The former sanatorium in Trzebiechów
The year 1905 marked the completion of a physiotherapeutic - dietetic sanatorium in Trzebiechów, funded by Duke Heinrich VII Reuss-Kostritz and his wife Duchess Marie Alexandrine. Dr Oskar Muller, the Duchess's physician, was in charge of the building inspection. The sanatorium buidings were designed in the North - German Neo - Renaissance
style by Max Schundler, an architect from Zwickau. In 1902 Duchess Marie Alexandrine accepted the design and in May of the same year construction work started on the first building, the so - called doctor's house. This was carried out by Carl Lorenz, a well - known bulding contractor from Zielona Góra. In the same year the Duchess invited Henry van de Velde to co-operate. Not only did she consult the architectual design with him but also entrusted him with the design and furnishing of the interiors, including furniture, wall and ceiling ornamentations, door, window and staircase carpentry as well as the panelling.
Being a luxuriously furnished institution, the sanatorium was exclusive in character. It offered a full range of medical examinations and treatments tailored to the patients' individual needs.
Kidney, stomach, intestines, liver, and lungs diseases were treated here, as well as anaemia and rheumatism. The most modern appliances and apparatuses were used for therapy. The doctor in charge was O. Muller, who was accommodated in a flat upstairs in the so - called doctor's house.
The sanatorium's offer was advertised in a brochure, whose graphic design was prepared in 1904 by Henry van de Velde. The brochure included a few photographs of the interiors: the billiard room, the reading room with the winter garden and the dining room. The importance of the interior design by van de Velde was accentuated. It was described as 'emanating the atmosphere of intimacy and peacefulness, which is enormously important for the well - being of the patients.' Apart from medical treatments, the boarders were assured excellent conditions for resting, playing in the fresh air, going for a walk, lying on deckchairs both in the park and on the verandas.
The layout of the complex is well - presented by an unsigned plan made in 1901, in which the central position is occupied by the sanatorium, communicated through a connecting building with the administrative - housing building (the so - called doctor's house ). The latter is situated in the north - east corner of the courtyard, which in turn was entered from the north.
Other housing and utility buildings were erected in the north and west parts of the courtyard. In the south part a little park was laid out. The park was designed by Paul Lorenz, a gardener from Zwickau, and is based on a free landscape composition with the elements of landscape architecture, a rosarium with walking alleys surrounded with ramblers, flower beds, clearings, and places designated for deckchairs. In the park, the so-called Swedish House was built, designed for individual relaxation. In the north - west part of the complex tennis courts and a volleyball court were located.
The sanatorium building boasted comfortable, luxuriously - furnished single and two - bedded rooms. Call bells were installed to call in the medical personnel, and the beds were fitted with special mattresses protected by patent (Reinhold - Westphal system). There were ventilation openings in the upper sashes of the windows and the whole windows were complete with shutters. In order to deaden the noise, all rooms were fitted with double doors. These were fitted centrally in the built - in recess wardrobes. Some rooms had access to balconies. Verandas and balconies faced east and south. Access to the upper floor was through the main staircase or by lift.
For the comfort of the boarders the so - called 'social rooms' were prepared. On the ground floor, there was a reading room with a winter garden, flanked by rooms for ladies and gentlemen. The exits from the rooms led to a terrace, from which broad comfortable stairs took one to the park. In the side wing there were also: a sideboard room, a billiard room, a smoking room as well as a fitness room and baths. The boarders enjoyed their meals in a spacious dining room crowned with a barrel vault. All rooms were fitted with a ventilation system and electric lighting. Also, a telephone line was installed and the building was heated by means of a low - pressure steam system.
A one - storeyed connecting building linked the sanatorium building with the administrative - housing building. The boarders used it when going to medical examinations and procedures.
On the ground floor of the so-called doctor's house there were: a waiting room, two doctors' offices, a nurses' room, a laboratory, an X - ray unit, procedure rooms, a massage parlour and
a library. On the first floor there was a comfortable flat for the doctor in charge of the sanatorium. The flat was accessible from the main staircase and a spacious entrance hall with an open staircase leading to the attic. On the first floor there was also a dining room, two bedrooms and two parlours. The attic accommodated a kitchen and a few guest rooms.
The sanatorium could accept 60 patients at the same time. However, in 1905 it was visited by only 53 people. Because of high maintenance costs and a limited number of visitors, due partly to Trzebiechów's inconvenient geographical location (the 11 - kilometer - long journey from Sulechów took about 2 hours by chaise), the sanatorium was closed down in the summer of 1906. All efforts to put it back into operation were only partially successful. In 1907 the private sanatorium was transformed into the Sanatorium Trebschen GmbH partnership, with dr Hans Brennecke in charge. For formal reasons, however, in January 1908 the partnership was dissolved.
