Marshal Ferdinand Foch Street or Focha Street is a main street of Bydgoszcz, in Downtown district ().
Location Located in the center of Bydgoszcz, the street stretches east–west from the intersection with Gdańska Street to Grunwaldska roundabout. It is approximately long. To the west, it joins with Nakielska street, and with Jagiellońska street to the east.
Appellation The street bore the following names throughout history: 1840 - 1920, Wilhelmstraße; 1920 - 1931, Jagiellońska street; 1932 - 1939, Marshal Ferdinand Foch - Marshal of France and Poland, commander in chief of Allied Forces in 1918. He signed in Compiègne the truce ending hostilities with the German Empire; 1939 - 1945 - Hermann Göringstraße; 1945 - 1949 - Marshal Foch; 1950 - 1990 - Red Army; 1990 - Kazimierz III Wielki; From 1990 - Marshal Foch.
History Focha street has been one of the key routes in Bydgoszcz, since the first half of the 19th century. Previously, the path was a dirt road leading from the Old Carmelite Monastery to meadows bordering the Brda river, which were owned by the monastery. This course is clearly visible on the oldest plan of Bydgoszcz, realized by the Swedish quartermaster Erik Dahlbergh in 1657. Without any bridge to the west to cross the river, the street ended along the waterfront, with a diverging path leading to Koronowo and Nakło nad Notecią - today Dworcowa Street in Bydgoszcz- until 1850.
In 1774, the construction of the Bydgoszcz Canal required the building of a city lock and a causeway leading to Mill Island, which allowed the crossing of the Brda River in the continuity to the west of the axis. The road then gained in traffic, as being also used for towing boats along the Bydgoszcz Canal.
In the second half of the 19th century, the eastern tip of the street connected with the new administrative center of the city, with the erection in 1836 of the Governmental seat of the Prussian region on Jagiellońska street. In Focha street were built in the 1860s tenements for local garrison personnel. Real estate cadastral files of Bromberg from 1878 reveals that a southern frontage of houses stood in the area from Theatre square to the Opera Nova. On the northern bank of the Brda river stood a military casino (from 1869) on the corner of the street. The villa of the president of the Prussian region was located at the level of today's Nr.25, together with garrison lodgings: in the same area was standing lock Nr.2 - - on the old Bydgoszcz Canal (now the plot at the intersection with Grottger Street). The area in the bend of the Brda was occupied by military buildings, including the city's largest granaries, the Royal Granaries. To the west of lock Nr.2, the axis was called Channel street (), and winded along the Bydgoszcz Canal. At the level of today's Higher School of Economics was standing a bridge crossing the canal over lock Nr.2.
From 1885 to 1890, new bridges have been built: Wilhelmsbrücke, renamed after 1920 Jagiellonska Bridge over the Brda river; Hafenbrücke, renamed after 1920 Port Bridge. Both had a steel structure, with a wide roadway, sidewalks and gas lighting. Today, both bridges comprise Solidarnosc Bridge. With this construction, the street assumed a critical character in the city, linking western suburbs (Okole, Wilczak) with downtown. At the time, the street was used as a route march military parade, together with Gdańska Street and Mostowa street. During interwar period, Focha Street did not extend to the west further than the intersection with Swiętej Trojcy street.
During World War II, Solidarnosc Bridge was destroyed: it has been since rebuilt several times (1939, 1945, 1950s). It has now a reinforced concrete structure.
After World War II, the increased traffic required an expansion of Focha street. In the 1970s, an urban traffic renovation modernized Focha street to the west of Brda with a dual carriageway on both side of the tram track. Part of this program led to the controversial filling of approximately one kilometre of the old Bydgoszcz Canal, together with the destruction of two locks (Nr.2 at Świętej Trójcy street and Nr.3 at Grunwaldzka street) and the demolition of Władysław IV bridge. At the beginning of the 1980s, in order to renovate the tramway line, last pieces of Focha street's old granite pavement has been recovered with asphalt. Last renovation of the street occurred in 2010–2012, to integrate the new tram tracks from the train station at the intersection with Kordecki and Queen Jadwiga streets: it encompassed also the street section from Theatre Square to Solidarnosc bridge.
Means of transportation Tram tracks on Focha street were built in 1905. The line has been extended to the west, from Theatre Square to Nakielska street, becoming the third line electrically powered in the city (line "C" blue, in 1901). In 1904, this line has been extended eastward to Bartodzieje district. In 1957, a second tram track has been built, and in the 1972–1974, while building the Grunwaldzka roundabout, a double-track tram line in the western part of Focha street has been laid to the roundabout. Currently, tram lines Nr.1, 3, 5 and 8 pass through Focha street.
The street is one of the busiest traffic thoroughfares in Bydgoszcz. Traffic measures realized in 2006 showed that during peak periods approximately 2000 vehicles pass every hour.
Main edifices Tenement Max Zweininger Bydgoszcz, at 2, corner house with Gdańska Street
1901–1902, by Karl Bergner
Vienna Secession
The house has been built for Max Zweininger, owner of a famous hat manufactory in Bromberg, located on the square.
Tenement at 4
Registered on Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship heritage list, Nr.601292, Reg. A/849, April 22, 1996zabytek|kujawsko-pomorskie|issued=01.03.2014
1901–1902, by Karl Bergner
Vienna Secession & Eclecticism
The building at then-Wilhelmstraße 17 has been built to be a renting tenement, owned by Mr. Rapiewocki, a merchant.
