.

In 1951, it became the property of the State Treasury and in 1975 it was changed into the “Lublinianka” hotel. In the building, there was also a bar (“Centralny” bar), a café and restaurant, for which a one-storey annex was built in the courtyard adjacent to the northern wing.

In 1998, the building was taken over by a private company “Hotel Lublinianka”. The company was planning to refurbish the building as a hotel, but the modernisation works were discontinued due to financial reasons. In 2000, the property was purchased by Van der Heyden Partners. Operating under the name “Lublin Grand Hotel” sp. z o.o., it thoroughly restored and modernised the building. In 2002, it re-opened as a deluxe “Grand Hotel Lublinianka”. During the undertaken renovation and conservation works, the historic décor of the building was restored. In 2003, the investor received the Conservation Laurel Award in recognition of the successful completion of that restoration project.

Description

Situated at the intersection of Krakowskie Przemieście Street and Kołłątaja Street, “Lublinianka” Hotel is an important component of the city centre and determines the spatial composition of the Litewski Square. 

It is made of bricks and covered with plaster. It is a two-storey, cellared building, covered with a multi-hipped roof. The main two-wing building was erected on a floor plan resembling the letter “L” with a rounded corner. From the south and west, the building is adjoined by its outbuildings, forming a quadrangle with an inner courtyard. The interior layout of the front wings is essentially two-bay with a corridor positioned between the two bays. The floors are connected vertically by the main staircase in the back bay entered through the vestibule from Krakowskie Przedmieście Street and by the rear staircase in the eastern wing, accessible from the courtyard. From the courtyard, one can also enter the two staircases leading to both outbuildings.  

The main entrance to the hotel hall from Krakowskie Przedmieście Street is preceded by a four-column portico in the Doric order, with a terrace surrounded by a brick balustrade in the form of a baluster attic. In the rounded corner, there is the main entrance to the cash room of the bank in the eastern wing.

The wing elevations are uniform, three-storey, topped with a prominent cornice with modillions and rusticated stonework. The ground floor is set on a plinth and topped with a frieze consisting of profiled panels (from Kołłątaja Street), blind balustrades with embossed balusters (from Krakowskie Przedmieście Street) and a pronounced cordon cornice. On the ground floor, the openings are placed in the arcades resting on pillars with schematically marked bases and heads. The window openings of the upper storeys are rectangular, surmounted with surrounds and topped with a semi-circular arch (on the first floor - in the corner and in the avant-corpses). On the second storey level, the windows have aedicular frames. On the third storey level, the window openings are surmounted by ear-shaped surrounds resting on window cornices (from the side of Krakowskie Przedmieście Street they are decorated with corbels and festoons), topped with window cornices supported by corbels. The elevations are topped with an entablature with rectangular windows and decorative patterns on metal surfaces, as well as a strongly articulated cornice supported by modillions.

The northern elevation is 11-axial and symmetrical, with 3-axial central pseudo-avant-corps and lateral avant-corpses. In the central pseudo-avant-corps, there is the lavishly decorated main entrance to the hotel. On the first storey level, the avant-corps is preceded by an open columned portico crowned with a terrace with a baluster railing, surmounted by pedestals with vases in the corners. On the upper storeys, there are composite semi-columns in the giant order. The second-storey windows are topped with a semi-circular arch, surmounted by surrounds having the form of pilaster arcades decorated with a motif of masks and rosettes. Above the entablature, it is topped with an attic wall flanked by pinnacles.

In the western, 2-axial, lateral avant-corps 2-axis, topped with an attic wall flanked with obelisks, there are balconies on the level of the 2nd and 3rd storeys. The balconies are supported by profiled stone corbels decorated with floral ornaments, with baluster railing. 

The uniaxial eastern lateral avant-corps is highlighted on the upper storeys with a decoration consisting of a niche and a pilaster with the date “1900” incorporated into the capital. On top, there is a pinnacle flanked by griffins.

The eastern façade is asymmetric, 14-axial, with two pseudo-avant-corpses. The northern avant-corps follows the same design as the eastern avant-corps on the northern façade. There is the date “1889” on it.

The southern avant-corps (on the 3rd axis) incorporates a gate opening which has the form of an arcade with balconies. The balconies have a railing with balusters and are covered with a fragment of an attic wall with balusters topped with a pair of obelisks.

The north-eastern corner is semi-circular, 3-axial and symmetrical. On the ground floor, there is an architecturally articulated entrance opening in the form of a pilaster arcade with an archivolt and a keystone with a mascaron flanked by Tuscan columns which carry the weight of the entablature with a console cornice. On both sides of the entrance, there are narrow semi-circular windows. On the 2nd and 3rd storeys, the decorations and window openings follow the same design as the ones in the central avant-corps on the northern elevation. On the 2nd storey, the avant-corpses are preceded by a balcony with a baluster railing. The whole is dominated by a lavish dome covered with a decoration imitating fish scales, on a tall tholobate divided by volute-shaped corbels and dormers (œil-de-bœuf). On the tholobate, there is also a clock with a round dial with the coat of arms of the Lublin Province. At the top of the dome, there is a roof lantern with arcaded blind windows, covered with a smaller dome with a spire and a weathercock.

The avant-corps on the rear elevations are not decorated with architectural details (divisions are achieved by means of a cordon and crowning cornice). The elevations of the outbuildings correspond are stylistically aligned with the rear elevations of the wings.

The representative interiors of the wings feature rich stucco and painted decorations (the ceiling of the main staircase).

In general, the building can be viewed from the outside. 

The main hall is accessible during the operating hours of the hotel; the café is open from 9 a.m. to 1 a.m.; the restaurant is open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Bank Zachodni WBK is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

compiled by Anna Sikora-Terlecka, National Institute of Cultural Heritage, Branch Office in Lublin, 9 June 2017

Bibliography

• Bortkiewicz Ewa, Pastuszak Z., Ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 56/Kołłątaja 1 (Hotel Lublinianka). Scientific and historical documentation, Lublin 1989, ref. 1495
• Kawałko Piotr, Nestorowicz Zbigniew, Lublin. Przewodnik, Lublin 2012, pp. 204-205.
• Nowak Bernard, Lublin. Przewodnik, Lublin 2000, pp. 195-196.
• Historical and urban study for the detailed spatial development plan of the Centre of Lublin, collective work edited by Alicja Kurzątkowska, vol. I-V, Lublin 1969, PDNH PP PKZ Lublin mnps in the archives of Voivodeship Office for the Protection of Historic Monuments in Lublin, pp. 451-452