The building was designed by Eng. architect Stanisław Ziołowski for the investor Employee Pension Plan of Bank Gospodarstw Krajowego. The building was erected in three stages between 1935 and 1939 and in principle consists of three separate buildings with independent construction, however, perfectly united from the outside.
The building has a modern reinforced concrete construction with brick filling, from the 3 Maja street’s side it attracts attention with its semicircular turret-top floor extension, a feature characteristic for Gdynia architecture.
The building’s “ship style” is in the late functionalist style, the style which introduced fashion for bright facades with distinct texture, expressive, flat bodies without balconies, big horizontal glazing as well as column construction with arcades and an “anti-portal” i.e. moved backwards entrance to the building.
It was the first modern apartment building in Poland. It has got stairs with a “soul”, a “cosmic eye” which lights the interior, the building’s hall is decorated with terracotta tile mosaic. In the building there is a mini museum founded by its residents (its custodian and good spirit is Mrs. Maria Piradoff-Link) as well as – almost from the time when it was built – Café Cyganeria – an artistic café in the Art-Deco style of the 30’s.
This building is on Gdynia modernism route.
