Fritz Weidner tenement in Bydgoszcz


Fritz Weidner house is a historical tenement located in downtown Bydgoszcz.

Location

The building stands on the eastern side of Gdanska Street at N°34, between Krasiński and Słowackiego streets.

History

The house was built in 1906 for a master painter, Walther Minge on the site of an earlier building. The address at that time was "Danzigerstrasse 151/152".
In the house standing on the premises lived from 1893 to 1895 Anton Hoffmann, a Bydgoszcz architect, stepfather of the famous local builder Józef Święcicki.
The architect was Fritz Weidner, a German builder who came to Bydgoszcz at the end of the 19th century and had a frantic building activity in the city between 1896 and 1914.
He lived in this tenement he built from 1912 onwards.
In this building has been located the first movie theater in Bydgoszcz, opened on October 10, 1908, by a 30-year-old Pole, Waclaw Szkaradkiewicz.
In the same area, Fritz Weidner built houses at the following addresses:
He also took part in the design of:
Before WWI, the building housed the seat of Windschild and Langelott, a construction company which re-built in 1912-1913 the Queen Jadwiga bridge, allowing the Królowej Jadwigi Street to cross the Brda river.
In the 1920s, a photographic workshop was located there, run by Emil Wehram.
During interwar period, the address was Ulica Gdańska 152, a car dealership company "Zagorski & Ska" was housed there.

Architecture

The building presents the form of German Historicism, characteristic for projects Fritz Weidner.
This style also became popular as "Landhaus Stil", and quickly appeared in the streets of Bydgoszcz. The first implementation of this architecture was realized in 1906 with the present building.
The edifice has an asymmetrical façade, with vertical loggias, bay windows and tall, triangular gables with wattle and daub structure. The architectural style of the building refers to the early modernism, where the stucco decoration is reduced to a minimum, while the most important measure is the artistic arrangement of architectural elements that make up the facade.

Gallery