The power station of Elektrizitätswerk Schlesien AG in Siechnice. An industrial plant in the 20th century – a work of an engineer and an architect-artist

Agnieszka Gryglewska, Mateusz Rabiega

doi:10.37190/arc220105

Abstract

The subject of the article is the architecture of the Tschechnitz Power Plant (currently Czechnica CHP Plant) in Siechnice near Wrocław. The plant, built during the period of intensive development of the power industry in Lower Silesia at the beginning of the 20thcentury, was the result of cooperation between an engineer and an architect-artist, postulated by architects associated with Deutscher Werkbund. The aim of this article is to present the history of the construction and development of the power plant as well as artistic shaping of the urban layout, façades, representative interiors of the machine rooms, mechanical workshops as well as facilities with an advertising function. The analysis of the history and the present condition of he complex was possible thanks to field research carried out by the authors, a query of source materials and texts in the professional press as well as iconography from the years 1910–2019. The conducted research is the basis for defining the scope of monument protection and for revitalizing the power plant, which will be closed in 2024 with regard to the policy of decommissioning coal-fired power plants in Poland.

Keywords:
article
industrial-architecture-of-the-20th-century
art
power-station
siechnice
historicism
functionalism

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Agnieszka Gryglewska*, Mateusz Rabiega**

The power station of Elektrizitätswerk Schlesien AG in Siechnice.

An industrial plant in the 20

century

– a work of an engineer and an architect-artist

Introduction

The power station of Elektrizitätswerk Schlesien AG

(E.W.S. AG; Kraftwerk Tschechnitz, Niederschlesien un-

til 1945; currently Czechnica CHP Plant, Lower Silesia)

constructed in Siechnice near Wrocław in 1910, was in

a state of constant expansion until 1944 under the pres-

sure of technological development and electricity de-

mand. Its architectural quality constituted evidence of

the implementation of the Deutsche Werkbund reformist

idea by the management of the Company. It also showed

the collaboration of an engineer and architect-artist in its

creation

. This idea, justied by the views of modernist

architects before the World War I, was then implemented

in socialist Poland in the 1960s.

Sources and state of research

The article is based on research that was carried out

in 2019 and 2020 at the request of the owner of the plant

– Zespół Elektrociepłowni Wrocławskich Kogeneracja

S.A., a subsidiary of PGE Energia Ciepła from the PGE

Group, preceding the planned closure of the power plant

in 2024. The historical, architectural, and conservation

* ORCID:

0000-0001-7073-6687. Faculty of Architecture, Wro-

cław University of Science and Technology, Poland, e-mail: agnieszka.

gryglewska

@pwr.edu.pl

** ORCID: 0000-0002-7964-6503. Faculty of Architecture, Wro-

cław University of Science and Technology, Poland.

In the years 1909–1912, inter alia Peter Behrens, Hans Poelzig

and Walter Gropius, architects associated with Werkbund, in the mag-

azines “Das Kunstgewerbeblatt” and “Der Industriebau”, called for co-

operation between an engineer and an artistically educated architect in

designing industrial architecture. This issue was the subject of studies.

See [1]–[8].

study of the structures of the Czechnica Combined Heat

and Power Plant along with the company housing estate

in Fabryczna Street in Siechnice was carried out by a team

of researchers from the Department of the History of Ar-

chitecture, Art and Technology of Wrocław University of

Science and Technology [9].

The study was based on eld research, a query of

source materials and texts in the professional press as

well as iconography from the years 1910–2019. The most

important historical source was the “Nachrichtenblatt der

Elektrizitätswerk Schlesien A.-G.” periodical, which was

published by E.W.S. AG in the years 1925–1935 (avail-

able at the University Library in Wrocław). In the years

1925–1935, the history of the construction of the power

plant in Siechnice and other investments of the compa-

ny in Lower Silesia were presented along with numerous

photographs. No occasional publications or monographs

of the power plant in Siechnice before 1945 have been

found

Articles by architects Richard and Paul Ehrlich in the

branch architectural journal “Ostdeutsche Bau-Zeitung”,

which were published in 1926, contained authors’ original

descriptions of the production buildings of the power plant

from the years 1924–1926 [10] and a housing estate from

the years 1912–1926 [11]. In the absence of the preserved

original design documentation, it is one of the few sources

enabling the attribution of designs before 1945. Photo-

graphs of the power plant from 1929 were published in the

renowned architectural magazine “Die Form”, which was

published in Berlin [12]. Photos of the

power plant, which

were deposited at the Herder-Institut für historische Ost-

mitteleuropaforschung (collection of

Poklekowski) [13],

All source texts translated by A. Gryglewska.

DOI: 10.37190/arc220105

Published in open access. CC BY NC ND license

54 Agnieszka Gryglewska, Mateusz Rabiega

by the railway line from Wrocław to Laskowice, opened

in 1909, and further to Opole and Upper Silesia, which

provided fuel transport. The Oława River owing nearby

provided cooling water [19]. The plant was built in 1910

to the south of the railway tracks, on a parallel east-west

axis, after the wetland was hardened [18]. The buildings

of the rst power station were situated next to each other,

i.e. the boiler hall from the north, the engine hall with two

steam turbines and the electrical switching station from

the south. A chimney was built on the west side, whereas

a free-standing residential building (present gatehouse)

was designed to the south-west of the compact building

complex. The size of the plot, despite its limitations with

the neighboring rural buildings, made it possible to further

develop the plant.

The plant was signicantly extended in the years 1912–

1914. According to the original plan, the volume of the

existing power station was doubled by extending the main

buildings to the east – the boiler hall and engine hall as

well as the electrical switching station. From the very

beginning, the extension of the plant was carried out ac-

cording to the shortest route of electric cables and steam

installations. To the west, along the access road, the rst

building of the housing estate with factory apartments was

constructed.

The works were continued from 1917 to 1923. They re-

sulted in a further extension of the compact development

to the south, where, among other things, a new switch-

ing station was built along with a connecting bridge. To

the east, a second boiler house, two chimneys, two cool-

ing towers, a regulated water tank and coal storage with

a transport railway were built. At the same time, the fac-

tory housing estate was extended by two more buildings.