In the years 1909 - 1911 it functioned as a rest home for the Association of German Bank Workers, with dr Ernst Diesing in charge. Then in the years 1912 - 1919 it was operating as the German Rest Home. In 1920 the buildings were taken over by the Sulechów - ¦wiebodzin County authorities and soon converted into a public sanatorium for tuberculosis patients, financed by the Herman Vollmar Foundation (Vollmarstiftung). Its founder, Herman Vollmar, donated all his possessions to the cause of fighting the disease, which claimed the lives of his wife and his children. Unfortunately, his contribution was not sufficient enough to cover the construction costs of a new sanatorium complex. The idea of adapting the old Reusses' sanatorium for the purposes turned out to best solution for both the Foundation's board and the owners of Trzebiechów, who were already burdened with heavy debts. In consequence, in 1926 Duke Henryk XXXII von Reuss sold the complex, which enabled him to pay off all overdue tax. The Tuberculosis Sanatorium, directed by dr Curt Schelenz, functioned till January 1945.
After 1945 the estate was taken over by the State Treasury. Till 1965 it still served its primary function as a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients. Then it was turned into a ward for neurotics and convalescents of the Province Hospital in Zielona Góra. Since 1974 it has housed a nursing home.
Ever since the complex came into existence until the year 1920, no significant renovation work had been done in it. It was only when the complex was being adapted for a tuberculosis sanatorium that renovation work was undertaken. It began in March of 1920 and was completed in May of the same year. As a result, the number of rooms increased, mainly at the expense of the so - called social rooms, which were partitioned into smaller rooms. The single and two - bedded rooms were converted into two - and four - bedded rooms respectively. As a result, the sanatorium building could accept 116 patients at the same time. Open all the year round, in 1920 the sanatorium accepted 324 patients. In the following years the number increased. In 1921 there were 566, and in 1926 - 632 boarders. With the opening in 1920 of a railway line and the construction of a railway station in Trzebiechów, the sanatorium complex became accessible more easily. In consequence of World War I the number of tuberculosis patients increased significantly, which made the sanatorium very popular, especially as it was an attractive alternative to the much more expensive resorts in Switzerland.
The complex of the former sanatorium in Trzebiechów has been preserved within its historical limits, including a complex of buildings laid out in greenery. The only exception is the south-eastern corner, which was sold by the owners and excluded from the complex before 1920.
The park covers an area of 1,09 ha. The inventory of tree stand confirmed the presence of 50 tree and bush species. Most trees represent deciduous species, including linden, oak, elm, hornbeam, horse chestnut, beech and poplar. Coniferous species are in minority. These are: fir, spruce, pine, Douglas - fir, yew and thuja. The acclimatized species include large - leaved linden, purple sycamore, sweet chestnut and pin oak. The original network of freely laid out alleys has partially been obliterated. One can only make out grassy clearings in the central part of the park and directly in front of the garden facade of the sanatorium building. The original composition of the park has partially been obliterated, too. The original road network remains unreadable. The sanitary state of the tree stand has been assessed as average. Post - war cultivation has been limited to the sanitary felling and pruning of dead trees, the tidying up of the premises and the mowing of the lawns. No efforts have been taken to recultivate the park. The so - called Swedish House, an element of landscape architecture, has not survived to this day; however, its foundations are still readable in the surroundings. Unfortunately, deckchair areas (south of the sanatorium building), sports courts and pitches, as well as the bowling alley have not been preserved.
The former sanatorium buildings have been preserved in their original architectural form. Only minor changes have been made, resulting from the necessity of adapting them to the requirements and needs of the users. The former bowling alley has been converted into a morgue.
The two-storeyed sanatorium building , its facades faced with red brick, is covered with a high, pitched roof made of ceramic tile. The roof's slopes are adorned with window bays of varied shapes as well as decoratively designed chimneys and ventilation openings. The building was laid out on a plan of two perpendicular rectangles, complete with numerous annexes and terraces. The facades were designed assymetrically. The main facade faces east, and the garden facade looks south. The body of the building was scenically segmented with numerous lean - tos covered with multi - pitch roofs and pediments with volutes. A little one - storeyed annexe with the main entrance was diagonally added to the facade. It was covered with a multi - pitch roof and crowned with the ridge. Also, three - storeyed wooden loggias were added to the southern part of the building. These were opened outside with double basket arcades.
The facade is accentuated with an assymetrical break crowned with voluted pediments. In the pediment a projecting clock was placed. Freely designed window openings have various shapes and sizes. Artistically, the diversified segmentation of windows, characterized by larger panes and a fine network of criss-cross patterns, constitutes an important accent to the overall composition of the facade.
The garden facade was enriched with a protruding metal construction of the glazed winter garden and a large terrace with mirrored stairs leading to the park.
