Sienkiewicza Street is a long thoroughfare laid in the mid-1860s in downtown Bydgoszcz. Its frontage carries several tenements which have kept their original architectural features and their historical importance.
Location The lane runs on an approximate north–south path in the west of downtown district. Stemming in the south from Dworcowa Street, its course crosses numerous other streets on the route: Podolska, Zduny, Lipowa, Śniadeckich, Chrobrego, Kwiatowa, Mazowiecka, Hetmańska and ends at Bocianowo street.
History The first documents referring to Mittelstraße date back to 1869, as an address book registers some practitioners in this lane. Furthermore, the following issues (1872, 1876) list the houses in the street, i.e. 14 dwellings.
The street appears on map of Bromberg dated 1876, but its northern part is not completed, being laid in the Brenkenhof district (today's Bocianowo).
During its existence, the thoroughfare bore the following names: till 1920, Mittelstraße (Middle street); 1920–1939, Ulica Henryka Sienkiewicza; 1939–1945, Fischerstraße; Since 1945, Ulica Henryka Sienkiewicza.
The current name refers to Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz (1846–1916), a famous Polish journalist, novelist and Nobel Prize laureate in 1905.
Within time, the house numbering in the street evolved, either to account for the extension of the axis (in the mid-1880s and in 1900) or adapt the horse shoe system to the Polish rule (in 1920).
Main areas and edifices Tenement at 48 Dworcowa Street, corner with Sienkiewicza street 1875-1900
Eclecticism
Bahnhoffstraße 74 was built in the early 1880s for Rob. Tuchscher, a pharmacist. He opened his pharmacy Kronen Apotheke there, which was one of few in the city at that time. A new pharmacist, Emil Affeldt, took over the firm at the same location from 1900 till the end of the 1920s.
The corner tenement was restored in 2018, and displays two symmetric facades with a neo-classic style and a wrought iron balcony on its corner.
Tenement at 50 Dworcowa Street, corner with Sienkiewicza street 1895
Neo-Renaissance
Christian Teodor Hinß opened a coach workshop () at this location in 1880. His widow Minna lived there till the outbreak of WWI.
The building's facades display a northern Neo-Renaissance style with elaborate ornament and scrollwork (on pediments, cartouches), balustrades, pinnacles, together with stone blocks imitation, bay windows and a mansard roof.
Tenement at 1 1912
Art Nouveau
This tenement, erected in 1890, was revamped in the early 1910s. At that time, Minna Hinß, the widow of Teodor, was the landlord and lived at the corner of Dworcowa (then Banhoffstraße).
Renovated in 2017, the facade displays some Art Nouveau motifs, such as a mascaron on the lintel of a first floor window. In addition, preserved elements are visible on the ground floor, where both carved wooden doors exhibit transom light, adorned in one case with stained glass.
Building at 3 1885
Warehouse
This edifice was used for storage purposes, in particular after 1920, when it served as a granary for the firm "RAWA" till the start of WWII. Today, it houses a shop of metal and non-metal tools.
Tenement at 4 1910
Early Modern architecture
After a long period during which its plot remained a garden, this tenement was commissioned by Eugen Steinborn, a master locksmith.
From 1920 to 1929, the site housed a joint US-Polish company, AMPOL, which produced incandescent light bulbs. The firm had been established by Polish emigrants to the US, Stefan Daszewski and Rafał Kukliński.
Plot at 5 1870s
This plot was one of the first where an edifice was erected in the early 1870s. For several decades until the First World War began, a furniture factory established by Julius Grünenwald stood at this address (then 3 Mittelstraße). In the 1960s and 1970s, the area hosted a pharmaceutic drug factory.
Tenement at 6, corner with Podolska street 1900s
Eclecticism
Carl Schultz, the first owner of this tenement, ran a restaurant from the location until the early 1930s.
The now-deteriorated building still displays decorated window sills, lesenes on the sides, garnished lintels, and transom lighted entrance doors. Both facades now possess empty niches where they once held statues.
Tenements at 7/7a 1880s and 1900
Eclecticism
The first building erected here in the early 1880s was registered with only one street number. At the time, the landlord was Hermann Klessen (or Kleßen).
At the turn of the 20th century, this plot was recorded as two separate houses, "4 and 4a Mittelstraße": these had the same owner, Carl Kästner, a railway administrative assistant, who inhabited 4a (present day 7a).
In terms of frontages, the present day 7a building maintained better architectural motifs than its neighbour (floral design cartouches and adorned lintel). The house at 7, however, still boasts an original wrought iron fencing and a wood awning at the side entrance.
Tenement at 9 1890s
Eclecticism
This house and the neighbouring one at 11 were owned by Amalie Grundtmann, a rentier. She was listed as owner of this building till the end of the 19th century.
The building was renovated in 2020.
Tenement at 10, corner with Zduny street 1910
Early Modern architecture, German Historicism
This building's previous edifice from the 19th century was rebuilt in the early 1910s by its new owner, Franz Salewski, a plumber.
The tenement presents some hints of historicist style, especially in the round shaped bay windows on both facades combined with the upper wooden loggia on Zduny frontage.
Building at 10a, corner with Zduny street Post WWII
This area remained unbuilt during most of the street's history of development. Registered at "62 Mittelstraße", it was mentioned during the interwar as a "building site", before hosting a wine shop. In the 1960s, a confectionery, MALTA, was set up there, but was replaced after 1995 by a clothing shop. Today, the site hosts a bakery run by Rafał Przybylski.
The plot preserved its tall workshop chimney in the backyard.