In the years 1924–1928, the next phase of the extension

brought major changes in the spatial structure of the plant

(Fig. 1). During that phase, the southern switching station

was extended to the east and a series of buildings were

erected. These included a new boiler hall adjoined to the

second boiler house, a new engine house – the most im-

portant element of the extension, and a pump station ad-

jacent to it from the east. To the east of it, there was a new

cooling tower and a carpentry workshop. Coal was stored

behind these buildings. In addition, a hall and a garage for

mechanical workshops were built on the edge of the power

station site. At the end of this extension phase, the site of

the power plant was extended further east. It was devel-

oped into an open-air electrical transformer station with

a guardhouse for supervision located on the plant side. The

last building of the housing estate was completed during

this phase. The extension of the plant was accompanied

by the development of a network of railway branch lines,

which led to girder cranes of the most important build-

ings – new engine house and mechanical workshop. In the

years 1924–1926, the power station extension project and

construction management were entrusted to Richard and

Paul Ehrlich by E.W.S. AG, who were probably employed

in designing the power station from its very beginning

[10], [11].

Another extension of the plant took place during the

World War II. In the years 1939–1941, the oldest boiler

showing buildings and machines from the years 1910–

1926, also come from the same period. There are no writ-

ten sources from the beginning of the 1940s when the

power plant was remodeled and modernized. Determining

the scope and chronology of this remodeling was possible

only thanks to the photographic and cartographic collec-

tions deposited in the State Archives in Wrocław, such

as photos showing the state of preservation of the power

plant in the years 1948–1949, after the devastation and

robbery of equipment in the rst years after World War

II and before its reconstruction in the 1950s. Aerial pho-

tographs of the Siechnice region from 1927 and 1941 are

particularly valuable.

The oldest preserved original design and measurement

documentation for the power plant and the housing estate

comes from the years 1949–1950 and is in the owner’s

collection in the Technical Archives of the Czechnica CHP

Plant in Siechnice. Only a few publications on industrial

monuments in Lower Silesia [14], Wrocław power plants

[15, pp. 77–99] and the history of Siechnice [16] provide

information on the history of the plant.

The research allowed us to determine the process of

creating and then transforming the power plant, to a large

extent who was responsible for it (investor, designer, con-

tractor), what kind of valuable solutions it resulted in, and

nally what of the original architectural substance has

survived to this day and should be covered by conserva-

tion protection.

The aim of the article is to present the architecture of

the power plant with a historical background, taking into

account the role of an engineer and an artistically educat-

ed architect in its construction.

History and spatial transformations

Rich lignite and hard coal deposits, high energy poten-

tial of the Oder River tributaries and developed industry

contributed to the ourishing of power engineering in

Lower Silesia, which was one of the earliest electried

regions in Europe at the end of the 19

century [17].

The construction of the power station in Siechnice was

a consequence of the establishment of Elektrizitätswerk

Schlesien AG on November 19, 1909, in Wrocław on the

initiative of engineer Richard Wolfes PhD from Wrocław

(the company’s director until 1924) and with the partic-

ipation of the Association of Electric Companies (Ge-

sellschaft für elektrische Unternehmungen) in Berlin, lat-

er part of AEG Berlin. The established company was also

the owner of two other power plants in Miłków near Lud-

wikowice Kłodzkie (Ludwigsdorf-Mölke) and Wałbrzych

(currently non-existent). Thanks to modern management

and courage in taking risks, it became the second enter-

prise producing electricity in Silesia and the largest one in

Lower Silesia until the World War II [17]. The company’s

signicance grew as it supplied electricity to large rural

areas and small towns, lling a gap on the market, which

previously comprised mainly large cities and industrial

centers [18].

The Tschechnitz Power Plant was located in the village

of Siechnice, approximately 12 km south-east of Wrocław,

The power station of Elektrizitätswerk Schlesien AG in Siechnice 55

hall was rebuilt and raised, and the adjacent buildings from

the west were connected and made taller. In the centrally

located section of the power plant, between the switch-

ing stations, a control house was built (the device of the

boiler house central control station, similar to the electric

control house), and in the south-east – a new twelve- sided

cooling tower. In the years 1941–1944, smaller power sta-

tion buildings, which were scattered over a larger area (to

the west and east), were constructed. On the west side,

a warehouse and administration complex, a water de-iron-

ing building, a smaller warehouse and a garage were com -

pleted. To the east, mainly between boiler houses and the

oldest cooling towers, numerous small technical build-

ings, which were inventoried and demolished after 1950,

were built. Around 1942, a magnicent administrative

edi ce was erected with a meeting room on the third oor

and a water treatment plant in the northern part of the

ground oor. During the last years of the war, the highest

135-meter chimney was built and located centrally among

the power station buildings and connected to the new

boiler house. Reinforced concrete hyperboloid cooling

towers were also built, along with the last, unnished coal

mill north of the railway line (with a bridge connector to

the boiler house suspended above the railroad tracks). On

February 16, 1945, the power plant was occupied by the

Red Army with minimal damage; however, its equipment

was dismantled and gradually transported deep into the

USSR [21, p. 4].

After the end of World War II, Siechnice was granted

to Poland, together with the Recovered Territories. The

Poles took over the power plant from the Soviet army

in 1947, and then the reconstruction and construction of

a new power station began with the use of the old build-

ings and infrastructure (1947–1959). A new, higher boiler

hall was built with partial use of foundations and indi -

vidual elements of the steel structure of the former “new

boiler hall”. The pump station was extended to the east and

supplemented with a casing of degassers. The three oldest

cooling towers were demolished. The factory boundary

was partially moved to the south along with the railway

siding, thanks to which there was space for the construc-

tion of a re station and warehouse buildings. To the north

of the railway line, a locomotive shed was built and the

construction of the central coal mill, which was inter-

rupted during the war, was completed. The central ware-

house hall was completed in the western part of the site.

There were no major changes in the spatial develop-

ment of the plant prior to the power plant’s transforma-

tion into a combined heat and power plant after 1974.