The elevation echoes the one at Nr.2, by the same architect: identical bay window, flanked by wrought iron balconies. Even the decoration is alike: figures, cartouches, ornaments and scrollworks, up to the facade pediment.
Opera Nova at 5
1973–2006, by Józef Chmiel, Andrzej Prusiewicz
International Style
The Opera Nova is one of the most modern theatres in Poland. The rich repertoire includes operas, ballets, operettas and musicals, concerts and performances. Bydgoszcz Opera Festival, gathering opera artists from all over the world, has been organized since 1994.
Tenement at 6
1825-1850
Neoclassical architecture
The first owner of the house at Wilhelmstraße 16 was a famous printer, Albert Dittmann, local tycoon and successful entrepreneur in Bromberg. His printhouse covered the back yard of Focha 6 and extended through the block to today's building at 13 Dworcowa Street. The company was active until the outbreak of World War II.
The house design is very close to the one at 40 Gdanska Street, built at the same time.
Tenement at 8
1875-1900
Neoclassical architecture
The first owner of the house at Wilhelmstraße 15 was Louis Mallachow, a dentist living at Danzuiger straße 14. Later on, in the 1880s the building became the property of Theodore Joop, a famous photograph who had its workshop there. His firm survived his death, taken over by Paul Nawrotzki and Emil Wehr.
The frontage displays typical neo-classical architectural features.
Tenement at 10
ca 1900
Vienna Secession & Eclecticism
In 1880, Heinrich Castner, a restaurateur, opened a beer hall in this place. Franz Tomaszewski, a baker, owned this building, then located at Wilhelmstraße 14, from 1882 till World War I.
Main elevation bears profound features of Eclecticism with bay windows, adorned dormers on the gable. Decoration is very delicate, comprising arched pediments flanking a niche crowned by a cherub face on the first floor, a second niche is also present on the second floor. Everywhere, scrollworks with vegetal motifs are present, as well as adornment on dormers and bay windows.
Tenement at 12
1879
Eclecticism & Neo-Renaissance
Otto Christian Ludwig Bollmann was the first owner this building in the 1880s, then located at Wilhelmstraße 13. He was a merchant, owner of a brickyard located in Ritterstraße (now Rycerska Street). Afterwards, the place housed a bank (Bromberger Bank) in the 1910s.
The facade has neo-renaissance features, with pediment bearing a bas-relief woman figure in a cartouche, hanged by vegetal garlands on the first floor. The most striking element is the grand bay window parting the frontage and towering the entry gate: it has almost classical characteristics with fake columns, triangular pediment and four allegoric bas-reliefs.
Tenement at 14
1885, by A. Berndt
Neo-Renaissance
Albert Pallatsch, a restaurateur in Rinkauerstraße and Bahnhoffstraße in the 1900s, opened there a café-restaurant named Pilsener Hütte(1908), then Rheingold (1915). Initial address was Wilhelmstraße 12
The facade has lost all its decoration with time.
Tenement at 16
1879
International Style
In this house lived Anton Hoffmann, from 1877 to 1880: he was a master mason and an architect very active in downtown Bydgoszcz during the second half of the 19th century. Part of his achievements are tenements or houses at Śniadecki Street 31, Pomorska Street 21 or Długa street 3. The actual building houses the company PS-SA ().
The facade has lost its decor following several refurbishments, only the top baluster railing has been preserved.
Tenement at 18
1850–1875, by A. Berndt
Eclecticism & Neo-Renaissance
David Woythaler moved its tobacco factory to this location, then Wilhelmstraße 10, in the 1880s. He owned the villa at today's 2 Paderewskiego Street. In 1907, Bromberg plant was one of the largest manufacturers of snuff tobacco in Prussia. Once the factory closed in the early 1920s, the place became the National Printhouse T.A.(). Brick buildings of the original factory are still preserved in the back of the plot.
Recently renovated, the facade displays an elegant balance, topped by a roof with parapet: pedimented windows are separated by adorned pilasters, a scrollwork frieze crowns the elevation.
Tenement at 20
1850-1875
German Historicism
Johann Lindner, a rentier was the first owner of the building at Wilhelmstraße 9 in the late 1870s. The tenement has been renovated in 2007 and converted in 2014 into a four-star hotel Mercure Sepia (90 rooms) with a panoramic roof terrace (85 seats), parking (it opened officially on January 16, 2015).
The facade has a large bay window, but most worthy noticing is its roof: on a small area are displayed a hipped dormer window in the middle, a small tented roof on the left and a curve shape gable dormer on the left.
Tenement at 22
1850-1875
International Style
J G Habermann, a merchant was the landlord of the original building at Wilhelmstraße 8 in 1864. The Habermans owned the house until 1895, when Władysław Piórek became the new landlord. Władysław Piórek (1852–1926) was a physician, national and social activist in the city, he supported Polish cultural, educational and charitable institutions. He has been made Honorary citizen of Bydgoszcz () in 1926. A dedicatory plaque has been placed on the building in 2000.
The facade has lost its decor in the 1990s.
House at 20 Czartoryskiego street, corner with Focha street
1855–1857, by Heinrich Mautz
Neoclassical architecture
The house at then Maußstraße 1 has been built by master carpenter Heinrich Mautz for his own use, having there a sawmill.