The Kamienna 28 investment, in addition to the restoration of the historic Wilhelm Theodor Behrand oil mill, also includes the ground-up construction of a modern building facing Jałmużnicza Street. Thirty-two investment apartments, ranging in size from 24 to 72 square meters, will be built there, with 23% VAT included. Detailed information about this unique ACCIONA offer is available at kamienna28.pl. We invite you to learn more about the history of Jałmużnicza Street and read another article by Jacek Górski from the Lower Town History Tellers Association in Gdańsk.

Interestingly, the history of Jałmużnicza Street itself once bordered on the word “Fashionable”, which in turn brings to mind what’s happening in the Lower Town today. Situated between the boulevard on the New Motława River and the 17th-century fortifications on its Opływ, the former “New Amsterdam”, thanks to a dynamic revitalization process, is growing into a new “Granary Island”.

On Jałmużnicza Street, the last visible trace of the pre-war central tree-lined alley remains. This alley once began at Szuwary Street, then continued along Jaskółcza Street, before ending at the intersection of Jałmużnicza and Toruńska Streets. It was therefore a slightly shorter version of the alley that ran along Łąkowa and Wróbla Streets, which has survived almost in its entirety to this day. Shorter because its final section on the northwest side was bounded by barracks buildings on Ułańska Street. The origins of all the streets mentioned in the first sentence can be traced to the canal, which was one of the three main drainage channels for the then-Lower Town area. From 1650, the paths along the banks of this canal in the area of ​​the future Jałmużnicza Street were called Papegogengasse (the western one) and Alamodengase/All(e)modengasse (the eastern one), which translated meant, respectively, “Papazian” and “Fashionable” paths. Interestingly, at that time, the canal, and therefore both of its banks, ended only at Zielona Street. The section from Zielona to Toruńska Streets became a separate street only in 1817, and is currently called Przyokopowa Street. Imagining such a canal, it’s difficult to associate it with colorful parrots and anything fashionable—clothing, furniture, carriages, or suburban residences. The word “Moden” differs only in its last letter from the word “Moder,” which, translated, means “mud” on the one hand, and “rot” on the other. And such words definitely fit the description of the aforementioned canal better. Perhaps the street’s history begins with the name An der Moder, or Przybłotna. And from there, it’s not far to Allmoden, or Mody Wszelakich/Wszechmodna.

In 1763, the parrot finally “flew away” forever from the name of one of the banks, and the name “Modna” (Modna) stuck to both. To distinguish them, for a time (until the canal was filled in), additional terms were used – hohe and lege Seite – for the bank facing the fortifications and the bank facing the New Motława River, respectively. It might come as a complete surprise to find Almondegasse (Almond Street) in the same spot on an early 19th-century map. But as you might guess, this is the result of a typo in the name, as the German word “Almond” means nothing more than almond.
The book “Die Großstadtsiedlung Danzig” by Dr. phil. Walter Geisler, published in 1918, stated that there were 12 houses on Allmodengasse. The Address Book from the same year reveals that on one side of this street (closer to the bank of the New Motława River, where the Jordanowski Garden stood after the war) towards Toruńska Street ran a very long row of houses marked with numbers 1, 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d. The first two belonged to the merchant (Richard Johann) Wilhelm Behrendt (1876-1934), who served as a councilor on the City Council (Stadtverordneten Versammlung) from 1914 to 1919. The next two belonged to Erben Benkmanns. The subsequent numbers belonged to houses located on the other side of the street.

The one closest to Toruńska Street was numbered 2, while the one closest to Śluza Street – near the district school for boys, which after the war was popularly known as Trójka – was numbered 9/10. Somewhere in between, at number 7, lived for many years the master carpenter and furniture maker V.F. Rogowski, who in 1887 completed a commission for St. Nicholas Church in Gdańsk, as evidenced by the original invoice issued that year.
The modern name “Jałmużnicza” also likely arose from an error. This time, the basis was the non-existent name Almosengasse, where the German word “Almose” means “alms.”

Little remains of this street’s pre-war architecture. At its intersection with Śluza Street stands the school building of the former Polish National Radio 3, which served an educational function from its inception in 1901. On the other side, the Book Depository Warehouse and recycling collection point operated for many years in the buildings of the former oil mill and grain mill. Children from the Lower Town and surrounding areas growing up in the first six or seven decades after World War II will undoubtedly associate this street with the main entrance to the aforementioned Jordanowski Garden.

Author: Jacek Górski.

The original postcard and bill presented here are from the collection of the Lower Town Storytellers in Gdańsk. The map fragment shared is from the collection available on this website. The winter photo with the ice skaters is from Elżbieta Woroniecka’s family album.

P.S. In addition, one theory explaining the origin of the name Allmodengasse must be decisively rejected. It cannot be linked in any way to the von Allmonde family. When they appeared in Gdańsk, a street with that name already existed on maps. There is also no confirmation that they owned any land in this part of Gdańsk.