A cooling tower was built in the 1960s (dismantled

around 2002). Buildings from the period when the func-

tion was changed into a heat and power plant – cooling

water pump station, carpentry workshop, degassers tower,

demineralized water pump station and others – were built

between the earlier facilities in a dispersion, on the eastern

side of the main complex. In the years 1992–1993, a hous-

ing estate (currently owned by Inter-enterprise Hous ing

Cooperative “Czechnica”) was privatized. In 2018, the

owner of the Czechnica CHP Plant Kogeneracja S.A. sold

the open-air electrical transformer station with a switching

station control house to TAURON Dystrybu cja S.A. The

current view of the power station is presented in Figure 2.

Composition of the power station

and the factory housing estate

in the context of the rural development

of Siechnice at the beginning of the 20

century

The complex of the large-scale power station buildings

is anked from the main entrance (west) by a picturesque

small factory housing estate. It consists of four multi-fam-

ily, two-storey houses, which were built on a narrow strip

of land, on both sides of the curved access road (Fig. 3a).

It forms a connector between the industrial complex and

the low residential and economic, rural development of

Siechnice. In the largest of the houses, which is situated

transversely at the end of the street, there is a gateway

anked by the avant-corps of staircases resembling tow-

ers, reminiscent of the gatehouse leading to the outer ward

of a brick medieval fortress (Fig. 3b). It was impossible

to nd a similar concept of a patronage housing estate in

Silesia at the beginning of the 20

century. It is probably

an attempt at responding to the then postulates of skillful

incorporation of a factory into the landscape of a village

or a small town in order to […] not painfully disturb the

small-town or rural character of the area by the clumsy

planning of huge plants [3, p. 101].

Individual buildings of the housing estate in Siechnice

were erected in stages in the years 1912–1926, along with

the extension and growing housing needs of the plant. De-

tached houses, which were arranged freely along the street

(at dierent angles, without keeping one line of buildings),

with pre-gardens, gave the impression of a picturesque

Fig. 1. View of the power station building complex

after the completion of extension in the years 1925–1926.

Aerial photograph (retouched),

south-west, circa February 1928.

(source: [20], in the collection of the Wrocław University Library)

Il. 1. Widok zespołu budynków elektrowni

po zakończeniu rozbudowy w latach 1925–1926.

Zdjęcie lotnicze (retuszowane),

od południowego zachodu, ok. lutego 1928 r.

(źródło: [20], w zbiorach Biblioteki Uniwersyteckiej we Wrocławiu)

56 Agnieszka Gryglewska, Mateusz Rabiega

Fig. 2. Top view of the Czechnica CHP Plant, 2018,

1 – first boiler hall, 2 – first engine hall, 3 – first switching station, 4 – first residential building (gatehouse),

5 – new switching station, 6 – new boiler hall, 7 – new engine house, 8 – pump station, 9 – mechanical workshop hall,

10 – main administration building, 11 – warehouse and administration complex, 12 – water de-ironing building,

13 – cooling towers, 14 – coal mill, 15 – fire station, 16 – central warehouse, 17 – residential buildings of the company housing estate

(prepared by M. Rabiega with the use of the orthophotomap from [22])

Il. 2. Widok z lotu ptaka na Elektrociepłownię Czechnica, 2018 r.:

1 – pierwsza kotłownia, 2 – pierwsza maszynownia, 3 – pierwsza rozdzielnia, 4 – portiernia, 5 – nowa rozdzielnia, 6 – nowa kotłownia,

7 – nowa maszynownia, 8 – pompownia, 9 – hala warsztatów mechanicznych, 10 – główny budynek administracyjny,

11 – zespół magazynowo-administracyjny, 12 – odżelaziarnia wody, 13 – chłodnie kominowe, 14 – młynownia, 15 – straż pożarna,

16 – magazyn centralny, 17 – budynki mieszkalne osiedla zakładowego

(oprac. M. Rabiega z wykorzystaniem ortofotomapy z [22])

Fig. 3. The housing estate with company apartments:

a) a view of the branch of Fabryczna Street towards the west direction, 1926,

b) gate between residential buildings leading to the power station (to the east), 1926

(source: [11], in the collection of the Wrocław University Library)

Il. 3. Kolonia domów z mieszkaniami zakładowymi:

a) widok zabudowy sięgacza ul. Fabrycznej w kierunku zachodnim, 1926,

b) brama między budynkami mieszkalnymi prowadząca w kierunku elektrowni (na wschód), 1926

(źródło: [11], w zbiorach Biblioteki Uniwersyteckiej we Wrocławiu)

rural corner. The residents had access to the sun and green-

ery. In the southern part of the plot, there was a modest

garden with a playground for children, a spring and a pad-

dling pool [11].

Most of the houses had sunny verandas (from the south

and west). On the ground oor, there were also entrances to

the apartments – “enlivened by boxes with owers” [11].

The housing estate was designed by Wrocław architects

a b

The power station of Elektrizitätswerk Schlesien AG in Siechnice 57

Richard and Paul Ehrlich around 1912

. They gave the ar-

chitecture the features of the Heimatschutz style, inspired

by the simplicity of a country house, regional forms, mate-

rials, colors and textures. The houses were contrasted with

the neighboring power station in terms of their scale and

the way they were shaped. However, the material common

to both complexes, i.e. red brick, was preserved.

The complex of houses constitutes an interesting ex-

ample of a small-scale urban layout, which bears the fea-

tures of the aestheticizing trend of Camillo Sitte’s school.

Thanks to providing the residents with light, air and green-

ery, the housing estate also meets the demands of the Gar-

den City Movement (Gartenstadtbewegung) and is a syn-

thesis of the city and the countryside. To this day, it has

been preserved in its original form without changes to the

urban layout and the buildings themselves.

Architecture of the power station

in the years 1910–1923.

From historicism to functionalism

The construction of the power station, which began on

March 14, 1910, proceeded so quickly that the buildings

were completed in the raw state within a few months. On

August 18, 1910, the chimney [18], an external trademark

of the company visible on the premises, was completed.

