Nowości

Socrates Starynkiewicz and the Lindleys in Warsaw

"Acting temporary replacement..." - Socrates Starynkiewicz in Warsaw " is another meeting organized by the Warsaw Public Library in the annual session of  Warsaw History. Starynkiewicz is a grateful topic for historians because he is associated with two important elements - the great development of Warsaw in the last decades of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, and carries a large dose of optimism. On the background of gloomy recorded in the history of our city the Russian elites Starynkiewicz’s star shines very brightly. With his openness to technical innovations, and also need to modernize the city where he lived in, Warsaw could enjoy the new infrastructure investment. In such an atmosphere William Lindley, and then his sons could, expand their wings and introduce latest technology in sanitary engineering from the UK. Warsaw residents enjoyed good water in the taps, better air, freed forever from the stench of dirty gutters and benefits from access to a modern sewage system. The 20th jubilee session of the Warsaw historians chose Starynkiewicz as the central figure of their annual gathering. They invited five authors to speak about what Warsaw owed this humble Russian General.

A few months later was published a small but significant book with materials of this session. "Socrates Starynkiewicz – builder of modern Warsaw " is the text of Andrzej Soltan, “What was it like -  Warsaw during the presidency of Socrates Starynkiewicz in the light of statistics” writes John Berger. The way to the Lindleys in Warsaw and about their English rivals, writes Richard Żelichowski in the text "Starynkiewicz and the Lindleys. Genesis of the Warsaw water and sewage system”. Maria Jankowska wrote an essay " Plantation Committee and the state of green in Warsaw in the late nineteenth century" and finally Teresa Frączczak discusses the legacy of the Lindleys in Warsaw in the text "What do we have from the time of Starynkiewicz left - Warsaw water supply yesterday and today ". Book is accompanied by an introduction by Joanna Jaszek-Bielecka, session organizer and publisher of this volume. Book is profusely illustrated and nicely edited. Despite the small circulation, it can be purchased at the Warsaw Public Library on Koszykowa street.

"Acting temporary replacement..." - Socrates Starynkiewicz in Warsaw", Warsaw Public Library,Warsaw20 11

Album "125 years of Warsaw water supply 1886 - 2011"

“Oh Warsaw!... soon therefore will your dreams come true. Several years from now you will be drinking pure water and will have got rid of the waste from which you catch typhoid fever, ague and diphtheria,” reported “Tygodnik Ilustrowany” in 1880. And so it happened. Six years later the Filter Station in Koszyki started operating and the first sections of sewers were ready. The construction was managed by the best specialist in the field, engineer William H. Lindley.

1886 is considered to mark the beginning of the existence of modern waterworks in Warsaw. Professor Ryszard Żelichowski and Jarosław Zieliński wrote an interesting account of their development over 125 years. This is a lecture not only for the Varsavians or the historians of engineering. From the designs and pictures emerges a fascinating and, at times, dramatic picture of a fragment of the history of the capital of Poland.

Today, the Filter Station is not only a unique monument which deserves to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. This is still the place where – as the waterworks people say – water is produced. And this water tastes better and better. The characteristic water-tower – the symbol of Warsaw water supply system – bears witness to the tradition of reliable, solid and uninterrupted work for the city’s well-being.

Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, the mayor of the City of Warsaw

Afterword

Warsaw owes its modern water supply and sewerage system to foreigners. The first one among them was Sokrates Starynkiewicz, a Russian Major-General, acting in the capacity of the mayor of Warsaw in the years 1875-1892, who initiated the design and construction works. In his wake came father and son Lindley, outstanding English engineers, who embarked on the realization of the project. 125 years ago the city water supply network, including pumping and filter stations, was constructed and put into operation according to their design.

William H. Lindley was convinced that the construction of the water supply and sewerage system was not only a technical challenge and profitable undertaking. The distinguished engineer considered his actions a civilizing mission: “[...] we too have our battlefield and we are fighting. Our battlefield is not that of the soldier, with thousands of dead and injured. On our battlefield we see thousands of people saved from death through the improvement of their health, which is the result of our work,“ said Lindley in Warsaw in 1909, and the actual effect of the construction of the water supply and sewerage system was “the sanitation of Warsaw,” as it was then written in the newspapers.

Lindley’s plans would always combine the excellence of sanitary engineering technical solutions and care for Warsaw and its residents. That is why the designs of Filter Stations featured green squares, rare species of plants and an observation deck at the water-tower. The area was intended to be not just a “water factory”, but also a park and recreation place for the inhabitants of Warsaw. Other examples, as minor as they may be, of a skilful approach to the public space, which reflect so well the manner of thinking of the engineers from the school of Lindley, were the designs of watering stations for dogs or tree watering devices.

Today, we are virtually finalizing the so-called Warsaw project. Certain project’s solutions located in the Filter Station in Koszykowa Street create a mix of modernity and history.

Continuation of the ancillary role of a municipal water treatment and sewage discharge company is one of the key elements of the tradition that has been preserved in the Warsaw waterworks. There is also a concern for an important part of our cultural heritage and the need to promote the awareness of it. To that end, our employees show hundreds of visitors round the Filter Station. That was the drive behind the establishment of a museum room and the careful storing of the unique drawings from the Lindley’s office in the company archive. That was also the reason for the creation of this album.

Henryk Brzuchacz, President of the Management Board, MPWiK w m.st. Warszawie S.A.

Ryszard Zelichowski, The Lindleys. The Story of a Family of Engineers.

Through extensive research, Żelichowski traced Lindley sons projects of waterworks and  sewage systems at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20^th centuries. 

His study is part of a growing body of literature referred to as "Euro - Biography". His research identifies two major trends in Victorian engineering: (1) the incredible progress made by Western civilization, thanks to the ingenuity of these engineers in designing filtration systems for drinking water and in creating indoor plumbing, and (2) the profound legacy of these engineers as the first "true" Europeans who became deeply engaged in multi - culturalism for the benefit of the entire region. In today's lingo, we might have called them "Engineers Without Borders".

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Ryszard Zelichowski. "Lindleyowie" (in Polish, "The Lindleys: The Story of a Family of Engineers"), Warsaw 2002, 811 pages.