In 2023, as part of the program of grants for monuments, financed from the budget of the city of Gdynia, works were carried out on 10 facilities for which over PLN 1,000,000 was allocated.
Below we present the work done on 5 of them.
The Church of St. Michael the Archangel at 2 Arciszewskich Str.
renovation of parts of roof and guttering
View from the north before and after the works
One of the oldest monuments of Gdynia and the church of the first Gdynia parish. Part of the walls has been preserved from the original church, built in 1124. The structure was expanded in the 14th century with a polygonal end of the presbytery and a side northern nave. In the 17th century, a wooden tower with a baroque pavilion roof was added. Twice destroyed - during the Swedish Wars and World War II, later rebuilt.
The roofing of the church was repeatedly destroyed. The last time during World War II. In recent years, the roof was covered with various types of tiles, i.e. pantile on the south side and the so-called monastery tile on the north side, where formwork was also missing. The roof was leaking for a long time. Due to the need to protect it against further degradation, the roofing of the tiles was dismantled, the formwork on the entire roof slope was replaced and added, and then it was covered with tar paper.
The roof was secured and is waiting for the finish, which will be completed soon.
The view of the northern roof slope during the work and the view from the south side before and after the work
Residential Building at 29 Arciszewskich Str. - renovation of chimneys and replacement of guttering
View of the chimney during the works and on the roof after the works have been carried out
The complex of the former Fleet Command and the Training Centre of Naval Fleet Specialists of the Republic of Poland from the 1920s in Gdynia Oksywie is one of the most impressive historic buildings in Gdynia. Another of the seven buildings of the residential housing complex for families of officers and non-commissioned officers from the historical area of the complex received a subsidy for the renovation of chimneys and replacement of gutters.
In previous years, with the support of the city, works were carried out on the renovation of the chimneys of buildings at 26 and 27 Arciszewskich Str.
In building no. 29, the chimneys were renovated in a manner analogous to the works in the adjacent buildings mentioned above. All chimneys were dismantled to a height of 20 cm below the roof line, plaster defects were filled and then chimneys were built with new ceramic brick. Galvanized sheet metal flashings were made and the old roof drainage system was repaired in the most damaged places.
The Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 46 Armii Krajowej Str.
restoration of the mosaic on the north facade and renovation of the lightning protection system
Mosaic on the facade after restoration and work on the lightning protection system
Church built in the 1960s according to the design by Jan Borowski and Leopold Taraszkiewicz, in 2023 it received the main prize in the "Zabytek Zadbany" ("Well-groomed Monument") competition for carrying out renovation of the interior and exterior of the church.
Located on the north facade, the mosaic depicting a fish by the Gdańsk artist Bogumił Marszal was arranged in 1969 from shells and corals brought from various seas of the world by sailors and fishermen.
The decoration covered with dark layers of dust and dirt and partially damaged as a result of weather conditions was cleaned and treated with water-repellent (resistant to water and moisture). The defects were filled with lime mortar without reconstruction of the shell cones to protect their interiors against further degradation. The natural color, weakened by the passage of time, was saturated. Renovation works were also carried out on the lightning protection system of the church building.
More information about the "Zabytek Zadbany" award can be found in a separate article.
Maritime University, 81-87 Morska Str.
renovation of the south-east facade of building A
View of the facade of the building after the works have been completed
Many years of renovation works co-financed from the city budget at the facades of the Maritime University damaged by wartime shelling and as a result of the erosion processes of the facade surface were completed. The complex of the former State Maritime School was designed by Prof. Eng. Arch. Wacław Tomaszewski in the late 1920s
The south-east facade of building A, located above the roof of the single-storey extension of building A4, was heavily soiled and had many defects within the bricks, joints and crown cornices.
It was disinfected and cleaned, structurally weakened bricks were reinforced, cracks and loosening were glued, defects were filled in and the whole building was treated with water-repellent (preventing water from penetrating into the structure of the material) and preparations preventing biological corrosion.
YMCA Poland, 26 Żeromskiego Str. - 8-12 Derdowskiego Str.
renovation of glass hollow blocks facade
View of the facade from Żeromskiego Str. before and after the works
Modernist building from the turn of the 1940s and 1950s with original elements of the gymnasium glazing - the northern wing made of glass hollow blocks coloured greenish with a vertically reeded pattern.
View of the facade glazing from the side of the yard during cleaning and after the works
Both glass walls were subjected to multi-stage cleaning from dirt, graffiti and posters, which revealed the state of preservation of individual hollows and secondary bricklaying. At that time, a thorough inventory and assessment of the condition of the hollows was carried out. A lot of them needed to be replaced, and numerous restorations needed to be made. Unfortunately, due to difficulties related to the production and availability of analogous blocks, only a few dozen were obtained, therefore it was possible to replace damaged and secondary elements only within one glass unit and half of the second unit on the eastern facade.
View of glass hollow blocks during replacement, cutting and grouting
The installation of glass hollow blocks turned out to be complicated. It was necessary to cut the new hollow blocks in half and glue them together.
The remaining quarters of both facades were protected against weather conditions.
The next stage will be to acquire an appropriate number of glass hollow blocks in order to replace damaged and secondary elements of the remaining quarters.
Autor: Luiza Skrzypkowska (l.skrzypkowska@gdynia.pl)