A month later, the interiors were ready for the installation

of devices – boilers and two steam turbines of 1,000 kW

of power [18]. A compact complex of red brick buildings

was erected parallel to the railway tracks. It consisted of

boiler and engine halls, a four-storey switching station

building, a chimney and outbuildings for ash and cinder

collection as well as a water container (Fig. 4a). Both

halls, 22-m high, were crowned with gable roofs, whereas

the switching station was covered with a lean-to roof. The

rhythm of the mighty buttresses along the entire length of

the northern façade and the high tower, made the power

station’s body similar to medieval architecture. On the

west side, the gable walls of both halls were adjoined by

lower segments, probably containing rooms with adminis-

trative and social functions. The walls of the halls above

their roofs were made as walls of a light iron structure lled

with glass (Fig. 4b). Over the ridge of the roof of the boiler

house, lanterns for ventilation were made and a large part

of the roof of the engine house was glazed. The façades

of the power station, with a carefully made smooth brick

face with shallow recesses creating delicate vertical divi-

sions and light concrete framing of the gables, constituted

an example of the phenomenon of modernizing historical

styles characteristic for the beginning of the 20

century.

Richard (1866–1942) and Paul (1870–1943) Ehrlich graduated

from Technische Hochschule in Berlin-Charlottenburg with the title of

government architects (Regierungsbaumeister). Their projects showed

a large thematic and stylistic diversity [23]. Prestigious orders, cooper-

ation with outstanding architects, such as Hans Poelzig, Heino Schmie-

den, participation in opinion-forming and professional bodies, such as

Schlesischer Bund für Heimatschutz [24, p. 418], Bund Deutscher Ar-

chitekten and Architekten- und Ingenieurverein, made the Ehrlichs one

of the most important creators of the Wrocław milieu in the rst thirty

years of the 20

century.

At that time, it was visible in the architecture of Berlin’s

“temples of power” by Peter Behrens, which was based on

historical models. The buildings were made of brick, rein-

forced concrete and steel. The Wrocław Gebrüder Huber

Company was employed to build the reinforced concrete

structure (pillars and ground oor ceiling) [18].

On December 10, 1910, the inauguration of the power

station took place in the engine hall. Its representative

function was no exception at that time. The appearance of

the original interior design, which was made with special

care and most probably with the participation of a deco-

rator, was presented in archival photographs from 1910

and 1929 (Fig. 5). The walls of the engine room were

rhythm ically divided by means of pillars ending with

Fig. 4. View of the power station from the west:

a) building complex in 1910 (source: [18], in the collection of

the Wrocław University Library),

b) gable of the I engine hall (photo by A. Gryglewska, 2019)

Il. 4. Widok elektrowni od zachodu:

a) zespół budynków w 1910 r. (źródło: [18], w zbiorach Biblioteki

Uniwersyteckiej we Wrocławiu),

b) szczyt budynku maszynowni I (fot. A. Gryglewska, 2019)

58 Agnieszka Gryglewska, Mateusz Rabiega

heads with decorative, geometric relief and a colored tem-

plate drawing on which the crane runway beams rested.

On the southern wall, there was a narrow entresol of

the control room with a decorative balustrade. All walls

featured a high dado made of square, white, glazed tiles

with inserts in the form of delicate dark green stripes,

and a painted decoration above it – rectangular frames

made of geometric multi-colored template friezes. Above

the entrance to the hall, there was a large graphic sign,

which was connected with the symbolism of electricity, in

a square surrounded by rays. Large fragments of ceramic

wall cladding and a fragment of the entresol balustrade

made of riveted iron proles and pressed sheet metal have

survived to this day. The engine room was lit by mod-

ern electric wall lamps. The girder crane, which has sur-

vived to this day, probably dates back to the time of the

extension of the engine house in 1914. The interiors of the

remaining buildings received practical and durable nish

with a wall surface, rounded corners of pillars and arcades

made of clinker brick.

The extension of the plant in the years 1912–1914

was probably planned as early as 1910. The boiler hall,

the engine hall and the switching station were extended

by doubling their area according to the original design.

It was a method frequently used at the beginning of the

century (e.g., at Klingenberg Power Plant in Berlin,

1926–1927) [25].

The next extension took place in 1917, when the

Wacker-Chemie Werk Tschechnitz Electrochemical Fac-

tory was built in the vicinity of the power station. In the

existing engine room, a turbine exceeding the power of

all the existing ones [19] was connected and the con-

struction of a new boiler hall to the east of the existing

group of buildings began. By 1923, the administrative

building and a new switching station were completed,

followed by a connecting bridge between the old and the

new one supported on semicircular arcades, two chimneys

and a pump station. Objects from this phase of the power

plant’s construction were demolished or rebuilt during the

subsequent stages of plant transformations. Only the new

switching station building survived in its entirety – an ex-

ample of simple, geometrical, functional and matter-of-

fact architecture with a at façade surface and carefully

designed brickwork, but without any decorations. Its ar-

chitecture shows new trends in the German architecture

of the interwar period. The boiler hall, with a form closely

related to its function, was then constructed as a modern

steel and brick structure. It was made of multi-pitched

lattice girders supported by two internal rows of lattice

columns. The sloping roofs made it possible for them to

be glazed and the vertical (lantern) provided windows

for ventilation [10]. The external walls of the building,

which were devoid of a structural function, constituted

only a thin barrier separating the production process from

external weather conditions. Their so-called iron-framed

structure (Eisenfachwerk-Konstruktion), which was made

of a grid of rolled, riveted and brick-lled proles, was

a cheap and quick-to-build system of curtain walls, saving

the usable oor space of buildings. It was probably pop-

ularized thanks to the construction of the Exhibition of

Industry and Craft of North Rhine-Westphalia in Düssel-

dorf in 1902, and in eastern Germany – due to the Upper

Silesian Tower in Poznań from 1911, designed by Hans

Poelzig. In the 1920s and 1930s, the iron fachwerk was

already widely used in German industrial architecture.

No design documentation has survived, and there are

no written sources unambiguously conrming the au-

thorship of Richard and Paul Ehrlich of the power station

project from the years 1910–1923. They may be indicated

by the extension of the boiler hall, which was carried out

by them in the following years on the basis of an identi-

cal method, as well as some articles by architects in the

professional press with a competent description of the

investment from 1910 [10], their presence in Siechnice

from at least 1912 in connection with the construction of

the housing estate, and nally consistency in creating ho-

mogeneous architecture of the complex with geometrical

forms and brick material.

