Julius Grey house in Bydgoszcz


The Julius Grey house is a historical building in downtown Bydgoszcz, at Gdanska Street 35.

Location

The building stands on the west side of Gdańska Street between Dworcowa and Śniadeckich streets.

History

Origins

The investor was Julius Grey, a baker, which ran there a bakery then a confectionery factory in 1883. At this time, the address was Danzigerstraße 23
Juilius Grey decided to have this place rebuilt and asked, in 1887, master builder Hermann Lewandowski, living at Louisenstrasse 13 to manage the project. The same Lewandowski will later support the building of the grand edifice at Plac Wolności 1.
In 1909, the house has been rebuilt, designed by :pl:Rudolf Kern |Rudolf Kern. This architect had already realized several edifices renovation in Bromberg:
During interwar period, the Grey family ran on the groung floor a pastry shop, which was famous for the quality of its cakes.
Stanislaw Hass, a pastry chef who had been running café Cristal at Freedom Square 1,
moved to the former premises of the Grey family, at Gdanska 35, where part of the Grey's equipment and stocks were still available.
Until 2003, the "Cristal" cafe with its typical Art Nouveau décor has been located here, even when the Hass family moved the pastry in the 1960s.

Architecture

The building was built in the style of Eclecticism using forms of German Historicism.
The edifice is remarkable by two symmetric rounded shape balconies with forged railings: they both enclose the large bay window standing above the entrance gate.
Window pediments are decorated with figure of a woman head.

Gallery