< POLAND | BYDGOSZCZ: Hotel Pod Orłem

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Hotel traditions of the site where the Pod Orłem Hotel stands today, dates back to the beginning of the 19th century when an inn was built by the Gliszczyński family en route to Gdańsk. In 1893, Emil Bernhardt commissioned a Bydgoszcz born architect, Józef Święcicki, to realize his new hotel project, and three years later in 1896, the hotel got its current structure. The first name of the hotel was ‘Zum Adler’ and the interior design of restaurants was modelled after the hotels in Munich.

After World War I, when Bydgoszcz was annexed to Poland in 1919, the hotel was bought for DM 1.25 million by a landlord and tradesman named Stefan Majewicz, as well as Władysław and Józef Kosicki. The German eagle was substituted with a Polish one.

From 1920 to 1938 the hotel and restaurant were among the best ones in the city. Political parties, self-government celebrations, social gatherings of officers, charity balls, artistic performances, Managing Board and Supervisory Board meetings took place in the Columned Room (‘Kolumnowa’ Room) and Raspberry Room (‘Malinowa’ Room) regularly. It was here that banquets in honour of Marshal Piłsudski, President Wojciechowski and General Haller were given.

In the period of Nazi occupation the hotel was taken by the Germans as war booty and started operating under the name of ‘Danziger Hoff’. At the beginning of 1945 the hotel was returned to the Majewicz family; however, soon after that it was nationalized and in 1952 it was handed over by the government to Orbis Travel Agency, which managed the hotel until 1993.

The times when Orbis was managing the hotel were treasured in the memory of the inhabitants of Bydgoszcz as good times. Refined cuisine was praised, a number of prominent guests visited the hotel (e.g. Artur Rubinstein or Krzysztof Penderecki) and the hotel was a substitute for international contacts in the times when Poland was cut off from the world. Towards the end of its management, Orbis overhauled the building restoring all its beauty and receiving a reward from the Ministry of Culture for that.

On 31 December 1993 the hotel was returned to the heirs of the rightful owners. As a continuation of the ‘Majewicz & Co’ company a new one, ‘Przedsiębiorstwo Hotelowe Majewicz sp. z o.o.’ (Majewicz Hotel Enterprise, a limited liability company), was formed in order to manage the operations of the hotel.

The owners continuously invest in the family building following the rule of a skilful combination of traditions and the newest technological solutions.

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