Mechawerk mechanical workshop

in the years 1924–1925

– “objectivity inspired by the rhythm

of spiritual technique”

The large workshop and warehouse hall with a con-

struction area of 1,400 m

, which was designed by the

Ehrlich Brothers, was completed in the years 1924–1925

[10]. It was located in the north-eastern part of the power

plant area, ensuring convenient rail and car transportation

(Fig. 6a–c).

The development of electrication and the construc

tion

of power stations equipped with transformers, motors and

electric meters made it necessary to organize well-equipped

and specialized repair workshops [27]. The plant’s own

equipment – motors, transformers and devices,

were re-

paired and external services were performed in the hall

Fig. 5. Interior of the first engine room during its opening in 1910.

View to the west overlooking two turbines with a capacity of 2,000 kW

(source: [18], in the collection of the Wrocław University Library)

Il. 5. Wnętrze pierwszej maszynowni w czasie otwarcia w 1910 r.

Widok w kierunku zachodnim na dwie turbiny o mocy 2000 kW

(źródło: [18], w zbiorach Biblioteki Uniwersyteckiej we Wrocławiu)

The power station of Elektrizitätswerk Schlesien AG in Siechnice 59

known as Mechawerk, which was operated by Mecha-

nische Werkstätten Schlesien GmbH Bres lau, and estab-

lished by E.W.S. AG.

The structure of the two-aisle hall was made of steel

lattice columns on which both a light roof structure was

placed, consisting of lattice trusses with a lantern, with

a raised lower and polygonal higher belt, and beams for

crane systems. Longitudinal lanterns were used to ven-

tilate the hall. The curtain external walls were made of

a grid of rolled proles lled with brick as the iron-framed

structure.

The hall was equipped with panache and whatever the

cost, with modern aids and machinery [27]. In its project,

the priority was the shortest transport route, which would

be achieved thanks to the appropriate location of various

departments and crane systems. In the Wrocław press, the

facility was called the Silesian “electrical clinic” because

[…] here the patients [devices] […] are handed over to

expert doctors [engineers] [26, p. 215]. The architecture

of the workshop hall was described with admiration, i.e.

Already externally, in its smooth geometric architecture

with long and wide roofs and walls dominated by a trans-

parent glass plate, this building is a symbol of a clear,

precise, large-scale spirit, modern technical spirit, which

stands in peculiar contrast to the silence of the arable

elds […]. Inside the factory building [there is] the same

impression of objectivity which is inspired by the rhythm

of spiritual technique. The space is full of light and will-

ingness to work. High up, under the glass roof, a mathe-

matical ornament of blue and orange iron trusses, which

appear thin and brittle at height, but are really compact

and carry loads, e.g. two girder cranes and their con-

siderable load weight. […] A few meters up, there is the

“commandant’s house” which is kept in pretty blue and

white. It is entered via a spiral staircase and its shape

resembles a railway control room [26, p. 213].

This company investment should be treated as one of

the most important and the most modern. The building

has survived to this day in an almost unchanged shape

with slightly transformed façades, original crane systems,

a control cabin, and even colors similar to the original

ones. The work of the Ehrlichs was perceived by con-

temporaries as a futuristic vision of a perfect mechanism,

set in motion and supervised by man hovering above

workplaces, so that the work was performed in an ideal

rhythm. The project fullled the idea of Walter Gropius

– constructing a palace for the working class, the beauty

of which was not expressed in ornamentation, but a func-

tional space of the workplace full of light and air.

Architecture of the power station

in the years 1925–1926.

A combination of functionality and prestige

After the World War I and the crisis of 1924–1925, the

Management Board of E.W.S. AG, anticipating a large in-

crease in electricity consumption, decided to enhance the

current eciency of machines and extend the power sta-

tion. This was done on a grand scale [28] (Fig. 7). In June

1925, the Swiss company Brown, Boveri u. Cie, was com-

missioned to build the largest steam turbine east of the

Elbe, with a capacity of 30,000 kW. New buildings, i.e.,

the engine house (1,000 m

), pump station (585 m

), ex-

tension of the boiler house (1,100 m

, no longer existing),

were completed in 1926. In terms of cubature and capacity

of the devices located in them, they were prepared for the

Fig. 6. Building of the mechanical workshop

Mechanische Werkstätten Schlesien GmbH:

a) the south-west view, 1926 (drawing by P. Burke, source: [26],

in the collection of the University Library in Wrocław),

b) view of the interior of the hall from the north. A winding room

for electrical devices on the left, a control station on the right, 1926

(drawing by P. Burke, source: [26],

in the collection of the Wrocław University Library),

c) interior of the former mechanical workshop, 2019

(photo by A. Gryglewska)

Il. 6. Budynek warsztatów mechanicznych Mechanische

Werkstätten

Schlesien GmbH: a) widok od strony południowo-

zachodniej, 1926

(rys. P. Burke, źródło: [26],

w zbiorach Biblioteki Uniwersyteckiej we Wrocławiu),

b) widok wnętrza hali

od strony północnej, na lewo nawijalnia

przyrządów elektrycznych, na prawo – stanowisko kontrolne, 1926

(rys. P. Burke, źródło: [26],

w zbiorach Biblioteki Uniwersyteckiej we Wrocławiu),

c) wnętrze dawnego warsztatu mechanicznego, 2019

(fot. A. Gryglewska)

60 Agnieszka Gryglewska, Mateusz Rabiega

insertion of this turbine and another machine, equally as

large [29]. Thanks to the new investment, the plant’s op-

erating capacity increased by about 100% [10] and during

the 16 years of the plant’s operation – twentyfold [18].

The installation of such a large machine resulted in

further achievements – a cooling tower with a capacity of

10,000 m

of water per hour (non-existent) and a 43,000 kVA

transformer (AEG. Transformatorenfabrik, Berlin), among

the largest that had been built so far [28]. A girder crane,

which was used to lift and move parts of the turbine, by

Unruh u. Liebig from Leipzig – the largest one in Sile-

sia, with a span of 30 m and a weight of approx. 90 tons

– was installe on the rst oor of the engine house [30].

