Offices with a view of... the future

08.12.2011

A manor house with a facade waiting to be refreshed, with modest ornaments but interestingly noble in its simplicity. A piece of architecture visible to all crossing the canal of the old port of Gdansk... A building with offices offering an extraordinary view. It has lasted for over a century in its peculiar location, with the street name change, from Festungsstrasse to Roberta de Plelo, as the only alteration affecting it. A house with a soul. A house with the past...

Following 1918, Poland's outlook for winning Gdansk back for Poland became more and more break. So did the country's maritime business prospects. On January 10th 1919, on the Treaty of Versailles entering into force, the city was separated from the Reich. But even though demilitarization of Gdansk started, with allied forces in the city, the creation of the Free City of Danzig was not free from tensions, growing prices and unemployment rate, pillage of Polish shops and provocations. The majority of the inhabitants did not agree with the Entente's decision. However, the League of Nations High Commissioner began to fulfill his duties. Despite some local opposition, on November 15th 1920, the Free City status went into effect in Gdansk.

At the same time, trying to ensure Poland's maritime security and its interests on the Baltic Sea, the government decided to build a new port in Gdynia. Two and a half year later, the interim war harbour (Port Wojenny) and fishermen's shelter saw a first foreign ship calling. A year later, on July 4th 1924, a decision was made to extend the Gdynia port. Polish hopes connected with Gdansk shrank day after day.

In order to save the Polish status quo in Gdansk, the Port Council initiated investments to increase handling efficiency and usefulness of the quays around the Vistula Railway Station. In 1927, it launched the construction of a basin, mainly for handling coal and iron ore. The Wisloujscie Port - today's Gorniczy Basin - was equipped with modern belt conveyors and wagon tipplers. No other European port had had such equipment before. The basin was crowned with a charming "office building" designed by a Gdansk architect and engineer Czeslaw Swialkowski, the author of the design of the Post and Telegraphy Office Gdansk 3 constructed at that time on the other side of the port canal.

The characteristic historic buildings resembling manor houses/ palaces can still be admired. The one crowning the inner part of the Gorniczy Basin served as a seat of companies dealing with port turnover in Gdansk in the interwar period. After WWII, it was assigned number "6" in Roberta de Plelo street surrounding the former Troyl - Süd. It was the way the city chose to commemorate the French diplomat and colonel of Louis' XV army who sacrificed his life for the Polish State on the Westerplatte peninsula on May 27th 1734, leading the French corps in a battle for Gdansk under the Russian siege.

Apart from the Gdansk tribute, the count has been honoured with a special address in only one more street, in the 'good' XV district in Paris, and in his home Brittany, where a town and a coastal municipality in the Cotes-d'Armor department by the Atlantic ocean were named after him.

The manor house in 6, Roberta de Plelo street was used as port technical back-up facility in recent years. It took the initiative of the Board of the Port of Gdansk Cargo Logistics SA - the biggest operator in the Port of Gdansk - to change it. The noble decision to restore the building and renovate its interior stemmed from more practical and economic reasons. On December 1st 2011, Port of Gdansk Cargo Logistics SA moved its headquarters to the manor house. It would be great if other companies operating within the Port of Gdansk decided to follow the pattern and also move their offices to the house. I can already picture this - a beautiful, renovated facade and illuminations emphasizing the glamour and significance of the building. A subsidiary of PGA SA, whose privatization process the port is preparing, will gain a respectable image with its office windows offering a view of a brighter future.

PGA SA PR Officer