The city entrance was once guarded by gates and barriers. Today, the role of the city portal has been assumed by the station and its surroundings. After years of plans and projects, it is time to finally do something about it.

In 1865, the introduction of the Łódź-Factory Railway (Kolej Fabryczno-Łódzka) line to the Łódź urban structure brought far-reaching consequences of great significance. Among the well-known benefits, one must mention the possibility of mass-scale transport of raw materials and goods, which resulted in skyrocketing growth of the Łódź industry and its entry into the grand-capitalist stage. The following years witnessed increase in the passenger traffic to Koluszki and further by means of the Warsaw-Vienna Railway (Kolej Warszawsko-Wiedeńska). As time went by, detrimental factors started cropping up, namely the lack of freedom in the urban development of the city. The railway tracks uncompromisingly cut through the representative district planned in the 1840s between Rynek Wodny and Plac Targowy (today known as Dąbrowski Square). The concept of the so-called New District was eventually abandoned, and the only significant arteries connecting the northern and southern parts of Łódź were increasingly more congested Piotrkowska Street and Widzewska Street (today’s Kilińskiego Street). The traffic on the latter one was additionally impaired by the tunnel under the railway embankment (initially the tracks continued to today’s Sienkiewicza Street) built as a result of citizens’ urgent demand.

The train station buildings appeared 3 years after the line had been made operational – they were constructed in 1868 slightly to the east of Widzewska Street, according to the design elaborated by Warsaw architect Adolf Schimmelpfennig. It was not a building of an outstanding architectural quality, which is confirmed by the preserved drawings and photos. Those were just a few interconnected buildings covered with gable roofs located along the tracks. They had one or two storeys and were highlighted by a higher 4-storey tower located on the complex closure. It was a typical utility structure and its interior contained a ticket office hall, a waiting hall, station personnel flats, the Kaffeehaus (cafe) and guest rooms for celebrities, which complemented the functional character of the station buildings.

Around the year 1900, the Łódź Fabryczna train station became a more attractive facility. Its development resulted in creating a new part with decorations associated with Netherlandish Mannerism, which can be seen even today. The architectural forms and functional solutions employed in Łódź seemed outdated especially in comparison with brilliant railway architecture masterpieces, as stations created at that time in Gdańsk and particularly in Lvov. Nevertheless, over decades the building has managed to become a part of the city landscape and won support of numerous citizens. If you want to have another look at it, hurry up.

The construction of the station eventually established the railway line route, which influenced the process of shaping the area located in the vicinity of the station. To the north of the station, Węglowa Street was set out along the tracks, and Składowa Street was set diagonally in regard to Węglowa. A coal depot was located between those streets. The so-called ‘Railway Park’ was created in front of the station. The indirect result of the station’s existence was the escalated interest in plots along Dzielna Street (today’s Narutowicza Street), which became the main route to Piotrkowska Street. Moreover, the development of the quarter between Dzielna, Piotrkowska, Przejazd (today’s Tuwima Street) and Widzewska streets was intensified. In the 1880s, the following buildings were created in this location: the Thalia Theatre, the Ignacy Vogel’s Concert Hall, the Grand Hotel and a private ‘street’ called the Meyer’s Passage, with elegant residential buildings.

The necessity to develop the station surroundings has repeatedly been treated as the major task of Łódź town planners. In 1919-1920, Adolf Goldberg managed an interesting project consisting in changing the location of the building and transforming it into a central terminus with spacious halls containing platforms and an impressive façade on the side of the planned semi-circular plaza next to which, among others, a new town hall building was to be situated. Those plans were not put in motion. A similar situation happened to the changes elaborated by Maria Buckiewiczówna’s team in the design awarded in the contest in 1932, which consisted in planning a new district in the vicinity of the station. In 1946-47, a possibility of reorganisation of the Łódź and regional railway network was investigated and, as a consequence, a new location of the new municipal station in the vicinity of the crossroads of Franciszkańska Street and former Brzezińska Street (today’s Wojska Polskiego Street) was also considered. The concepts assumed the limitation of the Łódź Fabryczna station’s role to that of a stop in the ring railway line system, or even its total liquidation. The last attempt to somehow organise the area in the vicinity of the station was made on the turn of the 1960s and 1970s when the introduction of high-rise buildings in this area was an element of modernisation of the city centre. The Centrum Hotel was constructed as a result of this project.

The city entrance was once guarded by gates and barriers. They were meant to be not only functional (defensive or fiscal) but also representative. Forms and richness of detail showed the city citizens’ affluence and prestige and also attracted merchants and craftsmen. Nowadays, there are neither city gates nor walls. The role of the city portal has been assumed by the station and its surroundings – the place where a traveller experiences the first contact with the city. Whether we like it or not, the Łódź Fabryczna station is a gate leading to the city and we must finally do something about it.

ROBERT WRÓBEL