The company entrusted the project of extending the

power station and managing its construction to Richard

and Paul Ehrlich [10]. Construction works were carried

out by reputable companies, mainly from Wrocław. The

reinforced concrete structures were calculated and made

by a team of two specialized companies, i.e., Gebrüder

Huber and Huta AG under the supervision of engineer

Fischel and Marcus PhD [10]. The aboveground part of the

engine house was built by the aforementioned companies

together with Simon & Halfpaap. Linke-Hofmann-Lauch-

hammerwerke built the iron structure of the boiler hall and

the engine house, whereas Eisenwerk Trelenberg – of the

pump station and the cooling tower. All the construction

work was managed by Kley and Weigt [10].

The most important and dicult task of this stage of the

investment was the construction of a new engine house, es-

pecially foundation work, in order to “x this huge machine

safely and in a shock-free manner” [28]. The foundations

of the turbine were insulated from the foundations of the

building. Due to the unfavorable ground and water condi-

tions, the machine house was built on approximately 1000

reinforced concrete piles [28]. A turbine was set up in the

engine room on the rst oor, which was 17 m high and lit

from three sides. The roof structure with a span of 30 m was

supported by lattice trusses with a lantern for ventilation.

The interior of the engine room was designed and made

by a painter-decorator (Fig. 8). As in the case of the in-

terior of the engine room from 1910, it was arranged with

exceptional care as a representative space, emphasizing

the company’s rank. The painting works were carried out

by famous Wrocław artist Hans Rumsch who collaborated

with the Ehrlichs at least since 1900

. The functional inte-

rior of the engine room was arranged very simply. It was

given […] a 2-m high green ceramic dado; the coered

ceiling, which was made of reinforced concrete slabs, and

the walls were kept in two bright shining shades of yellow.

The iron roof structure and the large girder crane were

supposed to be light gray or dark green, and the oor was

to be covered with tiles – with a green-and-gray interlace

pattern [10, p. 414]. The building, which was described

by the architects, has survived to this day almost in its

original condition along with a crane; however, without

the original interior design.

The Ehrlich brothers adapted the new architecture to

the existing complex. In the engine house, the raw brick

surfaces were divided by concrete cornices which at the

same time showed to the outside stiening reinforced con-

crete ribs, necessary in certain places due to the large

span and height of the perimeter walls. […] The visible

Hans Rumsch (1855?–1908) was the author of interior decora-

tions of, inter alia, Wrocław public buildings, the Exhibition of Crafts

and Applied Arts (Ausstellung für Handwerk und Kunstgewerbe,

1904), president of the Arts and Crafts Association in Wrocław and the

Province of Silesia (Kunstgewerbereverein für Breslau und die Provinz

Schlesien). After his death, the company Hans Rumsch Malergeschäft

was run by Max Streit, a painter-decorator.

Fig. 7. Completed in 1926,

buildings of the new engine house,

the former “new boiler hall”,

pump station, new cooling tower

(in the background).

The south-west view, February 1927

(source: [28], in the collection of

the Wrocław University Library)

Il. 7. Ukończone w 1926 r.

budynki nowej maszynowni,

dawnej „nowej kotłowni”,

pompowni, nowej chłodni

kominowej (w głębi).

Widok od strony południowo-

-zachodniej, luty 1927

(źródło: [28], w zbiorach

Biblioteki Uniwersyteckiej

we Wrocławiu)

The power station of Elektrizitätswerk Schlesien AG in Siechnice 61

iron parts of the iron framing walls [of the pump station

and boiler house], as well as the iron windows, were kept

in two strong green shades, whereas white and gray were

chosen for the wooden windows of the workrooms and the

iron windows of the engine house. The outer doors and

gates were bright red and green [10, p. 414].

Modern architecture with cubic forms and smooth

façades resulting from the function is in line with the ten-

dencies of the interwar New Objectivity architecture. In

this context, the forms that give it a “ceremonial” charac-

ter and emphasize the company’s prestige are surprising.

On the symmetry axis of the front façade of the engine

house, between the niches for devices (oil switches), there

is a geometrized antiqued gate portal crowned with a tri-

angular pediment, with brick jambs with a rustication tex-

ture, similar to the details of Behrens factories in Berlin.

Decorative brickwork bonds of window jambs and zigzag

friezes, cast stone lamps (with the texture of a diamond

grid resembling torches), star-shaped forms (concrete su-

praporte of the portal leading to the engine house staircase

with the inscription E.W. SCHLESIEN 1925 A.G. 1926;

Fig. 9) and the o-set top of the engine house show the

relationship of this architecture with the Brick Expres-

sionism of Northern Germany formed in the Hamburg

environment in the 1920s.

100,000 V overhead station in the years 1927–1928.

Illumination as an advertisement for the company

The open-air electrical transformer station was built in

the years 1927–1928 on an elongated plot of 8,500 m

adjacent to the Wrocław–Laskowice railway line from

the south and a mechanical workshop hall from the east.

Its modernity consisted in the fact that all transformers,

switches and auxiliary devices were placed in the open air

without any casing, which was to increase the safety of

energy exploitation [31].

The structure of the transformer station consisted of

rows of a grid of riveted iron transposition pylons and

beams connecting them in two directions. There were

foundations and riveted stands for devices (transformers,

switches, etc.) between the pylons. Some of these authen-

tic elements have survived to this day.

The switching station control house, also known as the

guardhouse, served as the station’s “brain”. One guard

could therefore handle the entire layout on his own [31]

(Fig. 10). The body of the building was symmetrically de-

signed and crowned with a low-hipped roof with a lantern.

On its at brick façades, windows were placed rhythmi-

cally, and on the side of the station – a wide, polygonal,

glazed bay in order to observe the station. The upper storey

in the form of a hall housed a control room with measur-

ing devices with a visible structure made of riveted plate

girders. This valuable example of matter-of-fact industrial

architecture could have also been the work of designers

Richard and Paul Ehrlich, who completed the largest ex-

tension of the plant in 1926. However, no conrmation of

their authorship was found.

A night photograph of the transformer station, which

was taken before 1935, apart from the technical function

Fig. 9. Fragment of the western façade of the staircase

between the buildings of the new engine house and pump station

with a decorative entrance portal with the inscription:

E.W. SCHLESIEN 1925 A.G, 1926

(source: [10], in the collection of the Wrocław University Library)

Il. 9. Fragment zachodniej elewacji klatki schodowej

między budynkami nowej maszynowni i pompowni

z ozdobnym portalem wejściowym z napisem:

E.W. SCHLESIEN 1925 A.G, 1926

(źródło: [10], w zbiorach Biblioteki Uniwersyteckiej we Wrocławiu)

Fig. 8. Interior of the new engine house.

