Page 154 - Ciancia, On Civilization's Edge

[INSERT FIGURE 4.2]

Figure 4.2: Map of Interwar Łuck. The map provides a sense of the overall shape of the town,
particularly the important role of the river as a boundary to development. Source: Przewodnik po
Polsce w 4 Tomach. Tom II: Polska Południowo-Wschodnia, edited by Stanisław Lenartowicz
(Warsaw, 1937).

One pre-1926 attempt to create a more “Polish” town in this northeastern area had already

highlighted the difficulties inherent in such a project. In 1924, work began on the construction of a

colony for state officials (kolonia urze ̜ dnicza) who had moved to the provincial capital only to

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discover a desperate shortage of housing. The colony in Łuck, along with similar settlements built
across the eastern borderlands, was based on the broader phenomenon of the Garden City, which had

been developed by an Englishman, Ebenezer Howard, at the turn of the century. It would feature

many of the trappings of modernity that the town center lacked, including a school, a cafeteria, a

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chapel, a water tower, a sewer system, electric lighting, and a water-supply system. By the end of
the estimated three years of building work, urban planners argued, the colony would provide living

space for 120 families, including 28 bachelors, all of whom would live somewhat separately from the

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surrounding area on an elevated piece of land. Sketches of the new colony (Figure 4.3), which were
reproduced in the local press, depicted what architects believed a modern Polish town would look

like—this was a leafy, planned development, made up of neat, uniform houses and regular, tree-lined

streets.

54 Mędrzecki, Inteligencja polska, 55-59.
55 On the plans for the eastern borderlands generally, see Budowa domów dla urze ̜ dników państwowych w
województwach wschodnich (Warsaw, 1925).
56 “Z odbudowy Kresów. Kolonja urzędnicze [sic] w Łucku,” Przegląd Lubelsko-Kresowy, May 20, 1925, 17.

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