Lviv, Passion, and Architecture

The Story of Architects Wiktorja and Andrzej Frydecki

Lviv was their "lost paradise," since it was here that the Frydeckis entered adulthood, became architects, started a family, achieved their first professional successes and, in the end, left a part of themselves in the city. Wiktorja Kańska-Frydecka and Andrzej Frydecki crossed their paths at Lviv Polytechnic in 1922. For the sake of his career as an architect, he abandoned his family's traditional merchant trade and left his home in Sosnowiec; she, having graduated from the Nazarene Sisters' Gymnasium, became one of the first female graduates of technical studies. Although the war drove the couple out of their beloved city, they still had sentiments and fond memories about the "happiest and most joyful" (Frydecki, 1982, 6) chapter of their lives.

Her

Wiktoria Kańska in the 1920s.

She was born in Szczerzec to Stanisława, née Kuhl, and Jan Kański in 1901. Her father worked at the local county court and later moved with his family to Lviv, where he got a job at an insurance company. Wiktorja completed four years of elementary school and three years of specialized schooling, after which she began her studies at a private real gymnasium for girls coming from "intelligent families of citizens" (Pamiętnik, 1919, 368), run by the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. The school was located at ul. Unii Lubelskiej 9 (now vul. Hutsulska), at the foot of the Vysokyi Zamok (High Castle) Hill, just a few hundred meters from the Kański's home at ul. Kurkowa 33 (now vul. Lysenka). The institution offered an expanded list of humanities courses and, more importantly, prepared students for the matriculation exam, which opened the way to university studies. In 1922, Kańska received her matriculation certificate with good grades; however, she did not break her ties with the school. Eight years later, at the request of the Lviv Alumnae Club, she "very beautifully and artfully" designed a memorial plaque to commemorate the students who died during the First World War (Pismo Lwowskiego Koła, 1930).

Him

Andrzej Frydecki in the 1920s.

He was born into a bourgeois family in Sosnowiec (now Silesian Voivodeship, Poland) in November 1903. His father, Stanisław Justyn Frydecki, was a pharmacy owner, one of the founders of the Industrial and Commercial Society Hurtownia of the Dąbrowa Coal Basin in Będzin, and a member of the board of the Sosnowiec Savings and Loan Association (reorganized into Bank Zagłębie in the early 1920s). Frydecki Senior also invested in the construction industry, involving his sons: Andrzej, Józef, and Antoni. During his frequent visits to construction sites, Andrzej realized, as he later recalled, the "importance of forming a new material environment as the basis of life and the condition for its development" (Frydecki, 1972, 1). The influence of Stanisław Justyn Frydecki, who in the eyes of his son remained a man of the positivist era, "extremely courageous and intelligent" (Frydecki, 1972, 1), was formative for the future architect. Although the young Frydecki realized rather early that "sometimes [a person] learns more outside of formal education than during academic hours" (Frydecki, 1982, 1), he decided to pursue higher education. In 1922, after graduating from the Stanisław Staszic State Gymnasium in Sosnowiec and receiving his matriculation certificate, he applied to the Faculty of Architecture at the Lviv Polytechnic. He chose the profession due to his aptitude for the exact sciences, an artistic talent which he had discovered, and due to pragmatic reasons — it was in Lviv that the Porębowicz family lived with whom Frydecki's mother was friends.

Faculty of Architecture at the Lviv Polytechnic

Professor Jan Sas Zubrzycki together with architecture students from the Lviv Polytechnic. Andrzej Frydecki is sitting and holding an album in his hands; Wiktoria Kańska wearing a black hat stands behind the professor. Photo was made during a study trip to Toruń in 1925.

In the same year, after taking an academic oath that required them to "pursue knowledge persistently," Wiktorja Kańska and Andrzej Frydecki officially became students of the Faculty of Architecture at the Lviv Polytechnic. While no one was surprised by the choice of a young male high school graduate to enter technical studies, Wiktorja Kańska's decision was bold for her time. Lviv Polytechnic had opened its doors to women only three years earlier, the first female graduate received her degree in architecture in 1920, and by the beginning of the Second World War the total number of female students did not exceed two dozen. Consequently, Kańska entered a world that had hitherto been reserved for men and whose realities, even in the following decades, were still far from the ideals of gender equality.

