The building of the Szczecin City Hall

Today's City Hall was built to serve as the seat of the authorities of the Pomeranian Province. It was located on one of the city's main axes, in the immediate vicinity of the Kasprowicz Park.

The history of the building

How was it constructed?

 The building complex of today's City Hall was built to serve as the seat of the authorities of the Pomeranian Province. It was located on one of the city's main axes, today's Pope John Paul II street, in the immediate vicinity of a park area, thus emphasizing the importance of the entire establishment. The plot for development was bought in April 1924 from commercial councillor Martin Quistorp. The architectural design of the buildings as well as the layout and interior design were made by Szczecin architect Georg Steinmetz from Charlottenburg. The author of the construction design was the state building coucillor Viering, who also supervised the implementation. Construction management was entrusted to the national senior technical inspector Luther. A Construction Committee was appointed for the entire investment under the leadership of the Governor of the Sarnów Province. The investment was managed by the national receiver de Schultze-Plotzius. The symbolic start of the construction took place on 5 June 1924, while the laying of the cornerstone along with the foundation act and the design took place on 14 March 1925.

 The whole development was carried out in four stages: 

• in 1924, the construction of the main body with two adjacent parts of passages under buildings, constituting direct link between the urban and park parts, was completed. The building housed a library, whose walls were entirely decorated with wooden panelling.
• in 1925, the eastern wing was added to house cash desks and treasury complex on the ground floor. Front parts of both wings were als built. It was called the cash desk wing.
• in 1926, the construction of the west wing with representative meeting rooms of the Provincial Council and the Provincial Assembly was completed. This part of the building was called the great halls wing.
• in 1927 a second east wing was added behind the cash desk building

In 1936–38 another part in Odrowąża street was added, where the seat of the provincial authorities of NSDAP was placed.

On 5 July 1945, the Polish mayor Piotr Zaremba began his office in the building.

In 1954, the west wing was rebuilt for the needs of the Mieczysław Karłowicz State Philharmonic.

How does it look like?

The building was built in the neo-Baroque style with a representative facade facing south-east, towards today's Armii Krajowej Square, which was to remind representative, Baroque residences in the so-called "entre cour et jardin " style. At the back of the building there is a baroque park looking like a garden courtyard flanked by plane avenues. The buildings, around the representative courtyard, were laid out with strict symmetry. The centre of the 17-axis facade of the main body is defined by a three-axis avant-corps with the main entrances to the building. The building is made of brick and has a basement on its entire surface.

The main part is 3-storeys high. It has hip roofs covered with fish scale slate tiles and fitted with dormers. The once dark original door woodwork has been preserved (except for the glass entrance door in the main part and the wings). The basement windows have original, decorative grilles. The whole building was plastered in dark green. The panels above the entrance doors were decorated with a carved motifs of cornucopia, and on the lesenes separating balconies there were decorative elements symbolizing industry (machine gears), agriculture (bird, fruit), and military service (panoplia - drums, banners). The attic of the avant-corps is crowned with a carved coat of arms of the Pomeranian Province - a griffin on a shield surrounded by panoplies and supported by holders. The wings are connected to the main body on both sides by closed arches and crowned with coats of arms of Pomeranian cities - Koszalin, Szczecin, Stralsund and Greifswald.

In order to make this decorative architectural detail a light sandstone was used, to contrast with the green facade; this was additionally decorated with a gilded ornament. The entire building wall base plinth was faced with sandstone. Window and door frames as well as decorative heraldic cartouches were made of sandstone, too.

The interiors of the halls and staircases are lined with brown and yellow travertine (walls) and brown polished limestone (floors). In the courtyard in front of the building there are two fountains with sandstone pools and shell-shaped goblets.

Spinach again

The original facades of the building were once covered with green plaster in a characteristic shade, hence the popular name of the building before 1945: Spinattenpalast (Spinach Palace) or Spinatten Haus (Spinach House).

In the post-war period, the building's facades were covered with a thin layer of grey cement mortar put on former plasters in the 1960s.

The original green colour was restored in the first stages of renovation and conservation works which were completed in 2013. In 2014, the next stage of works will start. This time, the facades of the east and west wing of the office building (from Felczaka street) will be renovated; the conservation and restoration will include also the architectural details. The total area of the renovated facade is ca. 3140 m2.

A shelter under the building

The City Hall building has a vast courtyard inaccessible to residents on a daily basis. Here you can find technical and transport facilities, printing office, transformer station and main power connection.

In addition to the archives and heat distribution centres listed above, the lowest part of the building has a shelter adapted to house city authorities in the event of an emergency. The shelter located under the City Hall covers an area of approximately 700m2, and the usable area is ca. 400m2. It can accommodate about 500 people. The room is equipped with a filter-ventilation system (2 filter-ventilation devices with a total capacity of 1800m3) and its own energy source. For the needs of its users, drinking water is stored in the building - 10 tanks with a capacity of 1000 litters each. The entrance to the shelter is protected by hermetic doors.