Interwar-period villa development in Katowice’s so-called South District: overview, authenticity and integrity of the cultural landscape
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The development of Katowice was determined by many factors – political, economic and spatial, as well as the railways and industry. The two decades of the interwar period proved especially crucial here, as the city, as a capital of the autonomous Silesian Voivdoeship, expanded considerably during this time. The objective of this study was to identify distinctive features of the landscape of the so-called south district of Katowice and the stock and state of preservation of the districts’ villa-type buildings. This area is positively distinguished by its architectural and landscape diversity, and there are visible links to 19th-century urban planning principles here. The villa buildings, on the other hand, together with their surrounding gardens, are a fairly diverse group, occurring in compact ensembles. The largest group consists of buildings that form so-called colonies, with the next most-numerous being singular buildings that form layouts or individual structures that supplement colonies and layouts. Stylistically, they present a wide spectrum – from Academic Classicism to Functionalism. Unfortunately, as found over the course of this research, modernisation works negatively affect the buildings’ authenticity, and thus their historical, cultural and landscape values diminish.
Source: Technical Transactions
Author: Katarzyna Łakomy
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4413023842