Wool Market Square, Bydgoszcz

Wool Market square is located in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Many of its buildings are either registered on Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship heritage list, or part of Bydgoszcz local history. On its centre stands a statue of Leon Barciszewski, ancient mayor of Bydgoszcz (1932-1939).

Location
The triangular square is located in the southern part of Bydgoszcz Old Town. It links the western tip of Długa street to Poznańska street, a busy thoroughfare. Houses on the northern frontage have also a view onto Mill Island.

History
The area ties in the square outside the walls of the city, just beyond the Poznań Gate, located at today's western tip of Długa street. Such gate stood from 14th to first half of 19th century, built several times with various materials (brick, wood). Because of the bottle neck it was creating in Długa street, the Poznan Gate was demolished in 1828, and last rubbles evacuated in 1835. During the entire 18th century, one of the first city brick factory had been operating up in the area, run by Albert Bohon from Gdańsk.

From 1838 onwards, the triangular square at the junction of Długa, Poznańska, and Podgórna streets was the venue for trading firewood and wool collected from the surrounding farms which ran sheep breedings at the initiative of the "Economic Society for Kujawy" „Towarzystwa Ekonomicznego dla Kujaw”. With import of overseas cotton, sheep breeding gradually declined, and wool trading disappeared: its traditions remained in the name of the square, officialized in 1854.

When the tram network developed, the first line (1888-1896) ran through Wełniany Rynek along Poznańska street to Church of the Holy Trinity on Swiętej Trojcy street, then further to Grunwaldska street narrow-gauge train station. On the square, a horse station was standing, run by a boy with spare harnessed horses sheltered inside huts. Tram network was electrified in 1896, and the tram line through Wool Market was finally liquidated in 1970.

On the corner with Podgórna Street used to stand a hotel, initially named Hotel Moritz, where Prince Augustus of Prussia died on July 19, 1843, while performing an inspection visit. The hotel name was later changed to French Hotel and Hotel Pomeranian, before being liquidated in 1934.

From 1960 to 2008, the square has been used as a city parking lot. An overhaul of the area with renovation of the pavement has been carried out in 2008, highlighting its architecture and the statue of pre-war president of Bydgoszcz, Leon Barciszewski.

Naming
Through history, the street bore the following names:


 * 1854–1920, Wollmarkt;
 * 1920–1939, Wełniany Rynek;
 * 1939–1945, Wollmarkt;
 * Since 1945, Wełniany Rynek.

The name refers to the area where wool used to be traded from the surroundings in the middle of the 19th century.

Main places and buildings
House at 1

1800-1850

Eclecticism

The tenement built in the first half of the 18th century was initially addressed at Wollmarkt 8. It had for first landlord August Arnholt, a wood merchant.

Subsequent renovations in the 20th century changed its shape (addition of a second storey) and wiped away the facade decoration.

Wilhelm Kopp's Tenement at 2

1896–1897, by Józef Święcicki

Neo-Baroque

The building has been realized by famous Bydgoszcz architect of the 19th century Józef Święcicki, who designed more than 60 projects in the 1890s in the city. The commissioner of the tenement at then Wollmarkt 9 was Wilhelm Kopp, an entrepreneur and owner of a thriving dye house at nearby Swiętej Trojcy street 4/6. One of his sons, Julius, lived in this building till World War II. Today, the ground floor houses a night club, Stara Babcia.

Truthful to his art, Józef Święcicki reproduced here the Neo-Baroque features he was fond of, as in other famous realisations across downtown (e.g. Hotel "Pod Orlem", Plac Wolności 1, Theatre square 2). The facade is covered with architectural details and motifs: bossage, bay windows, balustrades, columns, pilasters, pediments bearing ornamented tympanums, coat of arms and finials on the roof.