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Water, or observation tower?

One of the most magnificent buildings in Warsaw, located at Krakowskie Przedmieście at No. 30, currently houses the Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies of the University of Warsaw. It is known under several names Poniatowski / Czetwertyński / Uruski and Tyszkiewicz Palace.The observer may notice from the internal courtyard of the building a mysterious tower, reminiscent of a modern water supply tower.

Photography: Małgorzata Łoś

According to numerous publications, it was to be part of the 17th century water supply built according to the design of Titus Liviusz Burrattini, from 1646 in Warsaw, from 1650 the royal architect and palace builder for Kazimierz Poniatowski, brother of the king. At the request of Seweryn Uruski (1817-1890), architect Andrzej Gołoński (1799-1854) demolished the existing buildings and erected here in 1844-1847 a completely new building, leaving "the water tower for the local water supply." 

Another reconstruction of the building, under the direction of Józef Huss (1846-1904), was in 1893-1895.

Photography: Małgorzata Łoś

The preserved photograph from before the outbreak of World War II shows the tower in all its glory.

Wikipedia, Warszawa1939

During the World War II, a bomb hit the southern pavilion of the building, destroying several of its rooms. After the fall of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, the palace was burned by the Germans. His walls, although burned, without roofs and ceilings, survived. After World War II, the palace was transferred to the University of Warsaw, which rebuilt it for the needs of the Geographical Institute. The works, carried out under the direction of architect Jan Dąbrowski, lasted until 1951.

In 2013-2015 he was completely revitalized.

I share the doubts of some researchers (Marek Patakiewicz) as to the period of the origin of the tower. As far as one can agree with the generally accepted information that in the 17th century a water supply was created here according to the design of Titus Liviusz Burrattini (1617-1681), the tower presented in the photo has a nineteenth-century look. It could have been a water tower that stored water, which gravitationally flowed into the taps by keeping the pressure on the local network. It could also be a observation tower, today serving climatological measurements and also an observation tower in the event of a local fire.

Fire brigade post from 1851 at Cłodna street 3

Sources: 

Marek Kwiatkowski, Pałac Uruskich. Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Warszawa 1974.

Zdjęcia: Małgorzata Łoś (2018, 2019).

https://wiezecisnien.eu/mazowieckie/warszawa_uniwersytet/

Także: Marek Patakiewicz, http://www.wieze.geotor.pl/wieze_cisn/warszawa_8/warszawa_8.htm

http://miaster.pl/miejsce/palac-uruskich-czetwertynskich/

From our archival shelf

In front of the Office of the Ochota District of the Capital City of Warsaw, at the main entrance from ul. Grójecka, commemorative paving slabs, devoted to the memory of people distinguished for Ochota, for Warsaw. One of the boards was dedicated to the Lindleys - Father William and Son, William Heerlein.

It was here, in this district, a central water supply was created with characteristic water supply towers. The idea for launching in the pavement of honoring plates important for the district was created a few years ago, when the City Road Administration built a new pavement in front of the district office.

The originator of the installation of commemorative plates was Piotr Żbikowski, councilor of the Council of the Capital City of Warsaw Warsaw. It began with Konstanty Julian Ordon, commemorated by Adam Mickiewicz in the poem "Reduta Ordon" as a heroic defender of one of the forts from 1831.

Next was Maria Curie-Skłodowska, a double Nobel Prize winner who is strongly associated with the Ochota district. Here she built a radio institute, in which the Maria Skłodowska-Curie Society operates and houses the House of Remembrance.

Then appeared a plaque dedicated to Socrates Starynkiewicz - who was the president of Warsaw in 1875-1892. The natural choice was a record dedicated to English civil engineers. The opportunity was the 150th century to swim the first filtered water in the taps of the inhabitants of Warsaw (2016)

On the 140th anniversary of the contract signed by W.H. Lindley in Warsaw

On July 23, 1881, William Heerlein Lindley, authorized by his father, signed a contract with the Warsaw Magistrate for the execution of sewage and water supply plans and to supervision of their construction. Agreement between the Magistrate and William H. Lindley is deposited at the state archive in Warsaw and consists of 42 paragraphs and additional points regarding the relationship between engineers with the city authorities. The contents of the contract was revealed to the residents of Warsaw only in October with the publication of details in "Technical Review" monthly.

William Heerlein Lindley in Warsaw

The citizen committee for the construction of sewage and water supply system of  the city of Warsaw was gathered two days later. As "Kurier Warszawski" wrote on 26 July: "The first meeting [of Committee] was held yesterday under the leadership of the city President in the presence of  Mr. Lindley, the son. The President presented the main points of the contract".  For "supervision and executing of works on the construction of sewage and waterworks" the municipal authorities were obliged to pay Lindley annual remuneration of equivalent of 2000 Pound Sterlings (paid quarterly in Rubles).

Public place

William Lindley-father did not come to Warsaw to sign the contract, officially due to the illness. In reality, because two years earlier he retired and withdrew from undertaken obligations making a place for his successor, his eldest son. From all his rights and obligations resulting from the contract with the Warsaw Magistrate he resigned on August 26, 1881.

With signing of the contract the uncertain situation in Warsaw concerning the fate of this great project finally came to an end. Tsar Aleksander II, who died on March 13, 1881, in a bomb assault directed by the Polis anarchists, was succeeded by his son, Alexander III. In his inaugural speech (manifesto of 14/2 March) he promised  “to follow the footsteps of  his father and finish all what he began". In the case of Warsaw, the tsar kept his promise and signed relevant documents enabling the construction of local sewage and modern water supply system. The works could have been started, but it took  five long years before the inhabitants of Warsaw could enjoy filtered water.

World Water Day and the Polfa Tarchomin Water Tower in Warsaw

On March 14, Jakub Lewicki, the Masovian Voivodeship Conservator of Monuments, informed that the Water Tower of the Polfa Tarchomin Pharmaceutical Works was registered as a historical monument.

The water tower building was erected in the complex of pharmaceutical plants in Tarchomin, on the premises of Ludwik Spiess' plants nationalized after World War II. In 1957, the final project of the tower's crowning by Ing.K. Bohatyrewicz, was developed by the BIPROFARM company.

The Tarchomin Water Tower, present day

Phot. Małgorzata Łoś

For more photographs of the tower visit:

Małgorzata Łoś, https://wiezecisnien.eu/mazowieckie/warszawa_polfa/

The 160th anniversary of birth of Joseph Lindley (1859-1906)

Year 2019 brings the 160th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Lindley (1858-1906), the youngest of three Lindley brothers. Ten years ago, we devoted to him the text „On the margins of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Lindley" published in the Chronicle of Warsaw" (No. 1, 2009) included in our E-library under the title "The Fourth Lindley".

We encourage you to read it again. Today we will only remind our friends and readers that he came to Warsaw in December 1888 to replace his older brother Robert, who decided to with his family return to England.

As a representative of the chief engineer William H„eerlein, he took over supervision of the city's measurements and the construction of sewage and water supply systems. He surrounded himself with Poles, participated in the current life of the city, co-financed and was a faithful reader of the „Technical Review". He enjoyed the respect of his employers and the sincere sympathy of those with whom he cooperated. Among the features that characterized him were: justice, goodness of heart and helpfulness for everyone who turned to him for help. In 1894 he married Emma Emilie Suermondt from Wroclaw. They had one son named Henry (Harry) William.

He died on April 20, 1906 at the Ober Ursel (Oberursel) hospital, only forty-seven years old. Joseph Lindley spent most of his professional life in Warsaw.