''Świdermajer'' () is a distinct

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

architectural style developed in late 19th and early 20th century in

Masovia Mazovia or Masovia ( ) is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. It spans the North European Plain, roughly between Łódź and Białystok, with Warsaw being the largest city and Płock being the capital of the region . Throughout the ...

along the railroad linking

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

with

Otwock Otwock (Yiddish: אָטוואָצק) is a city in the Masovian Voivodeship in east-central Poland, some south-east of Warsaw, with 43,895 inhabitants (2024). Otwock is part of the Warsaw metropolitan area. It is situated on the right bank of the ...

. The style was applied almost exclusively to wooden villas of the middle classes. The buildings are located in right-bank Warsaw,

Józefów Józefów () is a town in east-central Poland, located in Masovian Voivodeship, in Otwock County. It lies about southeast of Warsaw city centre and is a part of that city's metropolitan area. Located on a picturesque confluence of Vistula and Ś ...

and Otwock.

Origins

The name ''Świdermajer'' was a play on the words "

Biedermeier The Biedermeier period was an era in Central European art and culture between 1815 and 1848 during which the middle classes grew in number and artists began producing works appealing to their sensibilities. The period began with the end of th ...

" and "

Świder The Świder is a river in Masovia, Poland. It is a tributary to the Vistula near Otwock Otwock (Yiddish: אָטוואָצק) is a city in the Masovian Voivodeship in east-central Poland, some south-east of Warsaw, with 43,895 inhabitants (20 ...

", the latter being the name of both a river along which a number of villas were built and a village between Warsaw and Otwock considered the 'Świdermajer capital'. As local

neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...

, the word was popularized by

Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński (23 January 1905 – 6 December 1953), alias ''Karakuliambro'', was a Polish poet. He is well known for the "paradramatic" absurd humorous sketches of the . Biography Born to a lower-middle-class family in War ...

in an

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word derives from the Greek (, "inscription", from [], "to write on, to inscribe"). This literary device has been practiced for over two millennia ...

called ''Wycieczka do Świdra''.Robert Lewandowski
Strona o architekturze świdermajer.
Home, Internet Archive. Developed by

Michał Elwiro Andriolli Michał Elwiro Andriolli (, ; 2 November 1836, in Vilnius 23 August 1893, in Nałęczów) was a Polish illustrator, painter and architect of Italian descent. He is notable for his illustrations to Mickiewicz's ''Pan Tadeusz'', as well as a d ...

, the style combined traditional elements of local wooden architecture with the Swiss style popular after the world fair in Vienna of 1873 (wide roofs), Russian traditional houses of the common people (wooden porches with windows) and some elements of the decorative art from the

Podhale Podhale (; ), sometimes referred to as the Polish Highlands, is Poland's southernmost region. The Podhale is located in the foothills of the Tatra range of the Carpathian Mountains. It is the most famous region of the Goral Lands which are a ...

region.Robert Lewandowski (2005)
Świdermajer, jak budowano.
Swidermajer.pl, Internet Archive.

References

Świdermajer.pl

an

External links

A Guide to the Wooden Villas of Otwock
Architecture in Poland Swidermajer Swidermajer Culture of Masovian Voivodeship 19th-century architectural styles 20th-century architectural styles {{authority control