Façade decoration at 15/19A Ogarna St.

Technique: sgraffito

Object:

One of three historicist façades covering a block of flats built as part of the post-war reconstruction of Gdańsk. In 2015, the façade underwent a major refurbishment under the ‘Gdańskie Fasady OdNowa’ project that aimed to improve the quality of public spaces in Główne Miasto by adding architectural decoration to existing buildings.

The triaxial eastern façade of the building at 15/19A Ogarna St. has been given a decoration that refers to a popular technique used during the historic reconstruction of the Główne Miasto district: the sgraffito. The fields covered by the art form are the strip of inter-window space between the second and third floors; they also surround the window in the gable end of the façade. Created by the artist, the ornament made up of gears, screw threads and lines creates an abstract composition. The colour scheme is based on warm rusty reds and yellows, which stand out clearly from the bleached colour of the plaster in a pinkish salmon hue.

Place:

The buildings are in an area designated as a heritage site. They form part of the historic urban layout of the city of Gdańsk. Ogarna Street was destroyed in 1945 during the war. It was rebuilt on the basis of the so-called Zachwatowicz plan that envisaged the reconstruction of historical forms, which was only feasible in the form of a workers’ housing estate. The erected block of flats was covered by a historicist façade screen. The buildings thus created were the result of combining two houses into a complex with a common staircase, an entrance from the courtyard and an even top line of windows emphasising the block-like nature of the premise. The elevations were not completed with architectural decoration.

Information about the author:

Anna Waligórska graduated in painting at the Institute of Art and Visual Culture of the University of Zielona Góra and the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. She presented her graduation work in 2005 in the painting studio of Professor Maciej Świeszewski, the annex in the studio of wall painting and stained glass under the direction of Professor Andrzej Dyakowski. In 2013, she obtained a doctoral degree in art. Since 2003, she has been professionally involved with the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, first as an assistant trainee at the stage and visual design studio with the Professor Andrzej Markowicz, after which she took up the position of assistant professor in the wall painting and stained-glass studio in 2007 and has been assistant professor in the graduate painting studio since 2017. She has exhibited her work at numerous solo and group exhibitions. Winner of numerous scholarships and awards, including first prize in the International Competition of the Outdoor Gallery of the City of Gdańsk in 2012 for her design of the Metropolitan Railway stations.

Condition of the object: good

Owner/guardian: “Attyka” real estate management

Author of the entry: Noemi Etush