On the left: Wiktorja Kańska during her studies at the Lviv Polytechnic, 1920s. On the right: design of a villa made by Wiktorja Kańska under the supervision of Professor Władysław Klimczak (Architecture course), façade facing the garden side and the ground floor layout, academic year 1925/26.

In theory, architectural studies lasted four years and were academic in nature. In practice, however, it took twice as long to complete them as students had often no other choice than to combine their studies with jobs in order to support themselves. The program was based on courses in the natural sciences, engineering, and humanities; they were supplemented by art and design subjects. Students were encouraged to take optional classes in Polish history and literature, foreign languages, and other general education subjects. The topics of the design courses, often the most important for students, covered a wide range of issues. Young people began their studies with simple topics aimed to teach them the "architectural ABC" ("Z życia sal", Życie Technickie, 1926, Nr. 2-3, 53), such as the design of residential buildings and other small structures in the urban and rural landscape, their interiors, and the immediate surrounding space. In the following semesters, the scale of complexity increased, and concepts for townhouses, hotels, schools, hospitals, market pavilions, industrial structures and warehouses appeared on the drawing boards. The study of spatial forms climaxed in a course on monumental buildings, such as palaces, churches, museums, and theaters, when "the design of a building as a work of art" was studied (Program 1922/1923). The classes provided also an opportunity to communicate with professors, prominent scholars and leading Lviv architects, including Witold Minkiewicz, Kazimierz Bartel, Władysław Derdacki, Jan Sas-Zubrzycki, and Ignacy Drexler. Many years later, in his vivid memoirs, Frydecki emphasised the influence of Professors Minkiewicz and Derdacki on the development of the school and his own personality. He admitted that he had treated the former as a father and appreciated the latter for his kindness, peculiar sense of humor and directness.

Lviv Polytechnic students during internship at the construction of the so-called Second House of Technicians. Andrzej Frydecki stands in the center, holding a hat in his hands. Lviv, 1920s

Theoretical courses were supplemented by internships. In 1923, "colleague Wiktorja Kańska enrolled in the Technical Work Brigades involved in the construction of Lviv Polytechnic’s Second House of Technicians" (Książka legitymacyjna N. 795). She spent the following months there, acquiring construction experience. During the first half of 1925, Kańska gained practical knowledge at the Inżynierowie Jurasz i Zachariewicz company, founded by well-known Lviv architects. According to her mentors, the girl was noted for the "extraordinary diligence and thoroughness in fulfilling her tasks." Andrzej Frydecki also did an internship at the construction site of the  Second House of Technicians . Then he worked in turn for the architects Tadeusz Wróbel, who supervised the finishing works of a residential building at ul. Kopcowa 16 (now vul. Kniazha), and Adolf Kamienobrodzki under whose guidance he developed projects for hospital buildings. At the same time, he was involved in the construction of the Silesian Sejm building in Katowice, where, together with Kańska, he prepared several competitive projects. Frydecki acknowledged that during his studies, participation in architectural and urban planning competitions became his passion, which he successfully realised (alone or in collaboration with his wife) over the next four decades. The professional success of the young engineers was to some extent recognised in professional circles: in 1928, Wiktorja was hired at the City administration office, while Andrzej became an assistant to Professor Władysław Derdacki at the Department of Utilitarian Construction at the Lviv Polytechnic.

Students of the Faculty of Architecture together with Jan Sas-Zubrzycki (in the middle), 1925.

