Wooden Porches of Houses from the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

Annals of Warsaw University of Life Sciences - SGGW Forestry and Wood Technology № 94, 2016: 67-73 (Ann. WULS - SGGW, For. and Wood Technol. 94, 2016) Wooden porches of houses from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries DARIA BRĘCZEWSKA-KULESZA1, GRZEGORZ WIELOCH 2 1/ University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture , Architecture Department Bydgoszcz, Poland, 2/ University of Life Science, SGGW, Faculty of Wood Technology, Wood Mechanical Processing Department, Warsaw, Poland, Abstract: Wooden porches of tenement houses from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries At the turn of the XIX and XX centuries with the industrial revolution and the development of capitalism one can observe the rapid development of multi-family housing for rent in the form of multi-family tenement. It was connected with the processes of transformation of urbanization and the introduction of new materials for building such as concrete, cast iron, reinforced concrete or steel. Still, wooden forms existed all the time as elements of construction of adjacent objects and decorations of facades. Porches were usually made of wood. The paper presents examples of porches found in Poland in tenement houses from the turn of the XIX and XX centuries. Keywords: tenement houses, wood, porches, INTRODUCTION On the turn of XIX and XX centuries together with modernization of European countries caused by industrial revolution and development of capitalism one can observe quick development of multi-family housing which was connected with the process of transformation of urbanization. Both were determined by the socio-economic (e.g. increase of wealth, migrations to towns) as well as with the spatial situation of towns. The construction of an income learning tenement house was a good business for both owner and investor, especially when it was situated in good districts, where it was easy to find tenants. Impressive tenement house of high standard and situated in a good district often turned out to be not only capital protection but also a source of new investment. Every new, luxury tenement house prestige of district and price of land. Next to tenement houses impressive villas were built by financial elites (which are not the subject of this paper). The tenement houses built in the very centre of towns offered impressive shop rooms, which influenced facades, staircases and flats. In new districts in majority in the part of tenement houses the ground-floor was inhabited and equipped with porches */ and galleries. They were usually constructed from wood, rarely from steel. In the XIX century developing urban architecture dominating construction material became brick and in the end of the century, new more modern materials, steel, cast iron or in the beginning of the XX century. Beside quite frequent wooden houses, were built brick tenement houses characterized by greater durability and dimensions. */ por ch (fr. véranda) dependence, usually wood or brick room covered with roof, opened or glazed, placed at the entrance to the building or at a different elevation. Porch is a room with a recreational function, most often posed by residential buildings. [Szolginia 1992] 67 WOOD AS MATERIAL USED IN XIX AND XX CENTURIE IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PURCHES HOUSEHOLD Wood was material used in different architectural elements and decorations, but not always esthetic value of this material was appreciated. Depending on fashion in a given period, wood as material was “hidden” and “pretended” another material, or emphasized and individualized elevation. During historicism period in the second half of the XIX century when a tenement house was to imitate to certain extend Renaissance or Baroque palaces [Krakowski 1981], rarely Medieval buildings, wood was covered under a layer of plaster and paint. Wooden cornices hidden under layer of plaster and appropriately painted „pretended” to be cut of stone, were used en masse [Krakowski 1981]. Such Fig.1. Ttenement house with a wooden porch , Poznań, architectural solution was far 8 Or zeszkowa S treet cheaper and easier to perform. Sometimes they were supported by wooden brackets also properly masked. Since the 70 years of the XIX century architectural details were mass produced using different glue forms from different materials fixed on rebars [Krassowski, Łódź 1971, Warszawa 1973, s. 143]. Sometimes wooden porches appeared on elevations, but usually they were situated on the back side of the house where they were joined with private flats. One could very rarely find balcony or recessed balcony constructed from wood situated in the façade of a tenement house and being its main compositional element (Fig.1). All wooden elements were initially plastered and faked layed with brick parts. In the architecture of Historicism period one could rarely find break projection or bay window in the form of wooden roof supported by wood columns. The return of wooden constructions was influenced also by “national style” search. Its elements were searched not only in folk wooden architecture but also traditional, regional urban architecture. At that time so called Swiss style was also fashionable, which was mostly influencing villa and spa architecture but one could find some of its elements in tenement houses architecture as well. In the middle of the XIX century wood was still “hidden” material in front elevations however at the end of this century was frequently used as characteristic element of tenement houses facades. One can consider paradox the fact that time other materials faked wood */ what is practiced up till nowadays. In the following century the fashion concerning façade decoration has changed. The tenement houses architecture on the turn of XIX and XX centuries was characterized by typical for that period plurality of forms. 