A view towards the east, 1929 (source: [12])

Il. 8. Wnętrze hali nowej maszynowni.

Widok w kierunku wschodnim, 1929 (źródło: [12])

62 Agnieszka Gryglewska, Mateusz Rabiega

Fig. 10. Interior of the control house of the 100 and 40 kV

overhead station with measuring devices on the first floor, 1949

(source: [32])

Il. 10. Wnętrze hali nastawni napowietrznej stacji 100 i 40 kV

na piętrze, z urządzeniami pomiarowymi, 1949

(źródło: [32])

Fig. 11. Night illumination of the overhead transformer station with a voltage of 100,000 V, around 1928–1935

(source: [19], in the collection of the Wrocław University Library)

Il. 11. Nocne oświetlenie napowietrznej stacji transformatorowej o napięciu 100 000 V, ok. 1928–1935

(źródło: [19], w zbiorach Biblioteki Uniwersyteckiej we Wrocławiu)

of its lighting (night supervision over devices), also shows

the advertising function for selling the product – electrical

energy (Fig. 11). The structure of the station, thanks to its

theatrical illumination, oodlights and trapezoidal glass

lamps with the name of E.W.S. AG, created an “artistic”

installation, probably drawing the attention of passen-

gers of the nearby railway route. On the eve of the World

War I, industrial architecture was often depicted in night

lighting to advertise the company [33, p. 82]

. Examples

The issue of illumination of architecture was popularized still

before World War I by Bruno Taut and Paul Scheerbart (Werkbund Ex-

include the designs of the AEG High Voltage Factory in

Berlin or postcards issued on the occasion of the East Ger-

man Exhibition in Poznań with the representation of The

Upper Silesian Tower [8, pp. 94, 96].

Murals by Tadeusz Ciałowicz in the 1960s.

Cooperation between artists and industry

Cooperation between artists and industry ourished in

Poland in the 1960s. In 1965, the exhibition entitled Plas-

tic Arts in the Industry, during which 302 exhibits relat-

ed to 44 industrial plants were presented, took place in

Wrocław [35, p. 30]. It was then written: The necessity

of strict specialization, due to the requirements imposed

on engineers, creates a situation in which the presence

of an artist who is familiar with the specics of industrial

design is necessary [36, p. 201]. The idea of bringing art

and culture to the working class led to the employment of

artists in industrial plants.

At the end of the 1960s, high-class artistic wall paint-

ings outside and inside selected buildings of the power sta-

tion in Siechnice were made by visual artist Tadeusz Ciało-

wicz

. One of the murals preserved to this day was created

at the height of the second oor of the southern façade of

the switching station building (Fig. 12). Ciałowicz made

hibition, Köln, 1914), then in the 1920s by Joachim Teichmüller (from:

[34, pp. 63–77]).

Tadeusz Ciałowicz (1927–2019), a graphic designer and in terior

architect. He was a man of many talents and designed neon signs, posters,

graphic identication of institutions, furniture, interiors, and various de-

corations on a large and small scale [35].

The power station of Elektrizitätswerk Schlesien AG in Siechnice 63

a wide frieze presenting human gures separated by geo-

metric motifs in an abstract way. The other mural, known

from literature and the oral tradition of the power plant em-

ployees, has not survived. It was located in the conference

room of the re station building and presented a panor ama

of the power plant with cooling towers, traction lines, as

well as the course of the technological process [35, pp. 188,

189]. Ciałowicz painted it together with Waldemar Chwed-

czuk. The above-mentioned artworks are the last ones dis-

cussed in this article and t into the issue of cooperation

between an engineer and an artist in the eld of industrial

architecture at the power plant in Siechnice.

Summary

The architecture of the former Tschechnitz Power Plant

until the end of World War II, was consistently kept in

red brick and ceramic roofs with smooth walls and linear

geometric divisions along with bright accents of concrete

details. At the beginning of the 20

century, it was an ex-

ample of the phenomenon of simplication of historical

styles and it was in line with the tendency, visible in Ger-

man architecture, to assign a factory building the rank of

an important architectural issue. This approach also de-

termined the next phases of the plant’s extension. Invest-

ments, which started at the end of the World War I, already

had the features of modernist architecture, the New Ob-

jectivity, as well as expressionism. The basic features of

the existing buildings were consistently continued both in

the realities of the Third Reich and after the World War II

in Poland, when tradition-inspired architecture bore the

stigma of the political system.

Elektrizitätswerk Schlesien AG and its power station in

Siechnice performed an important role at the beginning of

the 20

century in the process of electrication of Lower

Silesia and in supplying the region with electricity. Before

World War II, the company was the largest electricity sup-

plier in Lower Silesia, and the technical solutions as well

as devices used at that time were record-breaking in this

part of Europe. However, it is dicult to compare its size

with the then large coal power plants which were situated

in the area of today’s Germany

Contrary to the majority of German and Polish his toric

power plants, the urban layout and the building charac-

ter of the plant in Siechnice, which was established at

the beginning of the 20

century, have remained almost

unchanged to this day. The complex has not undergone

radical reconstruction or modernization after 1945 and is

in good technical condition. The Czechnica CHP Plant in

Siechnice will be closed in 2024, when its role will be

taken over by a modern plant, which is going to be built

in the vicinity and will be powered by low-emission gas

fuel. The letter of intent signed in 2019 by the owner of

the plant and the mayor of the town of Siechnice on the

revitalization of the industrial facilities of the combined

heat and power plant by giving them new functions began

the process of preparing this project, whose rst stage was

Out of more than 50 German power plants from the 1

half of

the 20

century which survived to the post-war times, several now pro-

duce energy after modernization connected with the transformation,

demolition, or adaptation of historic architecture, e.g. Berlin Klingen-

berg (1926–1927), West (1931) and Moabit (1900, 1923). Some power

plants were lost, inter alia, Heegermühle in Eberswalde (1909–1912),

Zschornewitz (1915, in 1918 with the largest turbines in Europe) and

Trattendorf near Cottbus (1910–1914). Several power plants, designed,

inter alia, by Georg Klingenberg, Werner Issel and Paul Bonatz, were

adapted for museum, culture, trade and administration purposes, such

as Main-Weser in Borken (1923), Wölfersheim (1913), Rottweil (1915–

1916), Westkraftwerk in Dresden (1895) [37], [38]. In Poland in Silesia,

Bobrek Power Plant in Bytom, currently Szombierki, one of the largest

in Europe (1920, designed by Georg and Emil Zillmann) was protected

by entry into the register of monuments in 2013, which did not prevent

the devastation of its equipment.