No less exciting was participation in extracurricular activities, which were often accompanied by cheerful friendly gatherings. A special opportunity for informal communication was the meetings of the Union of Students of Architecture (pol. Związek Słuchaczów Architektury, ZSA), when "Professor Kazimierz Bartel's recent frequent mood changes and Professor Jan Sas Zubrzycki's and Professor Władysław Derdacki's recent statements were discussed, Lviv songs and, later, radio and movie hits were sung, and trips were planned" (Frydecki, 1978). During the frequent trips aimed at familiarizing with local architecture and building crafts, festive meals and evenings were organised as well. The celebration of the Professor Zubzycki's and Professor Władysław Klimczak's birthdays became a tradition, which the Union members celebrated in Levoča (now Slovakia) in 1927, savouring Volyn rye vodka, Toruń beer, and Hungarian wine (Życie Technickie, 1926, Nr. 7: 110). Student evenings were intertwined with official events attended by representatives of the local elite. For example, the program of the academic year 1926/27 inauguration consisted of performances by the Technical Choir and lectures, followed by a ball held at the premises of the Antituberculosis Society at ul. Linde 5 (now vul. Ferentsa Lista). According to a correspondent of the Życie Technickie, the party ended "due to general exhaustion felt by both the dancers and those who did not dance around 6 a.m." (Życie Technickie, 1926, Nr. 4: 78). It is also worth mentioning a banquet organised at the premises of the Riflemen Society at ul. Kurkowa 23a (now vul. Lysenka), known as the "Riflemen's House", in February 1928; the main attraction of the evening was "artistic productions" by Jadwiga Podhorodecka and Radzisław Peter, an actor and singer, while female students of architecture attracted the audience's attention with their extraordinary costumes. Wiktorja Kańska stood out for her "Parisian hydrangea-colored dress with beautiful flowers on crepe georgette" (Życie Technickie, 1928, Nr. 2: 36).

Designs for a theater and a swimming pool drawn up by Andrzej Frydecki under the guidance of Professor Witold Minkiewicz in 1926/27 and 1928/29 academic years as part of the "Architecture" course.

The period of Kańska's and Frydecki's studies coincided with the time of the "revolution" in architecture. The avant-garde slogans of the modernists, which proclaimed the superiority of function and practicality over tradition and décor, reached the young adherents; at the same time, the official curriculum's "archaic" nature, exposed in in-depth studies of historical buildings, was sometimes a source of conflict with professors. Andrzej Frydecki belonged to a group supporting novel ideas, and his student works, appreciated for their modern approach, were published on the initial pages of the Zeszyt Architektoniczny, which represented the works by Lviv Polytechnic Faculty of Architecture's graduates in 1926-1932. The couple completed their formal higher education in 1930, receiving diplomas with "very good" grades and honors, which, as Frydecki recalled, "was an extraordinary success at that time."

Architecture: Places, Opportunities, Passions

The 1930s were not easy for the young graduates of the Lviv architectural school. The labor market was still suffering from the effects of the Great Depression: unemployment as the demand for design services had dropped and many construction works had been halted. Architects' financial situation could be improved by commissions from the private sector, and these usually meant developing designs for small buildings: single-family, private houses, or cottages. Before the outbreak of the war, Frydecki developed several projects, some of which were accomplished in Lviv.

Most of these projects were commissioned by people, who were not particularly well-off. They were most often, as the architect wrote later, "pensioners and newlyweds," which meant that he had to reduce the cost of construction, simplify the forms of houses, and use widely available, cheap building materials. Despite these limits, the architect tried to apply at least some of the modernist avant-garde postulates in his projects. In the layout, he was guided by functionalism and consistently separated "day-time" zones (living rooms, kitchens, studies) and "night-time" zones (bedrooms). In larger houses, he tried to introduce a certain freedom of space organization by connecting rooms having similar functions with sliding walls. The architect paid attention to proper lighting and ventilation, sometimes giving preference to light over the usability of the building. A practical and economical approach to the space organization was also featured by the arrangement of residential buildings' silhouettes and façades. Frydecki "assembled" building forms from rectangular parallelepipeds, whose bases were determined by the size of the structure's individual parts. Inspired by the works of Western modernists, the architect juxtaposed "solid" and "hollow" planes on the façades, used repeating modules of window and door openings, angular and ribbon glazing, and bright palettes. One of the buildings constructed according to these principles on a corner plot at ul. Śląska 27 (now vul. Khersonska) became the Frydeckis' private home. The architects lived there for five years (1934-1938); it was in this period that they got married (1935), gave birth to their daughter, Marta (1937), and added a pack of short-haired dachshunds to their family.

