Wroclaw authorities have announced a tender for the sale of the historic Hatzfeld Palace, which is located at the intersection of Wita Stwosza and Krowie Streets. Until recently it was the headquarters of the BWA Awangarda gallery. The asking price is, as announced earlier, 37.8 million zlotys. What may happen to the historic palace after it reaches the hands of a private owner?
For years, the authorities of Wroclaw have been unable to make a final decision on the future of the historic ruins of the Hatzfeld Palace. The word ruins does not fall here by accident, as the building is in a very bad condition and needs urgent renovation. The Hatzfeld Palace was built in the 18th century. It was designed at the time by the famous architect Carl Gotthard Langhans. It was severely damaged during World War II, and the damage was only exacerbated by the post-war demolition of the Wroclaw buildings, the bricks from which went to rebuild Warsaw.
No reconstruction of the monument was ever undertaken thereafter. Admittedly, a dozen years ago the authorities of Wroclaw had plans to renovate the building and arrange it into a new seat of the Ossolineum publishing house or the Polish Academy of Sciences, but the costs that would have consumed the investment turned out to be too high - about 60 million zlotys. So the plans were abandoned. For more on the history of the palace, see Beata Stobiecka' s text "What to do with the Hatzfeld Palace? Another debate among Wroclaw preservationists" , which appeared in the A&B series "City on target".
This year a decision was finally made, by the way, already announced last year, that the Hatzfeld Palace would be put up for sale. Accordingly, a tender for the purchase of the land with the remains of the palace is to be launched on November 4. Specifically, four plots of land have been put up for sale: a square with remnants of the former buildings; a courtyard with trees, shrubs and lawn; a portico - a surviving part of the building's facade; and part of the sidewalk. The plot area is 3088 square meters, while the building is 928 square meters.
The asking price is 37.8 million zlotys, which is what was announced a year ago. The announcement of the sale of the property can be found here.
Location of the Hatzfeld Palace
© www.wroclaw.pl (official website of Wroclaw)
The area put up for sale
© www.wroclaw.pl (official web portal of Wroclaw)
sale of historic palace not for financial gain
City representatives stress that the sale of the historic palace is not for financial gain.
Such a form of sale will allow, on the one hand, to pay the buyer a much lower amount than the asking price, and will allow the city, in accordance with the regulations, to control the timing of the property's development and the implementation of the investment in accordance with the bidding assumption , since a tender mode is planned to be announced , explained Jan Bujak, director of the Property Acquisition and Sale Department of the Wrocław City Hall. (Source: www.wroclaw.pl)
Bujak points out that the sale of the building will help give this area of the city a new character, so a credible investor is being sought.
An important question is: what might happen to the Hatzfeld Palace after it goes into private hands? Since the building is listed in the register of historical monuments, interference with its structure should be minimal. It is worth noting, however, that the local development plan for Wroclaw allows for the following functions in the area: services, small-format retail, catering, cultural dissemination facilities, exhibitions and expositions, offices, hotel facilities, congress and conference facilities.
The announcement of the sale included information that any reconstruction or new passageways must not violate the layout of the rooms and wall grid of the preserved building, and the design of the new part of the building must relate to the characteristic features of the representative palace architecture.
Recall also that until 2018 the Hatzfeld Palace was home to the BWA Awangarda gallery. Due to the poor technical condition of the building, it was moved to spaces at the Main Railway Station. There are currently plans to move the BWA to Kępa Mieszczanska.
Proposed location of the new BWA Avangarda gallery headquarters
© www.wroclaw.pl (official website of Wrocław)
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