It will be an important place for Lodz and its inhabitants
The University of Lodz is planning a thorough renovation and reconstruction of the interiors of this magnificent tenement house with a long, but also dramatic history (more about this below) to give them new functionalities.
I am very pleased that we can finally start this investment. We have secured considerable funds adequate to the scale of the project, the tender process has already started and we will soon be able to hand over this wonderful tenement house to the inhabitants of Lodz. It will include scientific centres, large-scale exhibition spaces and a bookshop. The venue will combine science with art and culture. In addition, the building is located in a beautiful and important to Lodz place – I hope that every visitor arriving at the Fabryczna Railway Station on their way to Piotrkowska Street will visit our building, the café which will also be opened here, see the exhibition and get acquainted with the offer of the Lodz University Press.
– said Professor Elżbieta Żądzińska, Rector of the University of Lodz, during a joint press briefing together with the Mayor of Lodz to mark the launch of the investment.
First of all, I would like to thank and congratulate the university. When we met a year and a half ago, not everything was so obvious and simple. It was very important for the university to obtain the money for this renovation. If the resources weren’t there, we wouldn't be standing here today to announce this joyful news that a great and very important institution for Lodz, i.e. the university, is joining the process of transformation of this place, in Moniuszki Street, which is becoming more and more beautiful right in front of our eyes. I am delighted that this place will enable the inhabitants of Lodz to have contact with science, art and culture, which are extremely important elements that involve us all in the life of the city
– added Hanna Zdanowska, Mayor of Lodz.
The briefing, which was accompanied by a display of visualisations of the target state of the investment, was also attended by the University of Lodz Vice-Chancellor, Jan Rydz, who is responsible for the technical side of the building renovation process. He promised that the facility would be ready for use within 1.5-2 years.
It is intended that the new venue at 21 Sienkiewicza Street will strongly mark the presence of the University of Lodz in the very centre of the city (Culture Park of Piotrkowska Street), make it possible to popularise the university's activities, develop the programme of cultural activities and implement many interdisciplinary projects. It is to be a modern, creative space of the University of Lodz, which will become a unique place for a dialogue between science and art. It will be used, among other things, to organise events and projects in the area of art&science, in particular:
- meetings between artists and researchers
- promotion of publications
- exhibitions and accompanying programmes
- discussions and debates
- lectures
- conferences.
These are very important tasks in the area of cooperation with the external environment and the impact of the university, included in the strategy of the University of Lodz for 2022-2030.
Future tenants of the building
It is already clear which units of the University of Lodz will be housed in the renovated building. These will include:
- The Jerzy Giedroyc Centre involved in the studies on contemporary Polish and Eastern European history, which is a further step in the development of cooperation between the University of Lodz and the Association Institut Littéraire Kultura in Maisons-Lafitte. Its aim is to nurture the achievements of the Institute headed by the Editor as a source of inspiration in reflecting on the future of Central and Eastern Europe. The Jerzy Giedroyc Centre is headed by Prof. Dr hab. Slawomir Nowinowski.
- Lodz University Press together with a bookshop. .
- Exhibition spaces and conference rooms of the Department of New Media and Digital Culture at the Faculty of Philology, University of Lodz, headed by Prof. Ryszard Kluszczyński.
- Centre for the Philosophy of Nature, which conducts multidisciplinary research in philosophy, natural science, physics or mathematics at the Faculty of Philosophy and History of the University of Lodz, under the direction of Professor Dr hab. Elżbieta Jun.
- City Labs, which will house scientists researching and solving problems characteristic of post-industrial urban centres such as Lodz.
Zoning of the building
The assumptions of the University of Lodz, which have been reflected in the design, divided the building into the following zones:
- the ground floor of the building will be a cultural and integration zone – an exhibition space, a place to meet, cooperate, a place where people can spend their time pleasantly. The zone will include: an exhibition hall, a multimedia space, a co-working space and cityLABs, a shop/bookshop, a café and a glass patio;
- the first floor will become a scientific-research-promotional zone, housing the Jerzy Giedroyc Centre and promoting scientific knowledge, e.g. by publishing by the Lodz University Press scientific works, books and academic textbooks. There will also be spaces for artistic events;
- the second and third floors will constitute a guest area, with rooms mainly for people coming to Lodz at the invitation of the University of Lodz, participating in exchanges between national and foreign research centres and the University of Lodz;
- a viewing terrace will be located on the fourth floor.
.
The facility will be a welcoming place for people with special needs (e.g. mobility impairments). It will be equipped, among other things, with lifts and a lift for the disabled.
In the face of the investment that is just starting, it is very important to restore this wonderful building to Lodz and its inhabitants and, as it were, to close the street, Moniuszki Street, which is currently undergoing thorough revitalisation, on the eastern side. The planned renovation – together with the roofing of the courtyard space as a kind of patio – will make it a representative building at the junction of Sienkiewicza Street and the former Meyer Passage.
History of the building
The tenement house at Sienkiewicza 21 (formerly Mikołajewska Street) at the junction with Moniuszki Street (formerly Meyer Passage), was originally owned by the industrialist Ludwik Meyer. It was built in 1886, probably according to the plans of the architect Hilary Majewski. It was built to house the Central Post Office and flats for its employees, but the post office was eventually located at the junction of Tuwima and Kilińskiego Streets.
The Meyer tenement house was bought in 1908 by Salomon Dancygier with the intention of using it for rental flats. The current architectural decoration dates back to 1910. From 1946 to 1956, the Military District Court of Lodz functioned in the building. Most of the trials held in the edifice at the time ended in death sentences or years of imprisonment for Polish patriots. A commemorative plaque on the side of Moniuszki Street bears witness to this gloomy history of the building. Since 1990, the building has been a property of the University of Lodz.
Famous mural on the "Motyl" building
On the north gable wall of the building there is a mural depicting a butterfly – the trademark of the now defunct "Pewex" chain of shops. The common name of the building derives from the mural. There are also the inscriptions "Pewex" and "Internal Export Company". It was designed by the artists from the Lodz Academy of Fine Arts, i.e., Jerzy Bystry and Paweł Porzycki. The production of the mural (in a printing technique) was undertaken in 1987 by Zenon Adamkiewicz.
Source: Communications and PR Centre, University of Lodz
Photos: Bartosz Kałużny (Communications and PR Centre, University of Lodz)