1), 2) Frydecki's private house on ul. Śląska, 27 in the Żelazna Woda residential neighborhood in Lviv. Designed by Andzej Frydecki in 1933 and completed in 1933-1934. 3) Interior fragment 4) Andrzej Frydecki with the daughter Marta in July 1938. 5) Frydecki's dachshund dog against the background of the houses located in Żelazna Woda (photos from the family collection as well as the Museum of Architecture in Wroclaw).

In the mid-1930s, Frydecki received a number of commissions for house designs from Lviv Polytechnic professors. Among the architect's clients were Władysław Płoński (associate professor of forestry at the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry), Włodzimierz Krukowski (professor of electrical measurements at the Faculty of Mechanics), Roman Witkiewicz (professor of mechanical measurements at the same faculty), and the already mentioned professor of descriptive geometry Kazimierz Bartel. A special place in the architect's memory was occupied by his collaboration with Professor Ludwik Eberman, a famous designer of internal combustion engines. It was at his request that Frydecki developed a concept for the house at ul. Szymonowiczów, 21 (now vul. Andriya Melnyka), in which, as he recalled, "his own vision of originality" was embodied (Frydecki, 1982, 53). On each of the building's three floors, the architect designed five-room apartments with non-standard furnishings. In the eastern corner of the building he placed a terrace with access to the garden, while on the ground floor there were a caretaker's apartment, two garages (Eberman owned an American limousine Auburn), a boiler room, and pantries. In accordance with the modernist style, he arranged the building's volume from three rectangular parallelepipeds of different heights and contrasted them with the horizontal arrangement of windows. Сurved glazing in the corner windows that provided light to the lobby became a real sensation.

Ludwik Ebermann's house at ul. Szymonowiczów, 21 in Lviv designed by Andrzej Frydecki in 1935-1936 and completed in 1936-1937. 1-2) A view from the street and the fireplace. 3-4) Principal elevation and ground floor plan.

Given the lack of stability in the construction market, the Frydecki family devoted their free time to participating in architectural competitions organised by the Association of Polish Architects (pol. Stowarzyszenie Architektów Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, SARP). The first major success came in 1935, when Andrzej Frydecki, together with his colleague Stefan Porębowicz, won a competition to design the House of the Polish Soldier in Lviv. The architects proposed the construction of a modernist-style building consisting of two perpendicular wings that would house a hotel, entertainment facilities (a restaurant, an officer's casino, a celebration room, and a gambling hall), offices, a shooting range, and an auditorium for more than 500 people. The building's geometry was based on the "form follows function" principle, and a modern reinforced concrete structure was used to increase the floor surface. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, the raw part of the future House of the Polish Soldier at pl. Gustawa Orlicza-Dreszera, 2 (now pl. Yevhena Petrushevycha) was completed (the building's frame and roof); the rest was accomplished only in 1961, according to a project by Lyudmyla Nivina, "in a slightly modified" architectural design, as Frydecki wrote.

House of the Polish Soldier on pl. Gustawa Orlicza-Dreszera, 2 (pl. Petrushevycha). 1) Main facade during construction, 2) Andrzej Frydecki and Stefan Porębowicz design from 1935-1936 (partially built in 1936-1939). 3) Construction process, 1930s.

However, according to the architect, the best competition project designed by the Frydecki couple, in collaboration with Janina Bielska, was the concept of the Missionary Fathers' church in Lviv, developed in 1937. The competition assignment stated that a church designed for three thousand parishioners, with a choir gallery, a chapel, a sacristy, and a treasury was expected. It also envisaged the arrangement of a lower church, where "memorial services or special celebrations" were to be held; a burial crypt was to be arranged there as well. It was assumed that the church would "have the features of a Roman Catholic church", and the interior would be "conducive to prayer" (Program i warunki konkursu, 1937). The project also had to include a proposal for arranging the space around the church, which would be used for processions. The Congregation House and parish buildings were to be linked with the church.

