Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller

Problemy Urbanistycznej Architektonicznej Realizacji Miasta Nowa Huta (Implementation of Urban Planning and Architecture in the City of Nowa Huta) [WITH] Nowa Huta

Ptaszycki, Tadeusz

Krakow: NP; "Miastoprojekt" 1953; 1959. First edition. Hardcover. Collection of two architectural work on the new Polish city of Nowa Huta, a masterpiece of Soviet social planning, and the brainchild of architect Tadeusz Ptaszycki. Nowa Huta is one of only two entirely pre-planned socialist realist cities ever built (the other being Magnitogorsk in Russia’s Ural Mountains). The building of the new city started in 1949 as a separate town near Kraków on a terrain taken by the Communist government from the former villages of Mogila, Pleszów and Krzeslawice. It was planned as a huge centre of heavy industry. The town was to become a showcase for Communist propaganda. Indeed, built to impress, Nowa Huta featured wide, tree-lined avenues, parks, lakes and the officially sanctioned architectural style of the time - Socialist Realism. Careful planning was key, and the suburb was designed with ‘efficient mutual control' in mind: wide streets would prevent the spread of fire and the profusion of trees would easily soak up a nuclear blast, while the layout was such that the city could easily be turned into a fortress if it came under attack. In 1951 Nowa Huta was joined with Kraków as its new district and in the following year tramway communication was started. In 1954, the Vladimir Lenin Steelworks was opened and in less than 20 years the factory became the biggest steel mill in Poland.

- Problemy Urbanistycznej Architektonicznej Realizacji Miasta Nowa Huta (Implementation of Urban Planning and Architecture in the City of Nowa Huta) [1953]. Large quarto. 53 leaves (Text); 10pp (original photographs). Full olive cloth, with silver gelatin print pasted on front cover. This rare typed survey on the urban planning and socialist architecture in the new Polish city of Nowa Huta contains 20 original silver gelatin prints showing various views of the city at the time of the completion of the survey (1953). Nineteen of the silver gelatin prints are pasted on the last ten pages, and one is pasted on front cover. Each photograph measures appr. 3 3/8 x 5". The survey is dated October 10, 1953 at the end of the typed text. Soiling along fore-edge of front cover. Pages age-toned throughout. Text in Polish. Binding in overall good to good+, interior in good, photographs in very good condition.

- Nowa Huta (1959). Oblong quarto. [4]pp (Text), 43pp (Photographic plates), 1pp (Captions). Original light green cloth, with olive lettering on front cover. Collection of 43 striking photogravures showing various views of Nowa Huta, the new Northeastern distric of Kraków. Includes views of the Central Square (Plac Centralny), large blocks of appartment buildings, the Hutnik Stadium, a monument to commemorate the 440 political prisoners executed there by the Germans during World War II, etc.. The last three photographs depict the very impressive Vladimir Lenin Steelworks. As Poland rebuilt itself from near complete destruction after WWII, steel was of vital importance. Work began in April 1950, and by 1954 the first blast furnace was in operation. Employing some 40,000 people in its heyday the Steelworks were capable of producing seven million tonnes of steel annually. Binding alightly age-toned on spine and along edges. Text and captions in Polish. Binding in overall good+, interior in very good condition. g to vg. Item #39389

Price: $7,500.00