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Central Fund of Agricultural Companies in Lutsk - contemporary view, photo Michał Pszczółkowski, 2018, tous droits réservés
Photo montrant Central Fund of Agricultural Companies in Lutsk
View of the façade of the building of the Central Fund of Agricultural Companies in Lutsk - design, 1937, photo 1937, Domaine public
Source: Państwowe Archiwum Obwodu Wołyńskiego w Łucku
Photo montrant Central Fund of Agricultural Companies in Lutsk
Central Fund of Agricultural Companies in Lutsk - view of façade, circa 1939., photo ok. 1939, tous droits réservés
Source: archiwum M. Pszczółkowskiego
Photo montrant Central Fund of Agricultural Companies in Lutsk
Central Fund of Agricultural Companies in Lutsk - general view, before 1939, photo przed 1939, tous droits réservés
Source: archiwum Michała Pszczółkowskiego
Photo montrant Central Fund of Agricultural Companies in Lutsk
Situation plan of the building of the Central Fund of Agricultural Companies in Lutsk - draft, 1937, photo 1937, Domaine public
Source: Państwowe Archiwum Obwodu Wołyńskiego w Łucku
Photo montrant Central Fund of Agricultural Companies in Lutsk
First floor plan of the building of the Central Fund of Agricultural Companies in Lutsk - draft, 1937, photo 1937, Domaine public
Source: Państwowe Archiwum Obwodu Wołyńskiego w Łucku
Photo montrant Central Fund of Agricultural Companies in Lutsk
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ID: POL-001643-P

Central Fund of Agricultural Companies in Lutsk

Łuck | Ukraine
ukr. Łucʹk (Луцьк)
ID: POL-001643-P

Central Fund of Agricultural Companies in Lutsk

Łuck | Ukraine
ukr. Łucʹk (Луцьк)

During the inter-war years, the financial sector developed. Credit societies, banking houses, currency exchange offices and pawn shops, among others, were established. Some of these institutions could afford to build their own building. Among them was the building of the Central Fund of Agricultural Companies in Lutsk.

Credit in the Second Republic
During the inter-war years, there were many different financial institutions involved in the provision of credit. These included state and private banks and municipal banks and savings banks. In addition, credit societies providing mortgage credit, banking houses (private, mostly Jewish credit companies), exchange offices, Jewish and Catholic interest-free loan funds, pawnshops and, finally, several thousand credit cooperatives were established.

The craft and peasant credit cooperatives, which had been established since the 19th century, formed the Union of Cooperative Societies in Poland and the Union of Associations of Agricultural Cooperatives of the Republic of Poland in 1924; a year later a third grouping, the Union of Food Cooperatives of the Republic of Poland, was established. The Union's financial centre was Bank Związku Spółek Zarobkowych, while in the Union of Cooperative Societies it was Bank "Społem". In the Union of Unions, the function was performed by the Central Cash Register of Agricultural Cooperatives.

Construction of the building of the Central Agricultural Cooperative Fund in Lutsk
. In 1927, a branch of the Central Fund of Agricultural Co-operatives began operating in Lutsk, the capital of the Volhynia Voivodship. It served the territory of the Volyn and Polesie voivodeships. The branch had 90 members at the time. By the end of the inter-war years, their number exceeded 300, the majority coming from the territory of Volhynia.

At the beginning of 1938, the total turnover funds of the Lutsk branch amounted to 8.4 million zlotys. The good financial condition of the branch made it possible to decide to build its own representative building. The construction was planned on 3 Maja Street (now Kryvyy Wal). Approved by the Voivodship Office of Volyn in March 1937, the architectural design was made by the Warsaw architect Witold Marcinkowski (1900-1961). He was a 1932 graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw Polytechnic and designer, among other things, of the building for the same institution in Sandomierz (1938).

Construction work took about a year. The ceremonial dedication of the edifice, combined with the annual meeting of the Companies, took place on 26 March 1938.

Classicism and modernity of the architecture of the financial headquarters building in Lutsk
The original architectural form of the building is a good example of the trends of the 1930s, which combined the monumentalism desired in public architecture with the functionalism that was increasingly fashionable at the time. The tendency to build stately edifices in public architecture was common until the end of the interwar period. In the 1930s, however, under the influence of functionalism, the style took on different formal characteristics.

Solutions involving the monumentalisation of the characteristic forms of functionalism expressed by Le Corbusier, among others, were increasingly used at this time. This manifested itself in the use of strip windows or, more often, references to strip windows for reasons of heat conservation. This involved filling the spaces between windows with other material or framing the windows in common bands. Flat roofs, vacant mullion ground floors, large glazing etc. were also used. These elements were combined with features such as symmetry and regularity, and stone cladding was used, which added to the monumental effect and at the same time removed the lightness characteristic of functionalism.

The building of the Central Fund of Agricultural Companies in Lutsk is an interesting example of the combination of classical and modern features. The façade has a symmetrical layout, emphasised by a receding and elevated part with the main entrance placed on the axis. The façade is covered with a regular drawing in plaster, imitating stone cladding. These elements were combined with clear characteristics of Corbusier architecture: the ground floor was set back and supported by pillars; in the axial part, where the staircase is located, a thermometer window and a crowned steeple-antenna were introduced; and the window openings were shaped as imitations of strip windows.

In the ground floor, a commercial function was planned, clear from the outside thanks to the shop windows filling the space between the columns. This floor also housed a confectioner's shop with a cupboard, and the caretaker's flat in the rear passage. The first floor housed the premises of the Central Cash Office. The most important, centrally located operating room was surrounded by smaller rooms (hall, director's office, treasury and safes, bookkeeping). Higher up, the offices of the District Branch of the Agricultural Companies were planned. The left part of the first and second floors was used as flats for the employees of the financial headquarters.

The building is still in good condition today. Only the ground floor has been transformed, dispensing with full glazing (shop windows). The building now serves as the headquarters of the Ukrtelekom telecommunications company.

Related persons:
Time of origin:
1937-1938
Creator:
Witold Wiktor Marcinkowski
Author:
Michał Pszczółkowski
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