In accordance with the outlined requirements, the team of architects designed a complex of three buildings connected at different levels. The most important element of the complex, the church, was located in the northern part of the site. In the depth of the site, parallel to ul. Dwernickiego (now vul. Ilariona Sventsitskoho), the Congregational House was placed, and on the opposite side, on ul. Snopkowska (now vul. Vasylia Stusa), the parish house was located. The concept of the cascading arrangement of the complex individual elements was especially emphasised in the additive way of forming its shape; the horizontal composition was complemented by a vertical dominant, a slender rectangular tower located in a place that, as noted in the project description, was chosen due to "the best visibility from the streets leading out of the city." Frydeckis' and Bielska's work was awarded the highest prize in the competition receiving the best marks in most of the categories evaluated, but it did not meet the expectations of the clergy and parishioners. The members of the church building committee "regretted that the designs were overloaded with modernism," the proposed shape of the church being assessed by them as lacking "the spirit and features of a Roman Catholic church." The project was not accomplished, and in 1938 the construction of the church began according to the architect Tadeusz Teodorowicz-Todorowski's concept. The construction process was interrupted by the war; in the early 1970s the unfinished building was turned into a sports center.

Competition project for the Missionary Fathers Church in Lviv. It was developed by Andrzej Frydecki, Wiktoria Kańska-Frydecka and Janina Bielska in 1937.

According to Frydecki, the projects of Lviv public buildings "were characterised by the desire to find a new architectural expression based on extreme constructivism and utilitarianism," the architects' work thus being part of the broad modernist trend of the interwar period. In the couple's projects, one can find spatial and stylistic solutions typical of their time: geometricity, which allowed them to create holistic and logical structures, horizontal solid forms, ribbon windows, modular grids, minimization of expressive means, and the search for modern technical solutions. Undoubtedly, a distinctive feature of these concepts was attention to proper integration into the existing urban structure and respect for the architecture of Lviv.


Wiktoria and Andrzej in the 1930s.

The late 1930s brought changes in the professional life of the architectural couple. In 1938, Wiktorja left her job in the technical department of the City Administration and got a job as a "contract intellectual worker" in the construction department of the Post and Telegraph Directorate in Lviv. In total, she supervised construction works for twelve years, including cities and towns such as Lviv, Stanislav and Drohobych. These included the construction of public edifices, post offices, and residential buildings. Kańska's career exemplified the image of a modern "female engineer" performing a typically "male" job. This path, as Wanda Buraczewska warned in the Kobieta współczesna magazine in 1928, "was yet to be paved" and those who embarked on it "encountered great difficulties, so only women who were well developed physically were suitable for this work" (Buraczewska, 1928, 2). Buraczewska pointed out the problems women faced: the glass ceiling, prejudice from colleagues, and discrimination, while emphasising the pioneering role of those who paved the way for their successors. It can be assumed that Kańska-Frydecka also had to face similar challenges.

In 1937, Andrzej Frydecki became an associate professor at Lviv Polytechnic's Faculty of Architecture, which was headed by Professor Witold Minkiewicz, and began preparing his doctoral thesis. At the same time, the architect became the deputy chairman of the Association of Polish Architects (SARP) local branch, where his work was aimed at the regulation of the industry representatives' professional status. In the spring of 1939, the Frydeckis' financial well-being helped them to launch their most important investment, the construction of a family home on ul. Izaaka Isakowicza (now vul. Ivana Horbachevskoho). This project was to become, as Frydecki wrote later, the final proof of the family's "union" with the "cheerful environment of Lviv" (Frydecki, 1982, 59).

