Bathhouse and Laundry
Short summary
around 1882
Brick public architecture
ul. Bolesława Limanowskiego 49A, 96-300 Żyrardów
laundry and bathhouse for the employees of the Żyrardów Linen Works
office and commercial building, with a café
exterior and the café interior
The building description was prepared in consultation with the staff of the Museum of Western Mazovia in Żyrardów.
Discover the history
The Bathhouse and Laundry was built in the early 1880s, during a period of rapid expansion of the Żyrardów Works and the accompanying growth of the workers’ settlement. It was one of the social facilities provided for factory workers and their families.
Workers could wash clothes and bed linen here, use showers, take hot baths in bathtubs and use the bathing pool. The building also included a separate room for steam baths. Use of these facilities was subsidised by the factory, with workers paying around one fifth of the actual cost of the service.
The Bathhouse and Laundry continued to operate here until the late 1980s. After the collapse of the Żyrardów Works, part of the building fell out of use, and in the 1990s renovation and adaptation for new functions began. Today, the building houses a café, businesses and medical facilities.
Time travel
Architecture
The building was constructed on a plan resembling the letter H. It consists of two wings: a longer northern wing and a shorter southern wing, connected by a two-storey central section. Its most distinctive feature is the central part of the northern wing, framed by two square, three-storey towers topped with low hipped roofs. The remaining sections of the building are one or two storeys high and are covered by gently sloping roofs.
The structure is built of red brick, with the façades divided by a horizontal string course. The window openings vary in form, adding visual interest to the elevations. On the northern façade, most windows are topped with either round or segmental arches and framed by brick lintels. At the centre of the upper storey is a biforium (a paired window divided by a slender column), while the rectangular windows of the towers are set within recessed brick panels. Although restrained, the decorative detailing gives the building a dignified and representative character.
The internal layout reflected the building’s original functions. The southern wing housed the pump room, laundry, drying room, mangle room, and storage areas. The connecting section and the northern wing accommodated the bathing facilities, cloakroom, cash desk, and steam bath.
Gallery
Nearby
Sources
test …