Rudolph Karstadt Department Store, Szczecin

Rudolph Karstadt Department Store

Warenhaus Rudolph Karstadt
Aerial view of the "Atrium Katedra", which stands on the site of the former department store
Coordinates	53°25′26.0″N 14°33′21.7″E / 53.423889°N 14.556028°E / 53.423889; 14.556028
Address	Old Town, Breite Straße 23–28, Szczecin
Opening date	1916
Closing date	1945
Management	Karstadt
Owner	Karstadt
No. of floors	3
Public transit access	tram

The Rudolph Karstadt Department Store (German: Warenhaus Rudolph Karstadt, German pronunciation: [ˈvaːʁənˌhaʊ̯s ˈʁuːdɔlf ˈkaʁʃtat]) was a department store of pre-war Szczecin, which was located at today's , in the Old Town, in the Śródmieście district. The store was destroyed in World War II, though some of the ruins remained uncleared until the 1960s.

History[]

The first building of the Szczecin branch of the Rudolph Karstadt department store was erected between 1912 and 1916 at then Breite Straße.^[1] The site for its construction was obtained by demolishing four older tenement houses.^[2] The store took its form from the Hamburg branch.^[3] Between 1923 and 1924, tenement houses no. 23 and 24, adjacent to the right gable wall, were adapted to the needs of the commercial space.^[4] During World War II, the buildings were . The ruins of the larger building survived the longest: until the mid 1960s.^[5] After their demolition, the plot remained undeveloped until 2002, when the "Atrium Katedra" office and hotel building was constructed.^[6]

Description[]

The department store consisted of two buildings. The larger one was two-storey, 33-axial with an attic. It was adjacent to the Aronheim & Cohn Department Store building with its left gable wall. The smaller one was a two-storey, 7-axial building with an attic. Both buildings had gambrel roofs with dormers.^[7]

References[]