Fig. 12. Building of the switching station of sections P1-4 and P-7 (new electrical switching station from 1917–1923) on the south side,

the wall with a mural by T. Ciałowicz from the late 1960s (photo by A. Gryglewska, 2019)

Il. 12. Budynek rozdzielni sekcji P1-4 i P-7 (nowa rozdzielnia elektryczna z lat 1917–1923) od strony południowej,

ściana z muralem autorstwa T. Ciałowicza z końca lat 60. XX w. (fot. A. Gryglewska, 2019)

64 Agnieszka Gryglewska, Mateusz Rabiega

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Elektrizitätswerk Schlesien A.-G.” 1925, Jg. 1, Nr. 6, 73–74.

[30] Pr.T., Der Riesenkran im Grosskraftwerk Tschechnitz, “Nach rich-

ten blatt der Elektrizitätswerk Schlesien A.-G.” 1926, Jg. 2, Nr. 3, 82.

[31] [n.a.], Die 100 000-Volt-Freiluftstation in Tschechnitz, “Nachrich -

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ne Okręgu Dolnośląskiego we Wrocławiu: Elektrownia Czechni-

ca – Zdjęcia do dokumentacji technicznej rozbudowy Elektrowni

Czechnica, nr 6.

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Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Ludwigsburg–München 2005.

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tric “New Poland”, “Quart” 2020, nr 1(55), 63–77.

to develop the history and valorization of the plant’s archi-

tecture. As a result of the research and assessment of the

preservation level of the buildings, it was concluded that

the entire complex and its individual buildings should be

covered by monument protection. The preservation of this

important industrial heritage is required by the rich histo-

ry of the power plant, the high level of technology “east

of the Elbe” in the 1

half of the 20

century, the value of

architecture, especially its aesthetic aspect, as well as the

authorship of the outstanding Wrocław architects Richard

and Paul Ehrlich. An important reason is also the fact that

the plant as a workplace was connected with the lives of

many generations of the inhabitants of Siechnice.

Translated by

Bogusław Setkowicz

Veried by

Justine Nnorom

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by Kogeneracja S.A. under the agreement be-

tween Kogeneracja S.A. and Wrocław University of Science and Tech-

nology.

The power station of Elektrizitätswerk Schlesien AG in Siechnice 65

Abstract

The power station of Elektrizitätswerk Schlesien AG in Siechnice. An industrial plant in the 20

century

– a work of an engineer and an architect-artist

The subject of the article is the architecture of the Tschechnitz Power Plant (currently Czechnica CHP Plant) in Siechnice near Wrocław. The plant,

built during the period of intensive development of the power industry in Lower Silesia at the beginning of the 20

century, was the result of coope-

ration between an engineer and an architect-artist, postulated by architects associated with Deutscher Werkbund. The aim of this article is to present

the history of the construction and development of the power plant as well as artistic shaping of the urban layout, façades, representative interiors of

the machine rooms, mechanical workshops as well as facilities with an advertising function. The analysis of the history and the present condition of

the complex was possible thanks to eld research carried out by the authors, a query of source materials and texts in the professional press as well as

iconography from the years 1910–2019. The conducted research is the basis for dening the scope of monument protection and for revitalizing the

power plant, which will be closed in 2024 with regard to the policy of decommissioning coal-red power plants in Poland.

Key words: industrial architecture of the 20

century, art, power station, Siechnice, historicism, functionalism

Streszczenie

Elektrownia spółki Elektrizitätswerk Schlesien A.-G. w Siechnicach. Zakład przemysłowy w XX w. – dzieło inżyniera i architekta-artysty

Tematem artykułu jest architektura elektrowni Tschechnitz (obecnie Elektrociepłownia Czechnica) w Siechnicach pod Wrocławiem. Obiekt

budowany w okresie intensywnego rozwoju przemysłu elektroenergetycznego na Dolnym Śląsku na początku XX w. był efektem postulowanej

przez twórców związanych z Deutscher Werkbund współpracy inżyniera i architekta-artysty. Celem pracy jest prezentacja historii i przekształceń

elektrowni, artystycznego kształtowania jej układu urbanistycznego, elewacji, reprezentacyjnych wnętrz maszynowni, warsztatów mechanicznych

i obiektów o funkcji reklamy. Analiza historii i stanu obecnego kompleksu była możliwa dzięki przeprowadzonym przez autorów badaniom tereno-

wym, kwerendzie materiałów źródłowych, tekstów w prasie fachowej oraz ikonograi z lat 1910–2019. Przeprowadzone badania stanowią podstawę

dla określenia zakresu ochrony konserwatorskiej oraz rewitalizacji tego zakładu po jego planowanym zamknięciu w 2024 r. wskutek polityki likwi-

dacji elektrowni węglowych w Polsce.

Słowa kluczowe: architektura przemysłowa XX w., sztuka, elektrownia, Siechnice, historyzm, funkcjonalizm

[35] Zatorska K., Misiak M., Zwiedzajcie piastowski Wrocław. Tadeusz

Ciałowicz – projektant totalny. Explore Post-War Wrocław. Tadeusz

Ciałowicz – the Complete Designer, Fundacja 102, Wrocław 2015.

[36] Rainczak K., Plastyka w przemyśle, “Rocznik Wrocławski” 1965/

1966, R. 9/10, 196–203.

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pedia.org/wiki/ Liste_stillgelegter_Kraftwerke_in_Deutschland

[accessed: 29.05.2021].

[38] Existing coal plants in Germany, https://www.gem.wiki/Category:

Existing_coal_plants_in_Germany [accessed: 29.05.2021].