Shortly after that,
the Łódź Catholics came up with a concept to replace the old wooden
church in the Old City with a new, spacious place
of worship. Its construction started in 1887 (the old building, as we have already mentioned, was moved to a new site at Ogrodowa Street). The new Neogothic church, with its slender steeples, towered above the entire northern part of the city. The response of the Protestants was complite reconstruction of their first church, which was standing in the New Market Square. It was replaced with a building in the Neorenaissance style, built on the central plan (today''s Roman-Catholic Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit), which dome was closing the prospect of Piotrkowska Street from the north, constituting a counterbalance against the slender steeples of the Catholic Church of the Old City.
However the construction of new
churches continued to be too slow for the growing population of the city. The local newspapers reported on overcrowded churches, particularly during holidays, and the need of construtting new places of worship. The early 20th century was another successful period for building of sacred structures. In 1901, after several years of preparations, construction started on the Catholic Churches of St. Stanislaus Kostka, the present archsee of Łódź. The slender silhouette of the Neogothic church, which is the biggest sacred structure of the “Polish Manchester”, was closing the prospect of Piotrkowska Street from the south. It was followed by construction of a new church in
this industrialized part of the city, this time for the Lutherans, who dedicated their place of worship to St. Mathew. Both
buildings were complited in the interwar period.
The twenty-year interwar period and the years of independent Poland had been dedicated to catching up on church construction, which continued to be insufficient in this industrial city. This issue had become a priority for the city along with the 1920 foundation of the Diocese of Łódź and elevation of the St. Stanislaus Church to the status of cathedral. The first bishop of Łódź, Rev. Wincenty Tymieniecki started a campaign aimed at construction of numerous new churches, primarily in the suburbs, where.
They were badly needed. During a decade construction of more than ten churches began. The majority of them were designed by the “court” architect of bishop Tymieniecki, Józef Kaban (since 1950 Korski).
The new churches had been clothed in new architectural attire. The interwar years are a period of clashing of various trends. During the first half of this epoch historical motifs – classical or medieval – continued to be popular although they had been undergoing further metamorphoses. One of the most beautiful examples of using classical forms is the Church of Our Lady of Victory. On the other hand, an interesting interpretation of medieval motifs can be found in St. Anthony`s Church, which construction started in 1927 in Żubardź.
Around 1930 fashionable Modernist forms entered the Łódź sacred architecture, rejecting historical motifs and implementing simple, cubic forms. The most outstanding examples of this type of architecture, even from the national point of view, is the Church of St. Francis of Assisi in Nowe Rokicie, designed by J. Kaban, featuring dynamic and geometri zed shapes. Simple, cubic forms were also used by architect Wiesław Lisowski in St. Elizabeth`s Church in Doły as well as Divine Providence Church in Marysin. However, after several years the historical motifs returned to the local architecture. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II construction started on a magnificent Sacred Heart Church in Julianów, which styel referred to Old Christian basilicas. In addition, in Ruda Pabianicka Gothic and Renaissance elements were introduced to adorn St. Joseph`s Church.
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