68 It was period of blooming of different styles frequently appearing in local variations opposing rigid canons of Historicism. In the end of XIX century aspect of pictures queness gained in importance although it was popularized earlier by romantic trend represented by William Glipin and John Ruskin. Striving towards differentiation of surface and materials used resulted in facades projected in picturesque Historicism style, materials like brick, block, stone or wood. [Krakowski 1982]. Facades were composed from many architectural elements such as balconies, loggias, oriels, turrets, porches, verandas, which enabled possibilities to include wood in the architecture of a building. It was especially used in so called Cottage form of late Historicism style, harking back to rural households or villas. British architecture is basis for one more style, developing on the turn of centuries, in Germany called Landhaus . In this type of buildings besides brick and stone very frequently wooden structural works were used. One of the outstanding boosters of this type of buildings in Germany became an architect from Berlin Herman Muthesius [5] who created a new type of family house based on the mixture of both British and Lower Saxony architecture [Krakowski 1982]. In the field of tenement housing urban architecture Landhaus style was boosted by other architects from Berlin like Alfred Messel and Albert Gessner [Bręczewska- Kulesza 2014]. The first one was follower of romantic architecture and used many elements from British architecture among Fig.2. Tenement house built in historical others tops of buildings were divided by style with a wooden porch , Poznań skeleton construction, wooden balconies, galleries or porches. His activity influenced architects from Wrocław (e.g. Fritz Engel, H. Gödicke) [Tomaszewicz 2003], Poznań (e.g. Oskar Hoffmann, company Böhmer and Preul, [Skuratowicz 1991], or Bydgoszcz: (e.g. Paul Böhm, Fritz Weidner [Bręczewska-Kulesza 2014], where one can find many buildings constructed in this style. PORCHES Wooden decorations and extensions in that period occurred more often in western and northern Poland where the influence of German architecture was most intense. This influence was much stronger in urban areas but one can notice that they happened also in smaller tows as well. Wood was also used to construct balconies and loggias, paneled balustrades with subtle wood-carved decorations constructed from narrow boards with carved clovers. At the top the construction was covered with boards forming arcades like in Renaissance cloisters. A 69 separate element influencing the front look of elevations and occurring only in few towns were multistory porches occupying a large part of the facade (Fig.2 i 3). Such porches can be noticed in freestanding tenement houses in Gdańsk, Sopot, Oliwa or Poznań and in tourist or spa centers like eg.: Szklarska Poręba, Karpacz, Lądek Zdrój, Kudowa Zdrój, Szczawnica - Fig.3. Multi-axial and multistory wooden constructions (usually from coniferous wood) were based on brick or stone foundation. Verandas were glazed very often with glass of different texture and colors, Fig.3. Tenement house in a spa with a wooden porch, Lądek Zdrój which unfortunately did not survive to our times (Fig.3 and 4). These porches were also richly decorated in woodcarving, especially in the area under windows. The woodcarvings usually represented flower motives, masks and capitals of columns were decorated with stylized ancient heads. Windows were usually single-paned of box construction; double-paned ones are very rare. Multistory purches were usually as high as the building itself, but one can find sometimes small porches acting as windscreens (Fig.4- 8). Fig.5. Wooden porch in Gdańsk Fig.4. Porches on facade of tenement`s house in Gdańsk Wrzeszcz, 5 Sobótk a Street [2] Obrońców Westerplatte Street[2] 70 Fig.7. Decoration porch woodcarving Fig.6. Porch of pastor`s house Poznań, Grobla Street nr1 Oliwa, Wita Stwosza Street Fig.8. Wooden porch of half-timbered house Poznań, Konopnicka Street Fig. 9 i 10. Ruined wooden porches in Poznań, Orzeszkowa Street nr 1 71 CONCLUSION Wooden elements of construction enabled enrichment of tenement house via extentions, supplements being at the same time their decorations; giving them individual character enriched front elevation, look and thermoregulation of the building.

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