ROUTE 2. THE ARCHITECTURE OF KATOWICE
After we have seen 3 Maja Street , we may go down Stawowa Street, pass several other similar buildings from the same period, till we approach Mickiewicza Street . Before we turn right, let us have a look at the monumental Neo-Gothic edifice of the Mickiewicz High School on the other side of the street, built in 1898-1900 (designed by J. Perzik), with a remarkable plafond in the auditorium, representing an allegory of Art (painted by C. Denner).
Now we turn right in Mickiewicza Street . The corner building No. 22 is a beautiful Art Nouveau house built in 1906 (designed by Perl & Trapp); a bit farther away, in the South frontage stands the Neo-Gothic building of the Communications School , built in 1899 (designed by A. Zimmermann), and next to it, a couple of Art Nouveau houses with modernistic elements, built in 1903-1906. On the other side of Mickiewicza Street our attention is drawn by the building of the municipal bath from 1982.
In the past there was a synagogue between the bath and the high school. It was built in 1900 (designed by I. Gruenfeld), burned down in 1939 and disassembled after the war. The left hand side of Mickiewicza Street ends with the expressionistic building of Bank Slaski (former Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego) from 1930 (designed by S. Tabenski ). We reach the Central Place (Rynek). The only remnant of its original shape from the seventies of the 19th century is the frontage which comes out of Teatralna Street . The central part of the Central Place (Rynek) is occupied by the Silesian Theatre built in 1907 (designed by C. Moritz); the Southern frontage of the Central Place was burned down in 1945, and some of the other original buildings were replaced by the two department stores: "Zenit" from 1963 (designed by M. Król and J. Jarecki) and "Skarbek" from 1975 (designed by J. Jarecki), and the Press House built in 1963 (designed by M. Sramkiewicz). The South vista of the Rynek opens onto the Neo-Baroque building from 1898 at the corner of Pocztowa and Mlynska Streets - the former Kotzur hotel (designed by L. Damme) with a richly decorated facade, and the eclectic building from 1892 at the corner of sw. Jana and Staromiejska Streets. Incidentally, today's "Skarbek" department stare has been built on the site of the old inn which stood there from mid-nineteenth century until 1864, and was represented in an etching by E.W. Knippel.
Next, our route leads us Eastwards, down Warszawska Street . Among the eclectic and historic buildings of the turn of the 19th and 20th century we spot the Neo-Classicist building of the PKO bank at No. 7, built in 1923 (designed by Jaretzky). On our left is the oldest building in Katowice - the Neo- Romanesque Evangelical Church of the Lord's Resurrection, built in 1856 (designed by Lucae), and provided with later extensions on two separate occasions. Its chancel contains precious stained glass by Reuter and Reichhardt of Cologne. A school was built next to the church in 1860, and it still stands there.
Before we arrive at the next church at the intersection of Warszawska and Damrota Streets, let us have a closer look at the houses in Warszawska Street : at No. 35 - a Neo-Baroque building from 1894, and at No. 37 - built in 1874, today the "Marcholt" restaurant.
The Church of the Immaculate Conception of St. Mary the Virgin, built in 1862-70 {designed by A. Langer and J. Haas) is a perfect example of well proportioned Neo-Gothic style, with the shape, texture and detail truly rendering the features of the style. The interior is decorated with a set of stained glasses by Rittenbach of Cologne and A. Bunsch ("Virtues and Vices").
Our route leads us now to Damrota Street . At the intersection with Wojewódzka Street stands the Neo-Gothic building of the former construction trades school, built in 1898. In 1922-29 it was the seat of the Silesian Parliament and Provincial Authority; since 1929 it has housed the Musical Academy . If we look East into Krasinskiego Street we will see the elongated silhouette of the former Silesian Technical College (at present the Silesian Technical University) built in 1928-32 (designed by J. Dobrzynska and Z. Loboda), described in literature as the interface between classicism and functionalism. If we look West down Wojewódzka Street, we will notice the 5-storey tall building of the Association of People's Libraries built in 1928 (designed by S. Tabenski and J. Rybicki).
As we go Southwards down Damrota Street , we pass the two cemeteries: Catholic and Evangelical. On the left, behind the trees of the oldest cemetery in Katowice , liquidated in the sixties of the 20th century, we notice the ultramodern shape of the Silesian Library, built in 1998 (designed by J. Jarecki, M. Gierlotka, S. Kwasniewicz ). Next to it, across Powstanców Street, are two modern edifices: Bank Rozwoju Eksportu, built in 1999 (designed by Z. Stanik, J. Lelatko, P. Pawlowski et al.) and Bank PKO BP, built in 1996 (designed by A. Czora, W. Podleski).
