Landeshaus / Budynek Sejmu

Gdańsk, Poland

Destroyed 1946

The Disappointed Tourist: Landeshaus, Ellen Harvey, 2023. Oil and acrylic on Gessoboard, 18 x 24″ (46 x 61 cm). Photograph: Etienne Frossard.

After Danzig’s (now Gdansk) second annexation by Prussia in 1815 after the Napoleonic wars, the city became the seat of the Provincial Parliament of the Province of West Prussia. The Parliament had been established in 1878 and lasted until 1919 when the province of West Prussia ceased to exist. The Danzig State House (Landeshaus or Budynek Sejmu) was built between 1882 and 1885 for the Provincial Parliament. It was located at Neugarten 23/24. The architects were Hermann Ende and Wilhelm Böckmann. In 1896 the ballroom was decorated with statues of Frederick the Great and Kaiser Wilhelm I and the building was officially opened. After World War I, large parts of the province of West Prussia were annexed by Poland and Danzig was reconstituted as the separate Free City of Danzig under international rule with the People’s Day housed in the State House. The building did not survive World War II and, as a symbol of German rule, was not rebuilt.

Requested by Anon.