Selected construction investments of Franz Zährer in Toruń

Abstract

Selected construction investments of Franz Zährer in Toruń

Franz Zährer came to Toruń from Bydgoszcz in the 1880s and started a company dealing in steel goods, including construction beams, cast-iron columns and railway rails, as well as a range of small metal goods used in households. He owned several edifies in the Old Town, e.g. at Rabiańska St. 21 and 22a and Piekary St. 4. In the late 1890s Zährer bought a vacant lot at Bydgoskie Przedmieście (Bromberger Vorstadt), in so-called fortress region, east of Matejko St., between Mickiewcz St. and Słowacki St., which he used as a metal construction elements yard, and with time turned it into a recreation area generally opened to the people. In 1890 he turned the Wolff Brothers’ former granary at Św. Duch St. 3 into his own house with his company flgship store on the ground flor. The design by Georg Soppart gave the whole edifie its grand Neo-Renaissance form, with elaborate architectural specifiations that were inspired by a wide range of Mannerist motifs. The style of the edifie revealed the preferences of the architect, who in his previous designs employed Neo-Renaissance or neoclassical forms as well, e.g. at Sienkiewicz St, 1, 5, 11, 13 or Bydgoska St. 100. The building at Św. Duch St., however, manifested the great abundance of specifiations and unprecedented boldness in combining brick and plastered sections. The fial shape of the design and the edifie itself was doubtlessly vastly inflenced by the owner himself, who treated it not only as the shelter for his family but also as a symbol of his thriving company. In 1911 Zährer started building a twin house at Mickiewicz St. 28/30, following Philipp Dexheimer’s design. In 1912 he sold the house to Skowronek & Domke Company that was responsible for its construction. In 1914 Zährer’s company was dissolved, and its owner lived in his family house at Św. Duch St. till his death in 1926. Then, the building was turned into a tenement house. In 1975 Pod Atlantem café was opened in the former Zährer’s store, which stayed there for over 35 years. In 2013, during the works on the elevation restoration, the frieze regained the shop-sign with the name of the merchant who signifiantly inflenced the nineteenth-century trade of steel goods as well as the architectural image of Toruń. Former Zährer’s house constitutes one of the most valuable architectural examples of the Age of Historicism and is a distinct decorative and composition accent of that part of the city, even if the memory of its fist owner faded away with time.