Mr Sylwester Szkudlarek, Administrator
Grażyna Hryncewicz-Lamber: Can you give some general information about From the outside, gallery-access block of flats at 2 Tramwajowa Street seems to
the technical condition of this building?
be a plain construction from the times of Socialism. It is one of the experimental
Sylwester Szkudlarek: In the post-war
buildings of the WuWA housing estate exhibition. Considering that its tenants
period the house was intended for
do not want to sell their apartments, it has turned out to be a very successful
habitation even though it wasn't prepared
experiment indeed.
for that. Before the war the building was
We encountered a few tenants of Tramwajowa Street who told us about their
heated via a central boiler house, located
community, their happy childhoods spent on the galleries where they had learnt
in the nearby tram depot. Unfortunately,
to ride a bicycle and played football. The gallery, also known as the balcony,
this installation was damaged during
understandably appears in many of their stories. It is a place where everybody
the war, so after the war every tenant
knows everybody: like in a small village these communities full of neighbourly
installed their own heating system. This
interaction, have become such a rare sight these days.
devastated the building to a great extent.
The building operates under a shared ownership scheme where most of the
During the war, a few apartments had
shares belong to private individuals and the rest to the City of Wrocław. After long
been destroyed, shelled and then partially
discussions, the community decided to join the Program Wsparcia Konserwatora
renovated. Right after the war, due to
Miejskiego (Historic Preservation Officer’s Support Program), even though they
a general lack of accommodation, there
had already partially renovated the houses themselves.
were no safety regulations concerning
We learnt about the history and technical condition of the building from its
construction. Therefore people would fit
Administrator, Mr Sylwester Szkudlarek. We also met Mrs Katarzyna Brycha and
whatever solution was available. Gas was
Mr Edward Łyszczarz who are tenants living in the building to get their opinions.
supplied even though this building had
During my visit to Tramwajowa Street, Mr Krzysztof Lato, an architect preparing
no flue: or any ventilation at all for that
the renovation project dropped by.
matter. In 1929, the designer assumed that it would be sufficient to air the rooms just by opening a window. Nowadays that’s unacceptable and the fact that there isn't any exhaust ventilation is of huge discomfort for the tenants.
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