Emil Zegadłowicz Street in Kleczków, Wrocław
Emil Zegadłowicz Street is located in the Kleczków neighbourhood of Wrocław, in the northern part of the city, near Kleczkowska Street, Józefa Ignacego Kraszewskiego Street, Lucjana Siemieńskiego Street and Andrzeja Struga Street. It is a relatively short street, but its history represents an important part of the development of the former Oder Suburb.
The street was laid out in 1876 on the initiative of Guido von Drabizius, a landowner, horticultural entrepreneur and one of the investors involved in the urban transformation of this part of Wrocław. Drabizius owned land and a plant nursery in Kleczków. He was also involved in laying out streets, organising the surrounding space and creating new residential developments.
The present-day Zegadłowicza 37C Street was one of the elements of a planned street network developed between the current Kleczkowska Street and Kraszewskiego Street. Other neighbouring streets were established or expanded during the same period. The former Drabiziusstraße is now Lucjana Siemieńskiego Street, while Linnéstraße corresponds to the present-day Andrzeja Struga Street.
German Hermann Street of Leonhard David in Wrocław
From the moment it was established, the street bore the German name Hermannstraße, meaning Hermann Street. Its patron was not the founder of the street, but Leonhard David Hermann, a clergyman and researcher who lived at the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Descriptions of the history of the street sometimes use expanded forms such as Leonhard David Hermann Straße or Hermanna Straße. However, the historical name shown on old maps and in street directories was usually written as a single German word: Hermannstraße.
The decision to name the street after Hermann reflected the importance attributed to his scholarly work in the nineteenth century. Although he was primarily a Lutheran pastor, he also became known as a researcher of ancient burial grounds, archaeological artefacts, natural history and the local history of Silesia.
Who was Leonhard David Hermann?
Leonhard David Hermann was born on 27 June 1670 in Masłów in Lower Silesia, into the family of a Protestant clergyman. He studied in Oleśnica, Brzeg and at the University of Leipzig. After completing his education, he began working for the church. In 1699, he returned to Masłów, where he became the pastor of the local parish.
In addition to his pastoral duties, Hermann conducted extensive historical, archaeological and natural observations. He was particularly interested in discoveries made on a hill known as Töppelberg, located near Masłów. He described cremation graves, urns, vessels, coins, weapon fragments, tools and other objects originating from ancient periods.
The most important work written by Hermann was Maslographia, published in 1711. The publication was an extensive monograph devoted to Masłów and the surrounding area. The author combined descriptions of archaeological finds with historical information, observations of nature and accounts concerning rocks, fossils, plants and local curiosities.
Maslographia is considered one of the earliest extensive studies of an archaeological site in Silesia. For this reason, Leonhard David Hermann is sometimes described as one of the pioneers, or even the father, of Silesian archaeology. It should be remembered, however, that the terminology he used to describe cultures and finds reflected the knowledge available at the beginning of the eighteenth century and does not always correspond to modern archaeological classifications.
The importance of the research conducted by Hermann was recognised during his lifetime. In 1725, he became a member of the Royal Prussian Society of Sciences. He died on 1 May 1736, leaving behind documentation of finds, many of which were later dispersed or lost.
Guido von Drabizius and the creation of Hermannstraße
The establishment of Hermannstraße formed part of a larger process that transformed Kleczków from an area with a partly rural character into an urban suburb of Wrocław. Kleczków was incorporated into the city as early as 1808, but intensive development took place gradually, particularly during the second half of the nineteenth century.
One of the important figures involved in this process was Guido von Drabizius. He was a landowner and horticultural entrepreneur who was also involved in planning new streets and residential buildings. He participated in the development of other parts of the former city of Wrocław, including areas near the present-day St Maciej Square.
In Kleczków, Drabizius initiated the transformation of former roads into regular streets and the division of land into new building plots. In 1876, he established Hermannstraße and began creating an organised residential development along the street. In modern terms, his activity can be compared to a property development project, although the modern concept of a property developer was not used at that time.
