West Pomeranian Voivodeship Office

The main designer of the building was the Berlin architect Paul Kieschke, but after his death in 1905, the building was completed by Paul Lehmgrübner. Construction began in 1906, and the whole building was put into operation in 1911. The architecture of the building refers to the North German Renaissance. There are five wings, two inner courtyards and two towers - one of them is topped with a sailor's sculpture. The north tower, also known as the meteorological tower, is 75.8 meters high. At its top there is a spire with a wind rose. South tower, the so-called the tower with the sailor is more than 10 meters higher and 86.6 meters.

The building was designated for the office of the Szczecin Region. In part of the building there were official flats, as well as offices of the Maritime Office, Lloyd's Agency, Port Police and the Hydroengineering Office. The building survived almost intact during the air raids of World War II. Many of the rooms in the office have retained their original decor. In front of the main entrance to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship Office, there is a portico with columns. The entrance will lead us to the main, most representative hall, where we find a huge column and an interestingly decorated vault. The original floor is on the ground floor, and the historic door woodwork has been preserved throughout the building. In some rooms - incl. in the voivode's office - pre-war furniture has been preserved.

Interesting architectural details can be found in the northern part of the building, which was once occupied by "maritime" institutions, incl. nautical accents on the balustrade of the staircase, allegorical heads of sailors and fishermen - this is the only place inside the office where such heads appear, other sculptures of this type can be found on the external facade of the building. In addition, in the hall under the sailor, we can find several dozen bas-reliefs. They were most likely backup sculptures, but their history was never fully explained.

After 1945, the building was taken over by the Polish municipal authorities, headed by the first president of post-war Szczecin, Piotr Zaremba. It was he who ordered the Polish flag to be displayed on the building on April 30th. After the office was created in the building, it was decided to repaint the walls of the building in an "official" uniform color. Work has been underway for several years to restore the original design of the ZUW. Discovered and renovated, among others an impressive column in the customer service room and decorative German inscriptions that remind of the historical functions of the building.

In the first years after the end of World War II, the marina at Wały Chrobrego and the buildings that dominated it were to create the "sea Szczecin". It was in the building of the West Pomeranian Voivodship Office that the most important meetings were held and the most important decisions were made regarding the reconstruction and function of the port, and the creation of the Polish commercial, coastal and fishing fleet.

An interesting fact that has stimulated the imagination of the inhabitants for years is the legend about the alleged buried corridor in the basement of the office, which was supposed to lead to the other side of the Oda - under the river, of course. The facility also includes the so-called "Khrushchevka" - where does the term come from? From the name of the Secretary General of the CPSU, Nikita Khrushchev, who in 1959, during his visit to Szczecin, lived in the southern part of the building.

Since 2011 - on the occasion of the centenary of the facility - the building has been open to tourists. There are three routes for tourists. The first route leads through the office tower, it is during this trip that you can see the panorama from the north tower, see the "sculpture warehouse" mentioned above. The second route runs through the most important rooms of the building. Tour participants can see, among others conference rooms with preserved, over a hundred years old equipment, the Knight's Hall with an original parquet floor and a honeycomb ceiling, and the voivode's office. Visitors will also enter the safe of the former government cash desk. The last route leads through the basement of the building. Tour participants have the opportunity to see bunkers that were built during the Cold War, ventilation devices and foundations of towers that are located approximately 14 meters below the entrance level to the office.

The tours are available from Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Each route takes approx. 2 hours. To take part in the trip, you must register for a given route in advance, for a walk to be possible, it is necessary to collect min. 10 people. Tours are free.

The building of the West Pomeranian Voivodship Office was entered on the provincial list of monuments in March 1985