Modus: Prace z historii sztuki (19.2019)

Figurę 4. Administrative
building of the gasworks
ofl858, status as of 2016.
Photo by Tomasz Dywan
-> see p. 168

division, based on the monotonous rhythm of lesenes (relatively fiat buttresses,
or pilaster strips). These were a functional element, because they strengthened
the wali structure in the places where the roof girders were supported. On the oth-
er hand, this division of the faęade was an architectural statement, correlated with
the structure of the building. In this way, the divisions of the retort house faęade
and desulphurisation plant faęade were adapted to the functions of production
buildings, which was further emphasized by avoiding unnecessary decoration.22
For the construction of the first gasworks in Warsaw and in Lviv, the “natural”
brick texture of the faęade was abandoned in favour of plastered walls,23 where
some variety was introduced by means of modest architectural details, focused
on enclosing window and door openings in profiled frames.
The buildings of the Lviv gasworks, in the shape of compact cuboids that
are further emphasized by the fairly fiat slopes of each of the roofs, indicate
that in the case of this particular project we are also dealing with references
to one of the trends in the work of Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841) and his
students educated in Berlin Bauakademie - incidentally, Unruh was also among
them.24 This conclusion is prompted by an analysis of the form of the faęades
of the residential and administrative building, as well as that of the workshop.
They were divided horizontally with cornices, and then supplemented with fiat
shaped rustication and window framing (see: Figurę 4). Similar formal features
are found in the faęades of residential buildings designed in the fourth dec-
ade of the nineteenth century by Eduard Knoblauch (for instance, his design
of a villa from 1835), and even morę particularly so, by Friedrich August Stiller
(such as the residential houses in Berlin at the turn of the fourth and fifth dec-
ades of the nineteenth century; the now-demolished administrative building
of Messingwalzwerk Heckmann & Ravene in Berlin from 1836-1837).25 The only
element of the division of the faęades of the aforementioned buildings consists
in the cornices on which window openings were madę, enclosed in profiled
frames. Relatively fiat (plank) bossage was introduced there, either to the height
of the ground floor, or along the entire faęade. Another characteristic feature

22 A. Rottermund, Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand a polska architektura 1. połowy xix wieku, Wroc-
ław 1990 (= Studia z Historii Sztuki, 45), pp. 23-26,100; Z. Ostrowska-Kębłowska, Tak zwana
technologiczna estetyka Schinkla, in: Sztuka a technika. Materiały Sesji Stowarzyszenia Historyków
Sztuki. Szczecin, listopad 1987, edited by M. Bielska-Łach, Warszawa 1991, p. 41. When analysing
the problems of using iron structures in the construction projects in Berlin in the first half
of the nineteenth century, Werner Lorenz notes that architects tried to convey artistic value
via technical elements of architecture, while in buildings constructed for industrial purposes,
they eliminated unnecessary “decoration for its own sake”, see: W. Lorenz, Konstruktion ais
Kunstwerk. Bauen mit Eisen in Berlin und Potsdam 1797-1850, Berlin 1995 (= Die Bauwerke und
Kunstdenkmaler von Berlin, 25), pp. 73-76.
23 P. Gerber {Architektura przemysłowa, p. 112) indicates that the plaster coat was cheaper than
using high-quality ceramic bricks.
24 J. Engelmann, Unruh, Hans Victor von, in: Magdeburger Biographisches Lexikon 19. und 20.
Jahrhundert. Biographisches Lexikon fur die Landeshauptstadt Magdeburg und die Landkreise
Bórdekreis, Jerichower Land, Ohrekreis und Schónebeck, edited by G. Heinrich, G. Schandera,
Magdeburg 2002 (www.uni-magdeburg.de/mbl/Biograf1en/o782.htm,accessed: 10 March 2019).
The reception of K.F. Schinkels work by the architects educated in Berlin is analysed by Eva
Bórsch-Supan (Berliner Baukunst nach Schinkel 1840-1870, Miinchen 1977 (= Studien zur Kunst
des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, 25), particularly pp. 57-58).
25 E. Bórsch-Supan, D. Miiller-Stuler, Friedrich August Stuller 1800-1865, Munchen-Berlin 1997,
pp. 13-16,903-904, 916-921; M. Mislin, Industriearchitektur, p. 202.

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Tomasz Dywan