Grundtmann's tenement at 11, corner with Lipowa street 1890s
Eclecticism
This building had Emmy Grundtmann, a rentier, as its initial landlord. She also owned the neighbouring building at 9. Emmy Grundtmann, née Hempel, was living at the time at "56 Wilhemstraße" (today nonexistent, at the corner of Jagiellońska and Bernardyńska streets). At the turn of the 20th century, the tenement was purchased by Albin Cohnfeld, sitting at "22 Bahoffstraße" (50 Dworcowa Street).
In the aftermath of WWI, the building sheltered orphan boys (grades I-III) from the Eastern Borderlands, while older students where housed at 20 Gdańska street. These children were all gathered in March 1921 to the city orphanage at 32 Chodkiewicza street.
After its restoration, the tenement exhibits bossage design, a double frieze running on both frontages, pediments on second floor windows and lesenes flanking openings on the upper floor. It features a series of eaves on the top levels, as well as a super wrought iron entrance door featuring rosettes, flowers and a dragon-shaped handle.
Kayser's villa at 12 1860s
Eclecticism
This house is one of the first edifices built on the street. Previously located at "61 Mittelstraße", it was the property of Robert Kayser, a paymaster. The villa changed addresses four times, thanks to the successive house numbering rules from its erection until the Second World War.
The façade is unfortunately not well-preserved. However, the quality of the original wrought iron fencing is preserved, portraying curved and floral motifs.
Tenement at 13, corner with Lipowa street 1883
Eclecticism
Nr.13, like Nr.15, belonged initially to the same person, Wilhelm Schmidt, a restaurateur at "12 Wilhelmstraße" (16 Focha street). At the start of the 20th century, he moved to live there, as a rentier, till the late 1920s.
Thoroughly refurbished in 2020, the building displays a plethora of architectural details, among others: an adorned corner bay window supported by stucco crafted corbels, round pediments with stuccoed motifs, a transom stained glass window above the entrance door and a wooden corbel table topping both elevations.
Tenement at 14 1890s
Eclecticism
This tenement was commissioned by Gustav Röscke, a baker living at "88 Bahnoffstraße" (today's 18 Dworcowa Street).
The following decoration elements are visible on the main elevation of the second and third floor: pilasters with Corinthian order capitals, delicately crafted plastered corbels and corbel tables.
Tenement at 15 1890s
Eclecticism
Nr.15, like Nr.13, belonged initially to the same person, Wilhelm Schmidt, a restaurateur at "12 Wilhelmstraße" (16 Focha street). In 1900, it changed hands: its new owner was Gustav Schmidt, another restaurateur living at nearby "18 Elisabethstaße" (35 Śniadeckich street).
Renovated in the late 2010s, the facade displays plastered pediments above the openings and corbel tables beneath the eaves.
ßausebad tenement at 16 1870
Eclecticism
Akin to Nr.12, this building was erected in the early days of the street, and registered as "22 Mittelstraße". It was then possessed by a master bookbinder, Otto ßausebad. In 1900, this address changed to "57 Mittelstraße" while retaining the same owner.
Refitted in the 2010s, the Mansard roofed tenement displays architectural details, notably stuccoed cartouches as well as embellished window framing (lintel, pediments).
Tenement at 17 1879, by Anton Hoffmann
Eclecticism
Successive landlords were the Schmidts, Wilhelm then Gustav, both restaurateurs.
The initial design is the work of the local architect Anton Hoffmann, father-in-law of another building designer in the city, Józef Święcicki.
Tenement at 35 Śniadeckich street, corner with Sienkiewicza street 1894
Eclecticism
The first landlord of this building at then Elisabethstraße 18 was Gustav Schmidt, a restaurateur who lived there until the beginning of World War I. He was also the owner of the building at Nr.15.
This tenement is particularly noticeable by its grand bay window overhanging the corner. The first floor is adorned with columns, rosettes on the lintel and a triangular pediment, and second displays pilasters crowned by a tented roof. The facade on Śniadecki Street is similarly ornamented, in addition to two large wrought iron balconies.
Max Schmidt tenement at 42 Śniadeckich street, corner Sienkiewicza 1882–1883, by Józef Święcicki and Anton Hoffmann
Neo-Renaissance
The building, then at Elisabethstraße 42a, was a commission from Max Schmidt, a teacher. It was one of the first realizations of Józef Święcicki together with his stepfather, Anton Hoffman, a master bricklayer.
Recently renovated, the elevation boasts neo-Renaissance forms inspired by the Italian Cinquecento, including bossages and motifs. In the corner facing both streets is a bay window on two levels, flanked at each floor by lean columns. In his next works, Józef Święcicki would elaborate further on this architectural style, as seen in the buildings at Tenement at Freedom Square 1 (1896) or at 1/3 Stary Port (1893–1905).
Tenement at 17a 1892
Eclecticism
This small building appeared under construction in 1892, then was listed under different numberings (10, 10a or 11) in Mittelstraße. Its first landlord was Max Schmidt, a teacher, living at "43 Elisabethstraße" (40 Śniadeckich street, now nonexistent).
Wedged between two large tenements, this one-story building displays plastered motifs, bossages, corbel tables and a wrought iron grille.
Tenement at 18 1887-188
Eclecticism
The first owner was registered as Constantia Bordanowicz, married to a butcher. At its erection, the address was "34a Mittelstraße".
On the renovated elevation, one can highlight the large wooden door, pedimented openings with stuccoed cartouches beneath and corbel tables.
Tenement at 19 1890s
Eclecticism