Building of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin

The building at Sikorskiego 37 in the Turzyn district of Szczecin was built in 1900-1901 as the Royal School of Mechanical Engineering. It has served education throughout: today it houses the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin.

Construction and the author of the design

The building was erected at what was then Friedenstraße 37 for the Königliche Höhere Maschinenbauschule. The name of the author of the design is not known. According to Rafał Makała it may have been the Szczecin architect Wilhelm Meyer-Schwartau, while another hypothesis points to the city architect Max Wolfgang Gruber, whose signatures appear on the drawings of the building.

The works were entrusted to the firm of Theodor Bless. Construction began before the permit was issued, which appeared only on 27 October 1900. The shell was completed on 21 January 1901, and the school took over the main building on 4 October 1901. The workshops in the courtyard were handed over a year later.

School and university

At the school one could choose one of five departments: electrical engineering, marine engineering, aviation, mechanical engineering or shipbuilding. The course lasted two and a half years, and candidates had to have at least two years of work in industry.

The building did not suffer in the bombing. After the war it became the first seat of the College of Engineering and its Faculty of Electrical Engineering, and the first classes took place on 18 February 1947. Later the Szczecin University of Technology was housed here, and since 2009 the faculty has operated as part of the West Pomeranian University of Technology.

A facade with griffins and the city coat of arms

The building has five storeys, and the whole facade is covered with light yellow clinker brick. The front elevation is symmetrical, with eighteen bays, a central risalit and two side ones. The heritage register describes the style as Art Nouveau.

• The gables of the side risalits are decorated with reliefs showing the large coat of arms of Szczecin, held by two lions.
• The gable of the main risalit is the highest, and at its sides stand sculptures of griffins with outspread wings.
• Above the entrance a relief shows a laurel wreath beneath a Watt governor and a cogwheel.
• Four stone steps lead to the main door, and the original tiles have survived in the porch.

In the 1960s the facade was simplified, with the pinnacles knocked off the risalits and the tops of the pilasters, and the attic was rebuilt. Inside, the original door joinery and the stucco work of the corridors have survived.

Practical information

• Address: ulica Władysława Sikorskiego 37, Szczecin-Turzyn.
• It is a working university building, so entry depends on the rules of the faculty, and information is provided by the website we.zut.edu.pl.
• The facade is easiest to see from the street. About 1 km further on stands the Port Gate.