Since 1945 only minor alterations have been made to the interiors of the house - new bathrooms and a vestibule were added in front of the back entrance to the kitchen. In 1990 a wholly new room - a laundry - was built in the west wing of the sanatorium building. The newly introduced elements harmoniously blend with the original structure. Architecturally, the laundry is simple in form and is complete with furnishings that are also characteristic of other buildings, like the clinker brick facing of the facades. The addition of new bathrooms in 2003 was done in a similar fashion - the newly extended element was built into a recess situated by the break with due consideration for the existing historical forms. One must also praise the meticulousness with which the old windows were transferred and placed in the new openings, avoiding damage to the original carpentry and without a blemish to the building itself.
The renovation work done since 1945 has not been limited only to the replacement of the sewerage system, the modernization of bathrooms, the painting of the interiors or the renovation of door and window carpentry. A hundred years since the building was erected, the time has come to carry out remedial work on the damp walls and the leaking roofs. Thanks to the efforts made by the director of the Nursing Home and the Zielona Góra County Governor some financial means have been raised this year, which will hopefully result in a significant improvement in the technical condition of the building.
Architecturally, the administrative-housing building has also preserved its scenic historical form, which manifests itself in brick facades and a high, tiled roof.
The main entrance from the courtyard, in the west facade, was situated in a break crowned with a pediment. It was incorporated into a decorative portal made of artificial stone. The window openings, placed axially, are rectangular in shape. Some of them were ornamented with stone framing.
In the north corner of the east facade there is a break crowned with a pediment and a loggia upstairs, which is opened with a basket arch. The other facades are characterized by window openings and framings analogous to the main facade.
In the administrative-housing buiding the following rooms have changed their original functions: the procedure rooms have been converted into the administrative offices of the Nursing Home, in the former library a remembrance room dedicated to Henry van de Velde was organized. What was formerly a doctor's flat upstairs, was partitioned into flats for the employees.
The one-storeyed connecting building exemplifies typical beam construction with brick filling. It was covered with multi - pitch segmental roofs with open binding, decorated with modest carving ornamentation. Large window openings were closed with segmental arches with partially preserved original glazing.
The use of high quality building materials as well as the restraint that the post - war users of the building exercised in making any essential alterations to it, decided that even though it is a hundred years since the complex was constructed, it is still remarkable for its authenticity. That is why it deserves special protection.
The interior design and some of the furnishings in the two main buildings of the former sanatorium (with the exception of the movable furnishings) have been preserved in relatively good condition. Under secondary paint coatings, the remains of the original colouring patterns of the door and window carpentry, the walls and the ceilings, have been preserved. This enables one to restore them to their original colouring.
Nearly all of the 48 doors, made by the firm Sheidemantel of Weimar and based on the design by Henry van de Velde, were preserved. The door woodwork and its simple framing is ornamented with characteristic linear decorations. The decorations were enriched with metal elements (sheet steel painted light grey and graphite).
Additionally, some elements of furnishing and interior design ascribed to the Belgian artist were preserved in the sanatorium building including the unique balustrade in the main staircase with the oval - shaped openwork and two benches in the halls downstairs and upstairs. The stucco work on the ceilings in the hall, the reading room and the main staircase, as well as the design of the winter garden lighting and the patterned ornamental painting decorations, discovered and subject to renovation work in 2005, are also attributed to Henry van de Velde.
The administrative - housing building also boasts also some elements of interior design and furnishing designed by Henry van de Velde. These include the balustrades in the staircase, the doors, the panelling and the ornamental decorations on a staircase wall.
The public confirmation at the conference in Trzebiechów in 2003 that as eminent an artist as Henry van de Velde participated in the designing of the interiors of the former sanatorium was decisive in undertaking research efforts whose main objective was to discover traces of the original design.
In 2004, individual probing exposures on the walls, the ceilings and the carpentry of the furnishings (balustrades along the stairs, door and window carpentry) were made in the representative rooms of both the sanatorium and the administrative-housing buildings. They exposed numerous secondary layers and, more importantly, well-preserved layers of the original colouring, dominated by shades of blue, the colours of green, red, grey, violet, rose and brown. The research resulted in the undertaking of restoration work in several rooms (in 2005 conservation and restoration work started in the so-called room for ladies and gentlemen and the billiard room). A year later window carpentry in both buildings and in the connecting building was renovated, thus restoring it to its original colouring.
For a great individualist like Henry van de Velde, the designing of the sanatorium's interiors was not an easy task as his artistic vision had to conform to architecture that was based on historical pattern. And yet he accomplished the task with flying colours. It is already a hundred years since the complex was constructed and the researchers are still discovering new traces of his artistic activity. That is how a unique set of seven ornamental motifs adorning the interiors - the richest of its kind - saw the light of day.
