The land on which the building stands bought around 1850 by a baker,[2] August Friedrich Bernhardt.[3] Between 1875 and 1879, the newly created company was taken over by his son Emil Bernhardt, coming from Switzerland where he attended hotel and catering professional courses.[3]
In 1880 Emil Bernhardt married Louise Müller, daughter of a landlord from the vicinity of Schneidemühl, who made a very substantial dowry. A part of this dowry has been probably invested in the construction of Emil Bernhardt's house[3] adjacent to the plot where stands Hotel "Pod Orlem".[3]
The design of the edifice, realized by master mason Carl Stampehl, was approved on February 13, 1882. The three-storey building displays a facade with Eclecticism style, reminiscent of the Italian Renaissance palaces. It was a construction in the type of German "Geschäftshaus" (house and commercial building), with lodgings upstairs and cafés on the basement.[3]
In 1888, the first ophthalmology office in the city opened in the building.[4]
In 1918, a remodeling of the premises on the ground floor was carried out by architect Gustav Bruschat to house a branch of the Deutsche Bank. In 1920, another reconstruction was performed by architect Rudolf Kern.[5]
From 1920, the building housed one of the finest Bydgoszcz café, the "Wiener Café" .[5]
During interwar period, the Agrarian Bank (Polish: Bank Agrarny) and Poznan BGK (Polish: Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego) had their headquarters there, along with the German Society for Science and Arts.[6]
Architecture
The building has got a horseshoe shape, following Eclecticism style with classicist forms.[5] The edifice not only provides a balanced facade, but also displays remains of a unique originally polychrome covering all walls of the hallway crossing.
In the courtyard, at the back of the lot is located a residential building with an iron porch and a decorative openwork peak, built in 1882 and designed by master mason Carl Rose.[5]
The building has been put on the Pomeranian heritage list (Nr.735497-reg.A/1558), on 30 April 2010[1]
^ abRejestr zabytków nieruchomych – województwo kujawsko-pomorskie (pol.).31 grudnia 2014 [issued 1 March 2014]
^Allgemeiner Wohnungs-Anzeiger fur Bromberg 1855. Bromberg: Verlag von M. Aronsohn's Buchhandlung. 1855. p. 8.
^ abcdeJastrzebska-Puzowska, Iwona (1992). Hotel "Pod Orłem". Kronika Bydgoska XIV. Bydgoszcz: Towarzystwo Miłośników Miasta Bydgoszczy. pp. 45–54.
^Boguszyński, Mieczysław (2008). Od warsztatu balwierskiego do szpitala klinicznego. Bydgoszcz: Towarzystwo Miłośników Miasta Bydgoszczy. ISBN9788392642305.
^ abcdBręczewska-Kulesza Daria, Derkowska-Kostkowska Bogna, Wysocka A. (2003). Ulica Gdańska. Przewodnik historyczny. Bydgoszcz: Wojewódzki Ośrodek Kultury w Bydgoszczy. ISBN9788386970100.
^Lattermann, Alfred (1938). Deutsche Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift für Polen: Neue Folge der Zeitschriften der Historischen Gesellschaft für Posen und des Deutschen Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins für Großpolen, zugleich Veröffentlichung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Kunst und Wissenschaft in Bromberg und des Coppernicus-Vereins für Wissenschaft und Kunst in Thorn.
Bibliography
(in Polish) Bręczewska-Kulesza Daria, Derkowska-Kostkowska Bogna, Wysocka A. (2003). Ulica Gdańska. Przewodnik historyczny. Bydgoszcz: Wojewódzki Ośrodek Kultury w Bydgoszczy. ISBN9788386970100.
(in Polish) Jastrzebska-Puzowska, Iwona (1992). Hotel "Pod Orłem". Kronika Bydgoska XIV. Bydgoszcz: Towarzystwo Miłośników Miasta Bydgoszczy. pp. 45–54.