DOI article:
Dywan, Tomasz: Od „szkoły berlińskiej” do secesji: przyczynek do architektury miejskich zakładów przemysłowych Lwowa w latach 1858–1914
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51255#0215
and that the latter should be financed without the participation of private com-
panies who strove to achieve the highest profit, without taking into account
the best interest of the residents. Numerous disputes broke out in this matter with
investors who sought to maintain the monopolies they had previously obtained
for the production and sale of gas and for the use of horse trams.3 Earlier on,
very few municipalities had the means or the will to finance the construction
of the necessary infrastructure. However, for a given city with a sufficiently large
population and economic potential, in particular for the Capital cities not to be
considered backward, it was necessary not only to erect magnificent edifices for
municipal offices, schools, museums, drama and opera theatres, or universities,
but above all to make engineering investments (waterworks, sewerage), including
the latest technological advances, such as electricity. Large urban centres competed
and inspired each other in implementing technologies and developing services
for public use. These trends were particularly vivid in the multi-ethnic cities
of the former Habsburg monarchy, where three large metropolises dominated -
Vienna, Budapest and Prague. The capitals of individual crown lands, including
Lviv, the Capital of Galicia, sought to keep pace with these three cities.4
The present paper aims to undertake an analysis and interpretation of the ar-
chitecture of municipal industries operating within the borders of Lviv before
1914. Therefore, our attention is focused on the preserved, remodelled, as well as
ruined and partly non-existent buildings of gasworks, slaughterhouses, (horse-
drawn and electric) tram depot complexes and power plants, together with
the machines and appliances, if the latter had an impact on the architecture
of the given building. On the other hand, we decided not to delve into the mat-
ters of technical infrastructure (such as tram lines, gas pipelines, water supply
lines, electrical installations, etc.) connected with the issue of urban industrial
development, which was maintained by the indicated municipal works. For this
reason, the issue of constructing water supply and sewage networks was not dis-
cussed at all. The former possessed two building complexes, however the largest
building - groundwater intake and pumping station in Volya Dobrostanska - is
located 30 km away from Lviv, and is still used according to its original purpose,
and hence inaccessible to visitors. When describing the most important buildings
of the aforementioned complexes, several contexts were taken into account, such
as the circumstances of the given investment venture, materials and structural
Solutions applied, adaptation of the building to the production function. We
also attempted to determine - in the cases where there were grounds for this
- the genesis of the architectural forms used. In my opinion, this will allow to
indicate the most interesting projects and draw morę generał conclusions regard-
ing the evolution of functional programs and stylistic features of the industrial
architecture of nineteenth-century Lviv.
3 J. Kórting, Geschichte der deutschen Gasindustrie mit Vorgeschichte und bestimmenden Einflus-
sen des Auslandes, Essen 1963, pp. 173-174; W.R. Krabbe, Kommunalpolitik, pp. 82-85; G. Melinz,
S. Zimmermann, Die aktive Stadt. Kommunale Politik zur Gestaltung stddtischer Lebensbedin-
gungen in Budapest, Prag und Wien (1867-1914), in: Wien - Budapest - Prag. Bliitezeit der
Habsburgermetropolen. Urbanisierung, Kommunalpolitik, gesellschaftliche Konflikte (1867-1918),
edited by G. Melinz, S. Zimmermann, Wien 1996, pp. 140-176.
4 P. Stachel, Grundprobleme urbaner Kulturen in Zentraleuropa um 1900, in: Urbane Kulturen in
Zentraleuropa um 1900, edited by P. Stachel, K. Szabo-Knotik, Wien 2004 (= Studien zur Mod-
ernę, 19), pp. 16-21.
214
ARTICLES
Tomasz Dywan
panies who strove to achieve the highest profit, without taking into account
the best interest of the residents. Numerous disputes broke out in this matter with
investors who sought to maintain the monopolies they had previously obtained
for the production and sale of gas and for the use of horse trams.3 Earlier on,
very few municipalities had the means or the will to finance the construction
of the necessary infrastructure. However, for a given city with a sufficiently large
population and economic potential, in particular for the Capital cities not to be
considered backward, it was necessary not only to erect magnificent edifices for
municipal offices, schools, museums, drama and opera theatres, or universities,
but above all to make engineering investments (waterworks, sewerage), including
the latest technological advances, such as electricity. Large urban centres competed
and inspired each other in implementing technologies and developing services
for public use. These trends were particularly vivid in the multi-ethnic cities
of the former Habsburg monarchy, where three large metropolises dominated -
Vienna, Budapest and Prague. The capitals of individual crown lands, including
Lviv, the Capital of Galicia, sought to keep pace with these three cities.4
The present paper aims to undertake an analysis and interpretation of the ar-
chitecture of municipal industries operating within the borders of Lviv before
1914. Therefore, our attention is focused on the preserved, remodelled, as well as
ruined and partly non-existent buildings of gasworks, slaughterhouses, (horse-
drawn and electric) tram depot complexes and power plants, together with
the machines and appliances, if the latter had an impact on the architecture
of the given building. On the other hand, we decided not to delve into the mat-
ters of technical infrastructure (such as tram lines, gas pipelines, water supply
lines, electrical installations, etc.) connected with the issue of urban industrial
development, which was maintained by the indicated municipal works. For this
reason, the issue of constructing water supply and sewage networks was not dis-
cussed at all. The former possessed two building complexes, however the largest
building - groundwater intake and pumping station in Volya Dobrostanska - is
located 30 km away from Lviv, and is still used according to its original purpose,
and hence inaccessible to visitors. When describing the most important buildings
of the aforementioned complexes, several contexts were taken into account, such
as the circumstances of the given investment venture, materials and structural
Solutions applied, adaptation of the building to the production function. We
also attempted to determine - in the cases where there were grounds for this
- the genesis of the architectural forms used. In my opinion, this will allow to
indicate the most interesting projects and draw morę generał conclusions regard-
ing the evolution of functional programs and stylistic features of the industrial
architecture of nineteenth-century Lviv.
3 J. Kórting, Geschichte der deutschen Gasindustrie mit Vorgeschichte und bestimmenden Einflus-
sen des Auslandes, Essen 1963, pp. 173-174; W.R. Krabbe, Kommunalpolitik, pp. 82-85; G. Melinz,
S. Zimmermann, Die aktive Stadt. Kommunale Politik zur Gestaltung stddtischer Lebensbedin-
gungen in Budapest, Prag und Wien (1867-1914), in: Wien - Budapest - Prag. Bliitezeit der
Habsburgermetropolen. Urbanisierung, Kommunalpolitik, gesellschaftliche Konflikte (1867-1918),
edited by G. Melinz, S. Zimmermann, Wien 1996, pp. 140-176.
4 P. Stachel, Grundprobleme urbaner Kulturen in Zentraleuropa um 1900, in: Urbane Kulturen in
Zentraleuropa um 1900, edited by P. Stachel, K. Szabo-Knotik, Wien 2004 (= Studien zur Mod-
ernę, 19), pp. 16-21.
214
ARTICLES
Tomasz Dywan