Chosnovsky, Vladislav

Vladislav Chosnovsky was the son of the owner of the estate Yarokha Valentin Chosnovsky coat of arms Pershkhal and Honorata Kulinsky. In 1861 he graduated from a real gymnasium in Warsaw and returned to his village. After the start of the January uprising, he joined the detachment of Marian Langevich , in February 1864 he was wounded and captured. By court order, all of his property was confiscated from him, and he himself was exiled to Siberia for hard labor. After returning to his homeland on the advice of his former comrades in arms, he began working in the construction industry. In 1872, he married Carolina Paul, the daughter of Jozef Paul, a wealthy roofer who also owned a paper mill and asphalt plant. In 1891-1909 he was the headman of the masons guild.

Beginning in 1869, while still an apprentice to a stonemason, Chosnowski decided to organize his own masons artel. A year later, he founded a construction company. As a newcomer to entrepreneurship, he came up with one very successful idea: he pre-determined his price and deadline for his customer. In addition to this, he coordinated all the work (before him, the customer independently at each stage of the work determined their conditions and agreed with the individual masters necessary at the moment). Thanks to the financial support of Franciszek Geyer, further development of the company became possible (Geyer was a friend of Chosnowski from school). In addition, Chosnowski also took loans from the Zemsky Credit Partnership, the Commercial Bank of Warsaw (later he himself was a member of the supervisory board of this bank) and the Cashier of Warsaw entrepreneurs (where he later became chairman of the supervisory board). With such sources of financing, Chosnovsky’s affairs quickly went uphill.

Around 1884, the company brought so much income that its owner decided to invest his capital in real estate. In 1885, he acquired a farm from the Ulrich planting company. The territory of the farm was located between the current streets of Valitsuv, Zhelyaznon and Peretz. On Peretz Street, he built himself a house and company headquarters. His next investment was to buy a plot south of the Erozolimsk avenue. On the street Vspulna passed the southern border of the site. The territory was built up with houses and then sold at a price much higher than the cost, however, buyers received ready-made houses with decoration at their disposal.

Around 1896, Carolina Chosnovskaya began to have health problems. In an effort to alleviate her situation, Vladislav bought a vacant lot and a forest south of the Jeziorka River. The lands around at that time belonged to Count Constant Skuzhevsky. After consulting with doctors ( balneologists ), he initiated the establishment of a joint-stock company for the development of villages in the Kingdom of Poland . In 1897, the company acquired land in Constantine , and Vladislav was elected president of the company ^[1] .

In 1905, about three thousand workers of various specialties worked in his construction enterprise. Many of them, thanks to Chosnovsky, rose from the laborers and founded their own companies, often still working together with the parent company. In 1909, the owner of the enterprise was the son of Chosnovsky - Tadeusz. He himself died on October 25, 1916 in Warsaw, and was buried in the Old Povonzki cemetery. ^[2]

Many of Vladislav Chosnovsky’s projects related to objects designed by his eldest son, Bronislaw Kolonna-Chosnovsky, who was an architect and engineer.

Vladislav Chosnovsky collaborated with a number of prominent architects, in particular, Jozef Pius Dzekonsky, Vladislav Markoni , Stefan Schiller , Karol Kozlovsky, Andrei Zhokhovsky, Edward Tsikhotsky and Leandro Marconi. The company built and expanded seventy-two churches and temples, for which in 1890 Chosnovsky received the title of secret chamberlain from the pope. Among the most famous buildings that his company worked on are the following:

• Churches:
  1. All Saints Church in Warsaw
  2. Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Warsaw
  3. Church of st. Karla Borromeo in Warsaw (Wagons) (reconstruction and expansion)
  4. Cathedral Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel and St. Florian the Martyr in Warsaw
  5. Church of St. Augustine in Warsaw
  6. Catholic church of St. John the Baptist (reconstruction)
  7. Cathedral of the Protection of the Holy Virgin in Radom
  8. Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Ostrow Mazowiecka

• Public facilities:
  1. Zinisellego Circus in Warsaw
  2. Bolshoi Theater in Warsaw (fire recovery)
  3. Secondary School of Mechanics and Technology M. Mittego in Warsaw
  4. Hospital of Baby Jesus in Warsaw (renovation)
  5. The basement of the monument to Adam Mickiewicz in Warsaw
  6. House of Insurance Company "Russia" in Warsaw
  7. Hotel Bristol in Warsaw
  8. Trading Bank in Warsaw
  9. National Philharmonic
  10. The building of the Gymnasium named after Stanislav Stashits on the street Ground 60 (designed by Marian Kontkiewicza and Stanislav Zalevsky) ^[3]
  11. The building of the Russian-Swedish Society of Telephones Cedegren in Warsaw
  12. Kokhanovsky Chapel in Charnolesie
  13. Numerous villas and houses in Konstancin-Jeziorna ^[4] .

• Słownik Biograficzny Techników Polskich tom IV s. 32-34, NOT Warszawa 1994
• Stanisław Łoza, Architekci i budowniczowie w Polsce, Wyd. Budownictwo i Architektura Warszawa 1954 s. 57
• Marcin Robert Maź, Informacje otrzymane od Władysława Czosnowskiego, prawnuka Władysława Leona Czosnowskiego