These three buildings in Powstanców and Damrota Streets, along with the headquarters of Bank Slaski, Bank Handlowy, Bank Pekao S.A. and the modem business centres (e.g. Chorzowska 50) are examples of the latest trends in world architecture, stamped by the designers' individual features rather than by any particular style markers.
We come back to our architectural walk and turn right in Powstanców Street , and turn right once again to Lompy Street . We pass the building of the farmer Syndicate of Polish Iron Works built in 1928 (designed by T. Michejda and L. Sikorski), typical of Classicist monumentalism, the prevailing Silesian architectural style in the twenties of the twentieth century. The Silesian Parliament and Regional Authority from 1925-29 (designed by P. Jurkiewicz, L. Wojtyczno, K. Wyczynski and S. Zelenski) was built in a similar style. The interior of the assembly hall and of the vestibule was designed by J. Raszka.
The Parliament building, along with its neighbours: the house of the Nonaggregated Offices (today the Languages Department of the Silesian University) built in 1936 (designed by W. Klebkowski), the Silesian Museum building from 1936-39, demolished in 1940 (designed by K. Schayer) and the Sick Fund building in Reymonta Street (now a clinical hospital of the Silesian University of Medicine), were to have become the core of the future administrative centre of Katowice. The war bad thwarted those plans, and many of the buildings were used differently afterwards.
Now that we are outside the Voivodeship Authority, let us have a look at the monuments: the one in Sejmu Slaskiego Square dedicated to the memory of Wojciech Korfanty (erected in 1999, designed by Z. Brachmanski) and the one in Chrobrego Square, commemorating Józef Pilsudski (designed in 1939 by A. Augustincic, erected in 1993).
We come back to Powstanców Street and continue walking Westwards (to the right). At the intersection with Plebiscytowa Street we will see the monumental edifice of the Arch-cathedral of Christ the King, built during 1926-56, designed by Z. Gawlik and F. Maczynski. Although, due to certain administrative decisions, the shape of this Neo-Baroque temple is different than originally designed, it is nonetheless of impressive proportions. It bad been designed to be 95 m tall, but it was reduced to a mere 59 m . The unsophisticated, modern interior is the work of J. Kwiatkowski, M. Stobierski and T. Michalowska. The cathedral' neighbour is a Neo- Baroque palace of the archbishops, built in 1927 (designed by Z. Gawlik and F. Maczynski); today it is borne to the Arch-diocesan Museum .
We walk down Powstanców Street to PCK and Sklodowskiej-Curie Streets. This portion of our trip provides as with a review of he functionalistic architecture of the twenties and thirties. The whole residential quarter contained within Kosciuszki Street, Curie-Sklodowskiej Street, PCK Street and Jordana Street bas been built in the same style. During our walk we will see such houses at 6, PCK Street (designed by K. Schayer, built in 1936), at the corner of PCK and Sklodowskiej Streets - Curie and at No. 36,38 and 40 in Sklodowskiej-Curie Street. Further down Sklodowskiej- Curie Street is a big house built in 1938-39 after a design by S. Tabenski for the employees of the Social Insurance Institution.
The residential and public buildings which were built in Katowice in the functionalist style are, alongside Warszawa, Gdynia and Poznan , the finest examples of Polish architecture of that period.
We leave PCK Street and walk down Sklodowskiej-Curie Street . At the intersection with Zwirki i Wigury Street stands the pride of pre-war Katowice , the "skyscraper" built in 1930-32 (designed by T. Kozlowski and S. Bryla) - a 14-storey tall highrise ( Poland 's tallest building at that time), the seat of a number of institutions, including the Inland Revenue Service. A little bit further down the street is the Garrison Church of St. Casimir built in 1930-31 (designed by L. Dietz d'Arma), a cubistic building with a simple interior.
We reach Kopernika Street. This part of Katowice was developed in the twenties and represents a variety of the modernistic style. Across the green ( Andrzeja Square ) we see the Neo-Gothic building of the jail and a Neo-Baroque-Classicist building of the Regional Court from 1912-14 (designed by L. Damme).
Sklodowskiej-Curie Street flows into Oddzialów Mlodziezy Powstanczej Square (Plac Oddzialów Mlodziezy Powstanczej), and brings us to the Southern entrance of the main railway station. We go down the underpass to the main concourse, built in 1965-72 (designed by W. Klyszewski, J. Mokrzynski and E. Wierzbicki), an original structure of reinforced concrete, resembling 16 enormous umbrellas. We leave the station and walk up the pedestrian bridge over Mlynska Street back to Wilhelma Szewczyka Street , thus closing the loop of our architectural trip.
Text: Edward Wieczorek
