page_title: Building of the Prevention Police Dpt in Bydgoszcz
section_title: Prussian period
hierarchical_section_title: Building of the Prevention Police Dpt in Bydgoszcz / History / Prussian period
caption_attribution_description: English: The orphanage on a 1914 map
context_page_description: The Police Prevention Department building is a historical administrative building in Bydgoszcz, which was initially an orphanage. It is located on the southern frontage of Chodkiewicza street, at N°32, in the eastern edge of downtown Bydgoszcz, and is registered on the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Heritage List.
context_section_description: Erected in 1914, the house was intended to house orphans. At the time, it was the second orphanage in Bromberg, the first being at 5 Romualda Traugutta (1907), and the sixth one in the contemporary German Empire.
  The plot has been donated in 1910 by Prussian authorities. At the time, the building was located outside of the administrative borders of Bromberg, in the suburban municipality of Bielawy (German: Bleichfelde). It has been the only public education buildings in the area till the 1930s, when have been constructed Public School Ewaryst Estkowski in 1933 (at today's Poniatowskiego street 8) and the German Gymnasium Albrecht Dürer in 1938 (now at Chodkiewicza street 30).
  Building design was created in 1912 by Albert Schütze' Studio in Magdeburg for two identical projects, in Bydgoszcz and Poznan. The initiator of the construction in Bromberg was the local branch of the Association of Charitable Society for the Care of Orphans, affiliated to the German Association of orphanages schools in East Prussia. Hans Wilhelm August von Waldow Reitzenstein, vice-major of Poznan, was the patron of the project.
  Due to financial shortage during the construction, initial plans were modified, cutting out architectural decoration items such as dormers, a middle tower, reliefs and adorned cartouche.
  The official opening of the House of Orphans (German: Sechstes Reichs-Waisenhaus) took place on June 14, 1914. It was designed to host 17 girls and 33 boys, as well as the family of the caretaker in a separate  apartment. In addition were built an adjacent sport hall and ancillary areas as a separate building. Outside the house was set a large vegetable garden and orchard (approx. 1 ha), ensuring a supply of vegetables and fruits: its area covered the entire block delimited today by streets Poniatowskiego, Chodkiewicza, Powstańczów Wlkp and Ogińskiego.
  Children had also the opportunity to attend elementary schools in Bromberg. After graduation, they were trained on a craft workshop profession.
  The German orphanage operated only 6 years, until 1920, with director Rudolf Seehafer. Its address was Kurfürsten straße 82, Bleichfelde
caption: The orphanage on a 1914 map, outside city's limits
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