BIAŁYSTOK & PODLASIE
 Introduction
 Discover Białystok
 Discover Podlasie
 What's Happening?
 Enjoy the City
 Travel Facts
 Practical Information
 Business & Economy

TO SPECIALIST
 Press Releases
 Tourist Statistics
 Image Bank
 Advertise
 Co-operation
 Contact

VisitBialystok.com (website and domain) is for sale.
Contact us for further details »

VisitBialystok.com (strona i domena) jest na sprzedaż.
Skontaktuj się z nami, by uzyskać szczegóły »

Interesting to know «  
Culture «  
Attractions «  
Branicki Palace «  
History «  

One of the first factory owners from Łódź who decided to move to Białystok in an effort to avoid the high duties placed on the goods imported into Russia was Ewald Hasbach. Next to the factory stood a villa and several smaller buildings. The villa was modernised in the years 1905 - 1907, resulting in a small palace, which is an architectural mixture of French, Dutch and Tuscan Renaissance.

The palace, unlike the factory buildings, survived World War I. During the crisis of the 1920's and 1830's, the then "A. Hasbach's Plywood Factory" filed for bankruptcy and was nationalised, together with the palace.

Upon the break of World War II, the Hasbachs moved to Warsaw. The Soviets started the factory up again, and the management moved to the palace, where a lounge and a bar were also located. When the Germans chased the Soviets out, Ewald's grandson, Sergiusz Hasbach moved into the palace, wanting to run the factory under German administration. In June 1944 the retreating occupiers set fire to the factory buildings, leaving the palace intact, however.


Eugeniusz Becker came to Białystok shortly after the arrival of Ewald Hasbach. In 1883 he began to purchase land located between Brudska street (now Świętojańska) and Brzeska street, and to construct factory buildings there. In 1895 the statute of the Białystok Manufacturing Association "E. Becker and co." was granted approval. The newly opened factory, Silk Plush, was part of the approved association.

In the years 1902 - 1905, another palace was built, meant to be the seat of the Association's management. Its two-part building, created in the style of the French renaissance, which was then fashionable in Poland, was erected on Świętojańska street.

The whole factory complex survived World War I in a good condition. In the period of the Soviet occupation, the factory operated as the "BSSR State Plush Factory". It later became a German factory ("Pluschfabrik Werk nr 31 - Bialystok"). By the end of the war, in July 1944, Germans destroyed most of the factory buildings with the exception of the palace.

Upon the end of the war, the Association changed into the State Silk and Clothing Factory and then again - in 1950 - into the Białystok Plush Factory. In 1975, the site was given a new name - the "Biruna" textile Factory, which has remained until this day. Throughout its whole history, the management of the factory have occupied the palace.


Samula Hirsz Citron, owner of the Supraśl Textile Manufacturing Plant, was one of the richest entrepreneurs living in Białystok at the beginning of the 20th century. Among his many properties was the palace on Warszawska street, presently the seat of the Historical Museum. Citron, however, didn't live there but occupied another house on Kupiecka street. Despite this, he made all possible efforts to evict from the building the District School Authorities, which had occupied the palace for some time.

When the Białystok education authorities found other premises, Citron's son, Beniamin, moved into the palace. He chose, however, not to occupy the whole building and leased the ground floor to the Treasury Department. Throughout the whole period between the two world wars, the villa stayed in the hands of the Citrons. Following the death of Samuel Citron, the building became the property of his inheritors: four sons and four daughters.

When looking at the facade of the two-storey construction from Warszawska street, one can see many ornaments in the art nouveau style, with numerous carvings with ceramic tiles, styled sunflowers, laurel twigs, garlands and festoons; there is a window in the porte-fenêtre style, connected to an oval balcony, an arched cornice and an attic with candles burning in vases. One can suppose, therefore, that the building was erected at the beginning of the 20th century.


Nowik's palace is a very similar construction to that of the Citrons. It is located on Lipowa street. Due to the fact that it was built at the end of a row of adjacent houses, the main ornamental 40 part of the facade is the free western corner with a quadrilateral tower with a styled roof. The corner elevations are rich in art nouveau details. The main entrance was located in the external axis opposite the tower. It is composed of a wooden door with a portal which becomes narrower as it rises, resembling the main entrance to the residence of the Citrons.

The palace on Lipowa street was built by Chaim Nowik in the years 1900 - 1910. He also was a textile factory owner. The total area of the premises was 7000 m2 and so there was plenty of room for a beautiful garden and three additional service buildings. One of these have remained to this day and is now an army hotel. The surrounding trees are all that is left of the gardens which used to be there.

Chaim Nowik died in 1925 and the palace stayed in the hands of the Nowik family until World War II. In September 1939 it became the Białystok defence headquarters. It was later turned into an Army Hospital and now - for many years - it has been the seat of the Army Drafting Office.


At 7 Warszawska street stands one more palace which belonged to factory owners of the past. This one, however, is architecturally different from the ones described above. The style is pseudo-baroque with a great number of pseudo-renaissance details. They are especially visible in the main elevation - in its composition, the niches with the sculptures, in the cornices, the shape of the windows and other decorative elements. Today is the site of the Rubin hotel and before the war it used to be the residence of the Trylling family.

The Tryllings came to Białystok in the early 1860's to open up an textile factory here. Its first owner was Izrael Trylling, then his son Chaim Abram. It was him, who bought the premises on Warszawska street in 1989 from his parents-in-law, Rosalia and Izrael Bulkowstein. Having demolished what stood on the premises, he started building the villa which could be called a palace due to its rich ornamentation. He never saw the end of the construction as he died in 1988. His wife, Helena, inherited the unfinished building and moved in less then a year later. She did not stay there long, however, as she preferred staying abroad to conducting business in Białystok. Especially in the period between the two world wars, she was more often seen in Berlin than in Białystok. The house, therefore, became the permanent residence of her son, Anatol, who represented the Trylling family.


bialystok.pl.