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Grand Hotel
The edifice seen from Piotrkowska
General information
Architectural style	Eclectic, Early Modernism
Location	72 Piotrkowska Street, Łódź, Poland
Coordinates	51°46′06″N 19°27′24″E
Opened	9 October 1887 (1887-10-09)
Renovated	1912–1913, 1942, 2019–2023
Client	Edward Haentschel Ludwik Meyer
Owner	Holding Liwa
Technical details
Floor count	6
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Hilary Majewski Dawid Lande
Other information
Number of rooms	153
Number of restaurants	2: Malinowa Restaurant Grand Caffè
Facilities	gym, pools, saunas, Turkish bath, event space
Parking	yes
Website
grand.hotel.com.pl/grand-hotel

Grand Hotel Łódź, commonly known as Hotel Grand, is a historic luxury hotel at 72 Piotrkowska Street, in the heart of Łódź, Poland. Operating continuously since 1887, it is one of the city's most recognisable landmarks.

Name

The official name of the facility is Grand Hotel Łódź, however, it came to be colloquially known as "Hotel Grand" by local inhabitants through the misplacement of the prefix in a non-English environment. This colloquialism resulted from the Polish word order and the interpretation of the term "hotel" as an adjectival noun and the word "Grand" as the appellation. It is commonly utilised to this day in spoken language and city jargon by native Polish speakers.

History

Early years (1824–1885)

The history of the site dates back to 1824–1828, when it was designated in official records and zoning documents as greenfield land to be settled by flax and cotton weavers. In 1842, it was purchased by two weavers as a perpetual leasehold estate and in the same year a single-storey timber house was erected on the site. The house subsequently hosted a private elementary school. In 1860, Edward Hentschel acquired the lot in an equal exchange-like transaction and purchased the neighbouring property in 1867 to construct a textile factory with a dyehouse. By 1872, the old dwelling was demolished and a new two-storey tenement was built with a much more elaborate design (decorative attics, friezes, and sculptures, among others). Two years later, Hentschel's factory was destroyed by fire; with no aim at reconstruction, the debris were then bought by Ludwik Meyer and Juliusz Karol Kunitzer, both considered to be textile magnates. As sole owner and having moved his industrial facilities elsewhere, Meyer decided to transform the existing structures into a guest house in 1885.

Beginnings of the hotel (1887–1912)

The Grand Hotel, designed in the neoclassical style by chief architect Hilary Majewski, was completed in two years and opened on 9 October 1887 with 45 rooms. By 1896, the number of rooms grew to 70 and comprised a restaurant and a ballroom. Nonetheless, it was still a modest establishment; only a few rooms were fitted with the proper amenities, such as baths. The majority of rooms possessed simple washing basins that had to be manually filled with boiled water brought in jugs or vessels by the hotel staff. Heating was delivered through individual masonry heaters in each room and not by a hotel furnace or centralised heating. However, the hotel did have marble interiors and a well-maintained garden in its courtyard. Meyer sold the hotel in 1904 to a joint-stock company owned by the Bank Handlowy (Polish Commercial Bank) and, in 1906–1907, incandescent light bulbs replaced the hotel's gas lighting when it was connected with the city's electrical grid. In 1911, a consortium of wealthy industrialists acquired the building from Bank Handlowy in a share buyout, with an aim to modernise it and create a more grand lodging for a growing city.

At the apex (1912–1945)

On 21 June 1908, a cinema hall was opened on the premises. Following another renovation in 1912–1913 by Majewski and Dawid Lande, the hotel became a modern place of accommodation. Its exterior was reshaped into Early Modernism and the number of rooms increased to 150. The new amenities were very advanced for the time and included private bathrooms with regulated hot and cold water, central heating, elevators, a telephone service, a personal room call service, water carbonators, ice-machines as well as a private confectionery store, bakery, restaurant, a Viennese-styled café and a beauty salon on the ground floor. Each storey was attended by private waiters, who stationed in special rooms where food could be reheated at any moment. A private garden was created for hosting open-air concerts. Juliusz Heinzel's son, Baron Ludwik Heinzel, became the company's largest shareholder during this period and the hotel hosted many Polish celebrities of the day.

Grand Hotel following its 1912–1913 remodelling, with a mansard roof.

Throughout the Second World War, the hotel accommodated Nazi dignitaries and senior military officers. The occupants also changed the hotel's name to Fremdehof General Litzmann. In January 1942, the Polish resistance targeted the Nazis and planted an incendiary device in the attic which caused a fire to the roof, though the Germans prevented the fire from spreading downward. After damage was cleared, an additional storey was constructed in place of the previous mansard roof.

After the war (1945–2007)

The Grand Hotel quickly restored its pre-war operations after 1945; as Poland's capital Warsaw lay in ruins, many of the administrative offices were temporarily transferred to Łódź and the hotel became a political venue of the Polish People's Republic. Several ministers or politicians of socialist parties, including the later communist Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), resided there. The cinema hall was refurbished into a theatre stage that same year. In 1950, the hotel began to be managed by the Polish travel agency Orbis, which decided to maximise the value of the premises by removing unnecessary fittings or decorations, and increasing the number of rooms available to guests. Much of the external reliefs and ornaments were destroyed. In the 1970s, the hotel organised cabarets and dance performances, however, its 'ritzy' reputation began to decline and its halls were no stranger to shadow economy, thieves and prostitutes. The hotel fell into disrepair and became characterised by its soot-covered façade for many decades.