Wiktorja and Andrzej Frydecki's plans were interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War. Wiktorja's professional career ended in December 1939, when she was dismissed from the Directorate of Posts and Telegraphs under the pretext of the "lack of positions." In September 1939, Andrzej was involved in the construction of fortifications and anti-tank barriers on the Kulparkowska Road (now vul. Kulparkivska); following the city's surrender he continued to work at the Lviv Polytechnic, which was reorganised into Lviv Polytechnic Institute by the Soviet government. In 1941, the architect was taken away during a street raid to work at a military mechanical transport repair facility, where he spent almost a year "in camp conditions under military supervision." In the spring of 1942, the new city authorities, faced with a shortage of personnel necessary for the activities of the General Government, decided to organise vocational courses for the German population. Lviv Polytechnic Institute was renamed the State Technical Institute (ger. Staatliche Technische Institut), and Frydecki, thanks to the patronage of Professor Minkiewicz, was offered a teaching position there. In July 1944, the Soviet army re-entered Lviv and captured the city. Shortly afterwards, together with their two children (their son Janusz was born in 1942), the Frydeckis left Lviv and began a new chapter in their lives, within the changed borders of the Polish People's Republic.

They spent a few months in Rzeszów, from where they moved to Katowice, where Frydecki became deputy director of the Regional Directorate of Spatial Planning (pol. Regionalna Dyrekcja Planowania Przestrzennego). In 1948, the architect "accepted an invitation to work at Wroclaw Polytechnic" and actively contributed to the reconstruction of the war-torn city, first as an active designer and, from the 1950s, as a consultant. For Frydecki, who was accustomed to the pre-war model of author's workshops, it was difficult to get used to the structures of the design bureaus typical of the socialist state (after 1948), and therefore, from the 1960s, he focused on teaching architecture and creative work. Wiktorja Kańska-Frydecka returned to her professional career after the war, first in the structures of the Regional Spatial Planning Office and later in the Central Coal Industry Administration in Katowice. She was associated with industrial and mining institutions until the late 1950s. Her superiors remembered her as an "ambitious, disciplined, and sociable" employee, noting that she "demonstrated great enthusiasm for her work" and that the documentation prepared under her supervision "was of high quality."

Andrzej Frydecki's life story and professional career are the subject of Joanna Majczyk's book entitled Cities, Migrations, Modernisms. The Architecture of Andrzej Frydecki, published due to the efforts of the Museum of Architecture in Wroclaw, the Association of Polish Architects and Wroclaw Polytechnic in 2023.

Frydeckis' Places in Lviv

People

Kazimierz Bartel (1882–1941) — a mathematician and politician, professor of descriptive geometry at Lviv Polytechnic, co-founder of the Workers' Party, Prime Minister of the Polish Republic

Janina Bielska (1902–?) — an architect, graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at Lviv Polytechnic

Władysław Derdacki (1882–1951) — an architect, professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Lviv Polytechnic

Ignacy Drexler (1878–1930) — an urban planner, author of projects for the city of Lviv, professor at Lviv Polytechnic

Ludwik Ebermann (1885–1945) — an engineer, engine designer, professor at Lviv Polytechnic

Adolf Kamienobrodzki (1871–1946) — an architect

Władysław Klimczak (1878–1929) — an architect, professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Lviv Polytechnic

Włodzimierz Krukowski (1887–1941) — an electrical engineer, professor at Lviv Polytechnic

Witold Minkiewicz (1880-1961) — an architect, professor of the Faculty of Architecture and rector of Lviv Polytechnic

Radzisław Peter (1895–1972) — an actor and singer

Władysław Płoński (1901–?) — an engineer, associate professor at Lviv Polytechnic

Stefan Porębowicz (1904–1984) — an architect, graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at Lviv Polytechnic, professor at Gdańsk and Warsaw Universities

Roman Witkiewicz (1886–1941) — an engineer, professor at Lviv Polytechnic

Tadeusz Wróbel (1886–1974) — an architect and urban planner, professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Lviv Polytechnic

Jan Sas-Zubrzycki (1860–1935) — an architect, conservator, professor of the Faculty of Architecture at Lviv Polytechnic

