Bratislava already had its own gasworks in 1856. It was located in today's city centre, on Námestie Slobody (Freedom Square) and the nearby Kollár Square. It produced luminous gas used to illuminate Bratislava's streets, squares and major buildings. Until 1891 the gasworks belonged to an Austrian gas company. In that year, it was bought by the city, as well as the city water supply system, from the Prague company Corte, thus creating a joint venture. In 1902 it was joined by the now non-existent power station on today's Čulenova Street. The old gasworks was gradually dismantled and plans were made to build a new one with modern technology. The relocation of the gasworks was also in line with the idea of the gradual displacement of production from the city, which had been part of Bratislava's regulatory plans practically since the beginning of the 20th century.
At the beginning of the 1930s, a competition for the design of a new gasworks was launched. The competition was won by the Škoda Plzeň plant (the construction section of the plant called Konstruktiva). The new gasworks was conceived as a complex with a rectangular grid of roads, comprising a total of 40 buildings. The dominant building in the centre of the complex was a boiler house with a chimney. The gas production was conducted in vertical chamber furnaces made by the Didier Werke company. These furnaces processed coal from Ostrava. The steam produced in the boiler house was used for the entire process of production and subsequent purification of the gas from unwanted impurities.
The premises at Mlynské Nivy also included administrative buildings and residential buildings built by the companies Pittel+Brausewetter, and Alexander Feigler.
The Bratislava municipal gasworks at Mlynské Nivy is a representative of a modern industrial complex realized in the spirit of functionalism. The subtle structures of the production buildings were illuminated by large plate-glass windows and skylights. The ceramic facade tiles were perhaps intended to resemble the architecture of the original gasworks with lattice masonry. Changes were gradually made to the gasworks, particularly in 1977 in connection with the transition to natural gas. Today, gas production no longer takes place on the site and only a torso of the original building substance remains. The former boiler house, which is a national cultural monument, was converted into the Gas Museum in 1996.
Bibliography:
SCHWARZOVÁ, Anna (ed.): Technické pamiatky Bratislavy. Zborník Mestskej správy pamiatkovej ochrany a starostlivosti a ochrany prírody Bratislava. Bratislava, MSPSOP 1985, s. 197 – 225.
FAJGLOVÁ, Katarína: Príspevok k stavebno-historickému vývoju novej plynárne v Bratislave. Stavební kniha 2004. Brno, EXPO DATA 2005. s. 110 - 113.
OBUCHOVÁ, Viera: Priemyselná Bratislava. Bratislava, Marenčin PT 2009, s. 107 – 112.
