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b. Railway Headquarters at Potocki Square (1894-1914), Public domain
Fotografia przedstawiająca Railway administration in Stanislavov
Railway directorate under construction, 1894, photo by Eder Józef, collection of the Museum of Photography in Kraków, Public domain
Fotografia przedstawiająca Railway administration in Stanislavov
Railway administration under construction from the rear façade, 1894, photograph by Eder Józef, collection of the Photographic Museum in Kraków, Public domain
Fotografia przedstawiająca Railway administration in Stanislavov
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ID: POL-001689-P

Railway administration in Stanislavov

ID: POL-001689-P

Railway administration in Stanislavov

The inhabitants of Stanislawow saw a train for the first time, on 1 September 1866, when the Lwow-Chernivtsy Railway Company started traffic on the Lwow-Chernivtsy route. The construction of the line was led by Ludwik Wierzbicki, later director of the Lviv Railway and author of the design of the first Lviv station (the Karl Ludwig Railway). The first railway companies in Galicia, such as the aforementioned Karl Ludwig Railway and the Lviv-Chernitz Railway, were established on the initiative of private capital. However, as a result of the fairly imminent bankruptcy of these enterprises, the Lwów-Czerniowce line already passed into the ownership of the Austrian state in the 1880s. In Galicia, a centralised structure of Austrian railway administration was introduced, with a General Directorate established in Vienna, to which the traffic directorates in Lwów and Kraków, established in 1884, were subordinate.

In 1887 the first railway traffic directorate building was constructed in Lwow. In Krakow, the magnificent Railway Traffic Directorate building was erected on Matejko Square in 1888-1889. With the increasing expansion of the railway network towards the south-east at the end of the 19th century, the need for a regional directorate arose. Four cities were candidates for the role of regional directorate: Chernivtsi, Přemysl, Kolomyja and Stanislaviv. Stanislaviv had little chance, as it was inferior to all its competitors in terms of population. But with an ever-expanding railway junction connecting four lines and another one under construction, the case for opening a new directorate precisely in Stanislavov was becoming real. When, in the early 1900s, the Austrian government embarked on the process of nationalising the Galician railway, the Stanislavov deputy to the national parliament and to the state council, Professor Leon Bilinski of Lvov University, was appointed as president of the General Directorate of the Austrian state railway and, according to the Stanislavov Courier, it was he who influenced the final decision on the establishment of a third railway directorate in Stanislavov.

Representatives of the state railways imposed strict conditions on the magistrate. By 1 July 1894, the Stanislavov magistrate had to construct a separate large building with 70 rooms and 30 offices. The design of the building was drawn up at the General Directorate in Vienna, and its author was a Stanislavov native and super-engineer of the General Directorate, Ernest Baudisch. The architect visited Stanislawow more than once before and during construction.

The tender for the construction of the building of the newly established State Railway Directorate in Stanislawow was won by the distinguished editor of the "Dźwignia", Ludwik Radwański - and his construction company. As director of the Building Exhibition in Lwow during the 1892 Exhibition, Ludwik Radwański became acquainted with and appreciative of the work of the young architect, a participant in this exhibition, Jan Tomasz Kudelski, and in the following year engaged him as construction manager of the Railway Directorate building in Stanislavov. Due to the exceptionally short deadlines given to the magistrate, work continued intensively throughout the year - construction was not halted even in winter - and the latest advances in construction technology were used in the process. Never before had Stanislavyiv seen building initiatives of such magnitude and intensity. Neither the foundations of the old fortress, which were encountered during the laying of the foundations, nor an exceptionally rainy summer, nor a cholera epidemic, were obstacles. Materials were supplied from all over the empire: bricks from Sychów near Lviv, stone from Skole, glass from Vienna, special lime from Tyrol's Kufstein, chamotte tiles from Prague, stone slabs and stairs from Ternopil. During the summer, 350 workers, including about 100 bricklayers, worked on the construction site.

On 1 July 1894, in accordance with the contract, the building was put into use. Ludwik Wierzbicki became the first director.

The building was the second four-storey edifice in Stanislavov at that time, built in an eclectic style, with a 13-axis main façade and equally representative other three façades. The building with the inner courtyard forms a single block that occupies the entire quarter, which means that it is surrounded on all sides by streets and can be driven around by car. In addition to the offices of the railway management, the building housed the premises of the Bank of the Stanislaw Region and numerous shops. The prestige and rank of the edifice was emphasised by the great order in the centre of the main façade, together with the rich stuccowork coming from the Lviv sculpture workshop of Piotr Harasimowicz and Stanisław Roman Lewandowski, during his several-year stay in Lviv. Piotr Harasimowicz became the author of monumental decorations for many buildings in eastern Galicia.

As a result of the whole project, the city gained not only a magnificent prestigious edifice, but also a respected architect, as Jan T. Kudelski moved permanently to Stanislaviv, leaving the capital city of Lviv, due to the prospects of the city's development even during the construction of the Directorate.

The railwaymen rented the building until 1914, when they built their own headquarters on Grunwaldzka Street. The magistrate moved into the vacated building and held office in the building until the start of the Second World War. On 1 September 1921, the Stanislav Voivodeship was established, which also located itself in the former management building. In 1935 the province moved out, vacating the offices for the Treasury Chamber.

After the end of the Second World War, the building became the main body of the newly established medical institute (since 1994 the Medical Academy and now the Medical University of Ivano-Frankivsk).

To this day, the building of the former railway management is one of the largest and most beautiful buildings in downtown Stanislaviv.

Time of origin:
1894
Creator:
Jan Tomasz Kudelski(preview)
Keywords:
Author:
Żaneta Komar
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