Contemporary (2008–2023)

In 2008, the building was purchased for 73 million PLN by Holding Liwa sp. z o.o., which specialised in hospitality and planned to reinstate the hotel's past reputation. The general remodelling began in 2019. In 2022, the regional Historic Preservation Officer reported to the prosecutor's office that the renovation as well as an unplanned extension were beyond intrusive and irreversibly damaged the hotel's historic integrity. In particular, the removal of the iconic muntins or glazing bars on windows was widely criticised. Despite the protest, the construction works continued until 2023 and the hotel reopened for guests in early January 2024. On 5 July 2024, the hotel was inscribed into the register of the Central List of Hotel Facilities (CWOH) and designated a luxury hotel – the only 5-star establishment in the Łódź Voivodeship.

Architecture

When first built, the Grand Hotel was in the Neoclassical form, with some elements derived from the Italian or French Renaissance and the Baroque periods. It was particularly known for its protruding façade sculptures, richly-decorated cornices, pilasters, and a roof comprising pediments, inspired by the châteaus of France. The interior was finished with marble and refined wood for parquets and walls. It did not, however, possess the standards of a noteworthy and upscale hotel establishment, especially due to its lack of amenities and novelties that were being introduced at the time.

In the aftermath of the first remodelling, the hotel acquired certain aspects of Modernism. Among the new elements were curved bay windows, glaze bars and a large tiled mansard roof with dormers, topped by a small turret. The exterior was adorned by elongated corbels below the cornice, reliefs, cast-iron balconettes (Juliet balconies), and its iconic awning (overhang) above the newly-installed revolving doors. The first storey was fitted with large exhibitional porte-fenêtre (French) windows that reached the floor. As the hotel towered over the adjacent Bank Handlowy, its empty gable (side) wall was a notable, yet unaesthetic feature.

The current building maintains an Eclectic form of architecture, but is considered more contemporary than historic. Many of the changes and alterations were criticised by heritage experts or by the general public. Most notably, the clear glazed windows, omittance of reliefs or decorative elements, and a flat roof raised concerns. According to Gazeta Wyborcza, the voivodeship's Preservation Office stated that "the developer engaged in a gross violation of [heritage] regulations which led to the loss of historical value".

Facilities

In popular culture

The hotel featured prominently in Polish literature and cinema throughout history, which contributed to its fame within Poland. Writer Władysław Reymont, recipient of the 1924 Nobel Prize in Literature, described its high renown in his novel The Promised Land (Ziemia obiecana). Moreover, the sidewalk at the hotel's entrance is paved with the so-called Lodz Walk of Fame (Aleja Gwiazd) comprising brass stars with the names of prominent Polish-born actors, cinematographers, film directors and producers. Among the most recognisable names are the Warner Brothers, Roman Polański, Pola Negri, Ida Kamińska, Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Jan A. P. Kaczmarek, Agnieszka Holland, Jerzy Hoffman, Jerzy Kawalerowicz, and Krzysztof Zanussi. The hotel also appeared in several films, notably:

• Hotel Pacific (1975), by Janusz Majewski;
• Vabank (1981), by Jan Machulski;
• Kroll (1991), by Władysław Pasikowski;
• Inland Empire (2006), by David Lynch;
• Cold War (2018), by Paweł Pawlikowski.

See also

• History of Łódź
• List of hotels in Poland

Bibliography

Sources

• Badziak, Kazimierz (1988). Grand Hotel w Łodzi 1888-1988 (in Polish). Łódź: Wydawnictwo Łódzkie. ISBN 83-218-0791-7.
• Błądek, Zenon (2003). Dzieje krajowego hotelarstwa od zajazdu do współczesności: fakty, obiekty, ludzie (in Polish). Poznań, Warszawa: Palladium. ISBN 83-89284-02-2.
• Borowski, Waldemar (n.d.). "Piotrkowska 72". piotrkowska-nr.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 23 November 2024.
• Bujalski, Szymon (2019). "Grand Hotel sprzedaje wyposażenie. Wielka wyprzedaż przed wielkimi zmianami". lodz.wyborcza.pl (in Polish). Gazeta Wyborcza. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
• Derdzikowski, Bartłomiej (2022). "Konserwator zabytków: Przez remont Grand Hotel w Łodzi utracił zabytkową wartość". lodz.wyborcza.pl (in Polish). Gazeta Wyborcza. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
• Derdzikowski, Bartłomiej (2023). "Nowy Grand Hotel - pierwsze pięć gwiazdek w Łodzi. Cena apartamentu Was zaskoczy". lodz.wyborcza.pl (in Polish). Gazeta Wyborcza. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
• Grzegorczyk, Arkadiusz (2009). "Ilustrowana Encyklopedia Historii Łodzi" (PDF). Piotrkowska 104 (in Polish) (6). Urząd Miasta Łodzi: 34. ISSN 1731-092X. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
• Kobojek, Grażyna (2005). Kalendarium XX wieku (in Polish). Łódź: Muzeum Historii Miasta Łodzi. ISBN 83-7415-060-2.
• Matusiak, Tomasz (2022). "Samowola podczas remontu Grand Hotelu? Wykonawca: Wszystko zgodnie z przepisami". lodz.wyborcza.pl (in Polish). Gazeta Wyborcza. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
• Pierzchała, Wiesław (2022). "Remont Grand Hotelu w Łodzi budzi zastrzeżenia. Konserwatorzy zaalarmowali prokuraturę". dzienniklodzki.pl (in Polish). Dziennik Łódzki. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
• Rynkowska, Anna (1970). Ulica Piotrkowska (in Polish). Vol. 1. Łódź: Wydawnictwo Łódzkie. ISBN 978-83-939822-4-0.
• Szlachetka, Małgorzata (2024). "Hotel Grand w Łodzi ma pięć gwiazdek. Jako jedyny w województwie". lodz.wyborcza.pl (in Polish). Gazeta Wyborcza. Retrieved 23 November 2024.