Zabytki: Stare Polesie

Stare Polesie was once the villa district of Łódź's factory owners, so its historic sites are mostly pre-World War I residences, standing densely along Gdańska street. Three sites on this list show different degrees of preservation of this kind of building: from a restored small palace to a ruin viewed only from the sidewalk.

Which palaces on Gdańska street are worth seeing?

The best-preserved is Pałacyk Elektrowni Łódzkiej (Łódź Power Plant Palace) at Gdańska 107, an Art Nouveau building from 1911-1912, today the seat of a diplomatic mission. A bit further, at number 38, stands Willa braci Kiperów (Villa of the Kiper Brothers), also known as Pałac Kipera, an intimate factory owner's residence typical of this part of Stare Polesie.

Why can Pałac Kellera only be viewed from the outside?

Pałac Rudolfa Kellera (Rudolf Keller Palace) at Gdańska 49/53 is a neo-Renaissance villa from 1890-1892, built next to Keller's ribbon factory. The building is abandoned and clearly deteriorating, so it's best viewed from the other side of the street, without entering the property.

Pałacyk Elektrowni Łódzkiej was designed by the architect Dawid Lande as a residence for the management of the first municipal power plant, including for director Edward Ulmann - hence the building's name. Willa Kiperów, like the neighboring residences on Gdańska, was built at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries by Łódź factory owners who wanted to live close to their plants, but away from the factory noise.

All three sites lie within a few hundred meters of each other along Gdańska, so they can be seen in one short walk, on the way to central Łódź. More factory owners' residences from other districts of the city are gathered on the historic sites in the Łódź region page.