A much-awaited change is coming to one of the most representative streets in Łódź. After years of a gaping hole in the historic frontage on Piotrkowska Street, the tenement house of Dawid Izrael Freind will finally be rebuilt. The investor in the project is BUDOMAL ESTATE, which acquired the plot together with the neighbouring building from Polska Grupa Energetyczna S.A. in December 2023. Piotrkowska 58 will be reborn after 16 years!
The end of emptiness in the city centre
The citizens of Łódź have finally got a real chance to change a part of their city, and the ugly hole in the buildings will become just a memory. The architectural and construction project that has been prepared has already received the legal permission to carry out the works, which allows the implementation phase to begin. The project is called “Kamienica Konesera” (The Connoisseur’s Tenement House) and envisages the construction of an intimate, but very impressive residential building with premises of a high standard. The ground floor is to be used for commercial activities. The facade of the new building is a reconstruction of an old tenement house that stood on this site until 2009.
58 Piotrkowska St. – a history of destruction and oblivion
The tenement at 58 Piotrkowska Street was built in 1874 as the house of David Israel Freind. In 1912, the building was added an extra storey. After World War II, the building lost its importance and started to deteriorate, so it eventually lost all its impressive ornaments and details. In 2007, the city of Łódź sold the property to PGE Dystrybucja. The new owner obtained permission to demolish it on condition that it would be rebuilt by the end of 2011. Despite formal arrangements and promises, the company never fulfilled the terms of the agreement, and for the following years the plot remained undeveloped, disfiguring the space of one of the most important streets in Łódź.
Return to historical form
The project for the current reconstruction of the tenement house of David Izrael Freind involves a faithful reproduction of the former façade of the building, which in the interwar period was an integral part of the metropolitan development of Piotrkowska Street. The reconstruction of its historical character is the work of architect Filip Karczemski, supported by Małgorzata and Andrzej Wachowicz, also architects. The designers are relying on the preserved documentation so that it will be possible to restore as faithfully as possible the original proportions and details that disappeared after the war.
58 Piotrkowska St.: an investment under special supervision
The realisation of the investment involves additional challenges, as the plot is located in the area covered by the construction of the cross-town tunnel. It was this context that forced significant adjustments to the original design. All earthworks, including the construction of foundations, will be carried out in close coordination with the activities of the tunnel contractor and the progress of the TBM ‘Katarzyna’ machine, which is digging an underground route towards Łódź Fabryczna station. At the same time, reconstruction is underway on the neighbouring office building at 56/58 Piotrkowska Street, which has also been taken over by BUDOMAL and will eventually be converted into a residential building. After years of stagnation and an unsightly gap in development, the centre of Łódź will get a chance to regain a lost piece of its charm and history.
Source: lodz.pl
Read also: Architecture in Poland | Tenement | Monument | Metamorphosis | Łódź | whiteMAD on Instagram
