Check the Scheibler’s Power Plant Photos

Urbex in Łódź - Why Is It Worth Visiting

Yes, this is another post about urbex in Łódź, we know. But we love this city, and it’s the place that you definitely need to visit. As we mentioned in each post about Łódź, in the 19th century it was a capital city of Polish industry. We have already seen many places that remind us of this. For example, Grohman’s cotton mild, or Allart’s mansion, they remind us of the splendor of Łódź. Today, we would like to take you to the part of Cotton’s King Empire – the power plant, which gave electricity to the greatest textile empire. The building was designed by Alfred Frisch, and is an example of a unique Art Nouveau industrial building in Europe. The architectural style was just one of the innovations that Scheibler introduced. Earlier, the buildings in Łódź had been built in neo-baroque or neo-renaissance style. The power plant is also one of the first buildings with a reinforced concrete structure.

Scheibler’s Empire History - How Did It All Start?

Of course, it all began with the birth of Charles Scheilbler in 1820. He was born, and graduated the school in Monschau. His family has been associated with the textile industry for generations, so it was foreseeable that he would also choose this path. Charles gained experience in various European companies, improving not only the textile industry, but also management skills. The revolutions of 1848 meant that he left Austria and moved to the Kingdom of Poland. At the beginning, he was working in the company belonging to the Schlösser family, which he was related. He introduced many amenities and innovations there, but he had ambitions for something more. In 1853, Charles Scheibler concluded an agreement with the Łódź magistrate to obtain a perpetual lease of some squares. Thanks to his savings and the dowry he received, he could afford to open a textile empire there

How Big Was Cotton King ‘s Child? - The Scheibler Factory In Numbers

Scheibler’s spinning mills developed vigorously and dynamically. He started with 5740 spindles, but after several years there was 18 000 ones. First weaving had 100 looms, but there was not enough, and Scheibler have the second one built. The complex of buildings included also a boiler room, bleaching plants, steam dryers, and warehouses. You probably think there was nothing that could be done there. Nothing could be more wrong! This great entrepreneur bought the grounds of the farm in Księży Młyn and built his empire even more. He opened the new cotton mill with 70 000 spindles and a weaving mill with 200 looms. It is the end? Of course no! Later he enlarged the empire with another spinning mill with 54 000 spindles. Ok, so let’s sum the number of spindles and looms. Yeah, it’s really impressive.

The Power Plant From Scheibler’s Cotton Empire - The Dream Of Each Urban Explorer

Nowadays, some buildings of the cotton empire unfortunately no longer exist and some are renovated. But we can still visit the power plant and boiler rooms in virtually intact. You may ask if it is worth to see it. The answer is: definitely yes! The object is very interesting both in terms of architecture and details. As we mentioned at the beginning, the building is made in the Art Nouveau style, with the reinforced concrete frame structure. The skeleton frame was partially glazed, and partially implemented by plastered brick. Of course the most stunning part are stained-glasses the following colors: yellow, blue, green and colorless. Inside, the most impressive are of course industrial elements, especially the giant turbine. But we also appreciated the staircases decorated with indigo tiles. Also, twisting, wrought-iron balustrades with a floral-motif decor are amazing.

Urbex Trip To Łódź - How To Get Inside The Scheibler’s Power Plant?

We dreamt about visiting this place since our high school days. After more than 15 years our dream came true. Thanks to project Fuzja which is being implemented by Echo Investment we were able to visit this place and took breathtaking urbex photos there. We would like to say thank you to the whole staff, especially for Kasia, who let us in. What is the result of this trip? Just check the pictures below. We hope you’ll enjoy them!