Modus: Prace z historii sztuki (19.2019)

Drawing 5. Plan, cross-
section and view of the east
elevation of the horse tram
depot, according to the 1879
design. Drawing based on
the design: dało, file 2, des-
cription 1, case 1811, f. 18
-> see p. 175

the aforementioned study by Libl, and in the resolution adopted by the municipality,
no opinion was given regarding the construction of the depot or the stable, which
indicates that their design was left to the potential investor.
The implementation of a horse-drawn tramway in Lviv was prevented by
the financial crisis of 1873, caused by a speculative increase in the value of shares
of industrial enterprises on the Vienna Stock Exchange. Therefore, it was only on
February 2,1879 that the city concluded a contract for the construction and opera-
tion of a horse-drawn tramway with the Trieste Tram Society (Societd Triestina
Tramway) that was interested in carrying out this investment project. In exchange
for granting a fifty-year concession for the exclusive use of the “iron horse railway”
in Lviv, the company undertook to lay tram tracks at its own expense, as well as
provide means of transport necessary for the carriage of goods and passengers.54
The design for the construction of the tram depot complex with a stable and
a smali administrative building along the road connecting Horodotska Street and
Janowska Street (later Generała J. Bema Street, todays Y. Mudroho, at number 11),
was developed in April 1879 by engineer Edmund PeschL It was approved for im-
plementation at the Municipal Construction Office on May 31 of that same year.55
Construction works must have started by then, sińce it is known that at the end
of August the walls of these buildings were already erected “up to the roof”.56
The tram depot was a large brick-built hall on a plan of a rectangle. In the eastern
faęade, instead of the perimeter wali, seven pillars were built, spaced at 6 meters.
Two parking tracks were arranged between them, along which the tram trolleys
were rolled inside. A recess was madę in front of the building along the eastern
faęade, in which a track for the wagon shifting platform was laid. The latter madę
it possible to take over the tram trolley from the access track, and to position it
on the axis of the appropriate parking track. In this manner, up to 42 tram trolleys
could be stored in the depot (see: Drawing 5).
The depofs roof structure applied a solution that was popular in the 1850S and
i86os, especially in railway workshop buildings, and was already rather archaic at
that time, consisting in the use of timber-steel truss. In their side view, they bear
a striking resemblance the girders of the Polonęeau truss system, in which the metal
elements were simply replaced with wooden ones (crossheads, principals), and
the structure was stiffened with Steel ties.57 Thanks to this type of girders, free space
was obtained inside the depot, because there was no longer a need to fit columns
therein, which would support the roof structure (see: Drawing 5).58 Workshops,

54 dało, file 3, description 1, case 3043,“Umowa, która między gminą kr. st. miasta Lwowa z jednej
a towarzystwem akcyjnym Societa Triestina Tramway [...]”, Lviv 2 11 1879, ff. 11-15. The cir-
cumstances of the signing of the contract are also described by: K. Ostaszewski-Barański,
Pogląd na działalność, pp. 150-151; C.A. TapxoB, Icmopin nboiocKoeo mpawoaio, JTłbIb 1994,
pp. 6-7; M.R. IIInHrenbCbKnii, IlepedyMOObi i icmopin cmoopemifi kIhhozo mpaMoaK) y Jlboooi,
“flocnifliKeHHa 3 icTopii TexniKn. 36ipmiK HayKOBnx npaijb”, 6,2005, pp. 97-98.
55 dało, file 2, description 1, case i8n,“Situation der Gesammt-Anlage der Etablissement Gebaude”,
edited by E. Peschl [Lviv iv 1879], f. 2.
56 Przedsiębiorstwo tramwaju,“Gazeta Lwowska”, 19 viii 1879, issue 190, p. 4; C.A. Tapxos (Jem opia
nboiocKozo, p. 8) reports that the construction of the tram depot and the stables was implemented
by engineer Ludwik Radwański.
57 P. Gerber, Architektura przemysłowa, pp. 108-110; M. Mislin, Industriearchitektur, pp. 123-127.
58 dało, file 2, description 1, case 1811,“Projekt der Waggon-Remise”, edited by E. Peschl [Lviv iv 1879],
f. 18.

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Tomasz Dywan