Its ornate façade resembles a small temple or some other sacred building, yet this intimate structure was built for a far more mundane purpose – trade. In Tujsk, Pomerania, the former Wichmann department store has survived; after the war, it served the congregation as a chapel, so its history has ties to a place of worship. The building stands out against the village’s other structures and continues to intrigue visitors to this day with its brick ornamentation and woodwork.
The Wichmann family’s department store in Tujsk
The most distinctive building in this Żuławy village is located at 37 Tujsk. According to available accounts, it was built in the 1920s, when the village bore the German name Tiegenort and belonged to the Free City of Gdańsk. The neo-Gothic brick building was initially home to the F. F. Wichmann company. According to an account by a local resident quoted on the ‘Dawny Gdańsk’ forum, the owners offered a wide range of services. They traded in textiles, ran a guesthouse and sold fuel from a petrol pump. They also owned a shop in nearby Stegna. The surviving building at number 37 is a remnant of a larger complex of buildings, the full history of which still requires further research. Using an AI model based on a blurred engraving, we were able to reconstruct the approximate appearance of the building and its immediate surroundings.
A house with a neo-Gothic façade
The Wichmann department store in Tujsk is particularly intriguing for its neo-Gothic façade of cream-grey brick. Its central section is slightly taller than the side sections, and four pinnacles resembling small turrets protrude above the upper edge. Darker bricks highlight the arches, window sills and geometric decorations. On the upper floor, there is a pair of slender, pointed-arch windows beneath a shared arch, whilst on either side are single windows with circular motifs above them. Behind the two-storey frontage stretches a lower, long wing. The more modest side façade is adorned with pointed-arch frames and horizontal bands of dark brick.
A Neo-Gothic gem from Tujsk and its history
The façade still features the wooden window frames of the first floor with their original glazing divisions, as well as the wide, central ground-floor window with a rounded top. On either side of this were two pairs of identical, decorative wooden doors. The right-hand door was later replaced with a single leaf, and the remaining part of the opening was bricked up. This probably took place whilst the shop was in operation. The left-hand door, on the other hand, has retained its decorative panels, glazing and carved details resembling three-leaf clovers. Traces of further alterations are also visible on the side façade: some of the windows have changed shape, whilst the largest one has been completely bricked up.
The Wichmann Department Store in Tujsk as a place of worship
The sacred function of this century-old building only emerged after the Second World War. According to a study of the history of the local parish, in 1957 the former market hall was converted into St Stanislaus’s Church. The Cyganek–Tujsk parish was established on 2 August 1972, whilst between 1990 and 1997 a new church was built on a different site, which was consecrated on 5 May 1997. Accounts of the subsequent history of the Wichmann family’s house mention the shop referred to earlier, as well as a car repair workshop and private flats. The building is currently closed and serves no purpose. There are visible gaps in the bricks and mortar, as well as flaking paint on the woodwork, but overall much of the former charm of this Neo-Gothic building has survived, which testifies to the solidity of its construction. Let us hope that this unique department store will find a new purpose and once again be bustling with life.
Source: proszewycieczki.wordpress.com, diecezja.elblag.pl
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