Nowości

New find in Warsaw - two commemorative plaques of W.H. Lindley sewerage works in 1906

In October 2021, Marek Smółka, spokesman of Water Supply Company, informed the inhabitants of Warsaw about an interesting find. In the Praga collector chamber under Jagiellońska Street, at the intersection with ul. I. Kłopotowski, two commemorative plaques in Polish and Russian were found. The inscription on them, which is difficult to read due to the passage of time, reads: "The stone laid by the acting mayor of Warsaw, W. Litwiński, to commemorate the commencement of sewage works in the suburbs of Praga on October 20, 1906, according to the design and under the supervision of engineer W.H. Lindley ".

Two plaques, in Russian (left) and Polish

150 years of the Lindleys’ Kőbánya water reservoirs

The Ottoman Emipre ruled Hungarian lands 1541-1686. When the Turks were defeated by the Habsburgs, Hungariona cities Buda, Óbuda and Pest  became a part of the Habsburg dominion. In 1867, after signing the Austro-Hungarian Compromise, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was established. Hungary, in general, and Buda and Pest, in particular, benefited greatly from this union and enjoyed a rapid growth, economicand progress. Pest became the political, economic and trade hub in the area, and in time, it became the most populated area.

In 1866 the cholera outbreak in these cities made the City Council to decide to build a waterworks to supply water to Pest (the water supply of Buda was less critical).

The Municipal Commission visited several cities in Western Europe, where modern water and sewage systems were built. Among them Hamburg and Frankfurt am Main, because on the advice of the chief engineer of Pest, Pál Szumrak, the mayor Móric Szentkirályi, proposed in mid-December 1867, that the work related to water supply to Pest be entrusted to William Lindley, famous for his waterworks in German cities. After visiting the site, Lindley handed the project over to the city in early February of the following year. He suggested in the report that before sufficient amount of money is raised for a modern water plant, a temporary system of pumps and wells be set up in the shipyard site (Flottillenplatzon, now Kossuth Lajos Square) near the Danube, for the extraction of water naturally filtered by the river gravel. From here, a network of pipes was to be pumped to a part of the city and its inhabitants. Since the capacity of such an intake due to the thin layer of gravel was insufficient for the rapidly growing number of the city's inhabitants, he designed the construction of sand filters from the Danube waters and a more efficient pumping station, pipeline network as well as a high-level reservoir in a nearby quarry at such a height that would ensure adequate pressure in the network. William Lindley was assigned in 1868 to build the waterworks and reservoirs. according to his design.

After an audience with Emperor Francis I, the mayor of the city and Lindley obtained permission to use the shipyard area, current Kossuth-tér and  Parliament Building.  Constructions started in April and were finished in November 1968. 

Temporary water supply system in the Flottillenplatzon, now Kossuth Lajos Square, with water reservoir under construction, 1868

Two impressive underground water reservoirs were built between 1869 and 1871 in Ihász Street (Kőbánya, 10th district of Budapest) on the Óhegy hill. They had capacity of 10,800 m³ each, and the reservoirs were able to store 21,600 m³ water. Though at that time the water consumption of Pest was estimated at 1,850 m³ per day, Lindley planned the waterworks, pipeline and reservoirs for a daily capacity of  9,100 m³/day. The reservoirs were built by masons from Italy; the bricks were produced in Hungary.

Kőbánya water reservoir (present state)

In 1869 William was joined in Pest by his eldest son William Heerelein, who was then 16-years old. The same pattern of  construction of water reservoirs were used by him almost over 40 years later in Polish Lodz.

The previously separate towns of Buda, Óbuda, and Pest were officially unified in 1873 and given the new name Budapest. The reservoirs are still in use and can be visited once a year when they drained for maintenance.

Read more:

https://www.industrialheritagehungary.com/02-Industrial-Heritages/04-Utilities/kobanya-water-reservoir.html

Family's Annoucement concerning Death of Alexander Caspar

Died Alexander Caspar, the great-grandson of William H. Lindley

We have received the very sad news of the death of Alexander Caspar, one of the oldest descendants of William H. Lindley.

Alexander Caspar with wife Beatrice (on the left) and Hanna Żelichowska 

in Blackheath (2015)

Alexander Walter Horst Caspar (6 April 1934-26 February 2021), was the great-grandson of W.H. Lindley and the grandson of his daughters Julia Fanny Elizabeth and Robert Boveri. He spent his childhood in Germany and worked in Swiss banks. There he met his wife Beatrice Spotti, with whom he has two daughters.

He showed a deep interest in the history of the family and was an outstanding source of knowledge about their many connections with famous European families.

Alexander Caspar's grandmother, Julia Fanny, stayed with her father, W.H. Lindley in Warsaw in 1901.

Alexander Casper visited our city with his wife in 2006, took part in family reunions, incl. Baku and London (2015), where a memorial plaque on the Lindley family home was unveiled.

Alexander Caspar and the family (from left:) wife Beatrice, sister Ursula (in the background) and Heinke Peschke with Karin Deubner

Alexander Caspar's family has long musical traditions, many of its members played different instruments. This tradition is continued by the youngest daughter Julia, a talented Swiss violinist.

With his passing, a very important chapter in the history of the Lindley family has been closed. He was a living link between the distant past and the present. I owe him a lot of invaluable information about the past. It is regrettable that the epidemic took our time to continue these fascinating journeys into the times of the pioneers of civilization's progress at the time.

May He rest in peace.

Hanna and Ryszard Żelichowscy, in the name of Societas Lindleiana

February 2021

200 anniversary of birth of Socrates Starynkiewicz

In the history of Warsaw, the capital of the liquidated Kingdom of Poland, he has been assigned the ungrateful role of the military president of Warsaw. He held this function as a major general of artillery in the Russian army in the years 1875-1892. He liked Warsaw and stayed with it for the rest of his life. He died on August 23, 1902. His character was viewed positively by Poles from the very beginning. The Monument to Starynkiewicz at the Filter Station and the square bearing his name are the only commemorations from the period of the Russian partition preserved in Warsaw, and his grave in the Orthodox cemetery in Wola is under the care of the capital MPWiK S.A.

He became famous for his responsibility and honesty. His out-of-pocket payments to the municipal treasury for damages caused by improper investment purchases have become legendary. During the years of his term in office, there were great investments in infrastructure, including the construction of water and sewage systems, the launch of the first public horse-drawn tram line, the opening of a large Bródno cemetery and the construction of a new gas plant in Wola.

Without diminishing the merits of Starynkiewicz in building the largest investment in Warsaw - water supply and sewage systems - the Russian sources unknown to the then national journalists reveal that it could only be possible thanks to the successful appeals to Tsar Alexander II and Alexander III by two Russian governors-generals - Paweł Kotzebue and Piotr Albedyński -  placed higher in the hierarchy of military power administering Warsaw than the provisional president!