Sources and literature

  1. Wanda Buraczewska, "Kobieta-inżynier", Kobieta współczesna, 1928, Nr. 26, 2.
  2. Andrzej Frydecki, Wspomnienia i refleksje (typescript, Wrocław: Politechnika Wrocławska, około 1972).
  3. Andrzej Frydecki, 1922–1982 — moje sześćdziesięciolecie (Pamiętnik ilustrowany)  (typescript, Wrocław: Muzeum Architektury we Wrocławiu, 1982).
  4. Andrzej Frydecki, Początki nowoczesnej architektury w środowisku polskich architektów we Lwowie w latach 1918–1939 (typescript, Wrocław: Muzeum Architektury we Wrocławiu, 1978).
  5. Pamiętnik II Galicyjskiego Zjazdu Przemysłowego odbytego w Krakowie w dniach 28-30 września 1917, ed. A. Szczepański (Kraków: Stała Delegacya Galic. Zjazdów Przemysłowych, 1919).
  6. Program Politechniki Lwowskiej na rok naukowy 1922/23 (Lwów: nakładem Politechniki, 1922).
  7. Program i warunki konkursu powszechnego Nr 75 na projekt szkicowy kościoła łącznie z Domem Zgromadzenia i Domem Parafialnym XX. misjonarzy we Lwowie (машинопис, Lwów, 5.01.1937).
  8. "Z życia sal", Życie Technickie, 1926, Nr. 2-3.
  9. "Wycieczka Wydziału Architektonicznego na Spisz", Życie Technickie, 1926, Nr. 7.
  10. "Kronika Z. S. A.", Życie Technickie, 1926, Nr. 4.
  11. "Z. S. A się bawi", Życie Technickie, 1928, Nr. 2.
  12. ID issued to Wiktorja Kańska-Frydecka at the design office of the Machine Tool Plant, 30 April 1955 (from the family collection).
  13. Matriculation certificate (typescript, Lwów: Politechnika Lwowska, 1922).
  14. Książka legitymacyjna Wiktorii Kańskiej Nr. 795, Politechnika Lwowska, Wydział Architektoniczny, z lat 1922-1929 (from the family collection).
  15. Certificate issued to Wiktoria Kańska by the Inżynierowie Jurasz i Zachariewicz company, Lviv, 1 July 1927 (from the family collection).
  16. Pismo Lwowskiego Koła Byłych Wychowanek SS. Najśw. Rodziny z Nazaretu do Wiktorii Kańskiej z dnia 17 grudnia 1930 roku (typescript, from the family collection). 

Lviv Interactive, Center for Urban History (2024)

Team of this publication includes:

Research, text

Joanna Majczyk

Translation into English

Andriy Masliukh

Editing and publication

Olha Zarechnyuk

Illustrations

Archiwum rodzinne Frydeckich (Frydecki family collection); Zbiory Muzeum Architektury we Wrocławiu (Museum of Architecture in Wroclaw); Archiwum Zgromadzenia Księży Misjonarzy w Krakowie (Archive of the Congregation of Missionary Fathers in Krakow); Державний архів Львівської області (State Archive of Lviv Oblast)

Citation

Joanna Majczyk. "Lviv, Passion, and Architecture. The story of architects Wiktorja and Andrzej Frydecki". Translated by Andriy Masliukh. Lviv Interactive (Center for Urban History, 2024). URL:  https://lia.lvivcenter.org/en/storymaps/frydecki-wiktorja-andrzej/ 

Wiktoria Kańska in the 1920s.

Andrzej Frydecki in the 1920s.

Professor Jan Sas Zubrzycki together with architecture students from the Lviv Polytechnic. Andrzej Frydecki is sitting and holding an album in his hands; Wiktoria Kańska wearing a black hat stands behind the professor. Photo was made during a study trip to Toruń in 1925.

Lviv Polytechnic students during internship at the construction of the so-called Second House of Technicians. Andrzej Frydecki stands in the center, holding a hat in his hands. Lviv, 1920s

Students of the Faculty of Architecture together with Jan Sas-Zubrzycki (in the middle), 1925.

Competition project for the Missionary Fathers Church in Lviv. It was developed by Andrzej Frydecki, Wiktoria Kańska-Frydecka and Janina Bielska in 1937.

Wiktoria and Andrzej in the 1930s.