Juliusz Heinzl Palace in Łódź

Three female figures stand on top of the façade at 104 Piotrkowska Street: Liberty, Industry and Commerce. This is how Juliusz Heinzel, known as the "king of wool" and owner of the largest woollen goods factory in the Kingdom of Poland, presented himself to the world in 1882. His first palace faces Łódź's most famous street, and at noon the city's bugle call rings out from a window of the city hall here.

History: the manufacturer who became a baron

Juliusz Heinzel (1834–1895) founded a mechanical weaving mill for woollen goods at 104 Piotrkowska Street in 1864. By around 1874 his firm was the largest complex of its kind in the Kingdom of Poland (the part of Poland then under Russian rule), and in 1879 Heinzel and Juliusz Kunitzer set up the "Widzew Manufacture". In 1891 he bought the estate and castle of Hohenfels in the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha together with a baron's title. This was unique in Łódź; two years later he was charged with using the title illegally, but the court acquitted him.

The palace was built in front of the factory, on the street line. Its design is attributed to Hilary Majewski, and construction was supervised by Otto Gehlig, who later became the manufacturer's son-in-law. The residence combined living quarters, reception rooms and commercial space. It consisted of a three-storey main block and two symmetrical side buildings, separated from it by gates with wrought-iron grilles.

What to see

• The sculpture group on the parapet with allegories of Liberty, Industry and Commerce, signed "EMS" and dated 1880.
• Symmetrical oriel windows on the first floor with balustrades.
• A frieze of cartouches with emblems of industry and trade below the cornice.
• Tuwim's Bench in front of the palace — a monument to the poet Julian Tuwim by Wojciech Gryniewicz, unveiled in 1999.

Good to know

In the 1950s the palace was merged with the converted factory buildings, which had housed a weaving shed among other things, and their façades were made uniform. Plain office blocks now face Plac Komuny Paryskiej. The rich interiors largely did not survive the many renovations. Since 29 July 1998, the Łódź bugle call — the tune of Stanisław Moniuszko's song "Prząśniczka" (The Spinning Girl) — has been played from a city hall window every day at 12:00.

Tripto tips

The building houses public offices, so the palace is mainly something to see from outside — a quarter of an hour is enough. Come just before noon to hear the bugle call live, and take a seat on the bench next to Tuwim. There are more traces of the manufacturer elsewhere: Julianowski Park in the Julianów district is named after him, and the monumental Heinzel family tomb stands in the Old Cemetery on Ogrodowa Street.