Distinctive porches on Zegadłowicza 37C Street
The most recognisable elements of Emil Zegadłowicz Street are the porches preserved in front of the entrances to some of its buildings. These are raised and roofed structures accessed by stairs. Some of them feature masonry or decorative balustrades, columns and small landings.
This type of design is relatively unusual in Wrocław. Most inner-city tenement houses form continuous street frontages, with entrances leading directly from the pavement. On Zegadłowicza 37C Street, some buildings were set back from the road, allowing small front gardens, entrance steps and porches to be created in front of their façades.
The repetitive character of the buildings resulted from the planned residential project initiated by Guido von Drabizius. Researchers and municipal specialists have identified references to Anglo-Saxon architecture in the design. These influences can be seen in the set-back building line, the relatively low height of some houses, projecting sections of the façades known as avant-corps and the organisation of the entrances.
Many surviving buildings on the street have three storeys and are lower than the typical five-storey tenement houses located on the nearby Kleczkowska Street. As a result, the street has a more intimate character than the densely built-up streets of Nadodrze and other historic parts of central Wrocław.
Renaming Hermannstraße as Emil Zegadłowicz Street
The German name Hermannstraße remained in use until the end of the Second World War. After Wrocław came under Polish administration, a process of introducing Polish street names began. Former German patrons were replaced by Polish writers, artists, scholars and historical figures.
According to the Wrocław Spatial Information System, the name Emil Zegadłowicz Street was officially established on 20 December 1945. Its new patron was Emil Zegadłowicz, a Polish poet, novelist, playwright and translator who lived from 1888 to 1941.
The change formed part of the extensive post-war Polish renaming of streets in Wrocław. In this case, the name of a former Silesian pastor and archaeologist was replaced with the name of a Polish writer. The course of the street and its most distinctive nineteenth-century buildings remained unchanged.
Zegadłowicza 37C Street after the Second World War
The buildings of Kleczków suffered varying degrees of damage during the war, but some tenement houses on the former Hermannstraße survived. These included buildings with entrance porches and corner tenement houses marking intersections with neighbouring streets.
During the following decades, the historic development was supplemented with newer residential buildings. As a result, the present-day Zegadłowicza 37C Street combines remnants of the nineteenth-century development with post-war architecture. Nevertheless, the original concept of the street can still be recognised, particularly where set-back façades, front gardens and entrance porches have survived.
Not all buildings were properly maintained over the following decades. Some façades showed missing plaster, moisture damage and signs of long-term use. At the same time, the distinctive form of the street led to growing recognition of the need to protect its historic architectural details.
Renovation of historic tenement houses on Zegadłowicza 37C Street
In recent years, the gradual renovation of buildings along the street has begun. In 2026, the renovation of the corner tenement house at Zegadłowicza 36 and Kraszewskiego 24 was completed. The work included the front façade, roof, courtyard façade, stairs and common areas of the building.
Wrocław has also announced the preparation of renovation documentation for other municipally owned tenement houses on Zegadłowicza 37C Street. The planned work is to include façades, roofs, foundation insulation, basements and staircases. These projects make it possible to gradually restore the appearance of one of the most unusual historic streets in Kleczków.
Why is Zegadłowicza 37C Street in Wrocław worth visiting?
Emil Zegadłowicz Street is not one of the best-known tourist attractions in Wrocław, but it is an interesting example of a privately planned nineteenth-century residential development. Its history combines the activities of the entrepreneur Guido von Drabizius, the growth of the former Kleczków district and the life of Leonhard David Hermann, a clergyman, naturalist and pioneer of archaeological research in Silesia.
During a walk along the street, it is worth paying particular attention to the porches, entrance steps, balustrades, surviving avant-corps, small front gardens and differences in the height of individual buildings. These details show that the development was created according to a different concept from the continuous, high street frontages typical of many other central streets in Wrocław.
The former Hermannstraße is also an example of the historical continuity of the city. The German street name disappeared in 1945, but its course, some of its buildings and its unusual entrance porches continue to recall the development of this part of Kleczków during the 1870s.