Above Standard: Villas Designed by Jan Dudek-Kornecki as a Contribution to the Study of the Housing Culture of Affluent Residents of Poznań in the Last Decades of the People’s Republic of Poland

Abstract

In the 1970s both sociologists and experts on housing culture correctly noted that a tendency towards consumerism was developing in Polish society. These tendencies were described as the neo-bourgeois lifestyle. This lifestyle was supposedly characterised by a focus on material possessions and prestige. The achievement of affluence was pronounced to be the life aim of this group, and the outward marks of affluence (and the acts of demonstrating them) to be an important element of favourable self-assessment. It was noted that these consumerist aspirations resulted from the citizens’ acceptance of Western models. It was also stated that the main indicators of this style were the apartment itself, its standard and equipment, and the culture of leisure time. Poznań in the last years of the communist government in Poland seems to be a particularly fitting place to exemplify the phenomena characterised herein. It has for a long time been associated (not only in popular perceptions) with the bourgeoisie, the entrepreneurial spirit, and affluence; scholarly research points to the same fact. In those days, a detached house for one family, or a villa – especially one constructed to an individually commissioned design and with equipment that exceeded standards in various aspects – was a clear and socially distinctive signal of status to a far greater extent than it is at present. Such buildings were commissioned by members of the affluent intelligentsia, but also by numerous private entrepreneurs. Jan Dudek-Kornecki (b. 1928) was particularly fashionable and sought after as a designer of such villas. His designs were a compromise between the aspirations of his clients, the restrictions imposed by construction law, and the availability of building and finishing materials. Nevertheless, in terms of equipment they differed significantly from contemporary residential quarters, mainly due to the presence of antiques and works of art, as well as unique pieces of contemporary furniture acquired from exhibitions at the Poznań International Fair or from the furniture factory in Swarzędz. The essay offers an analysis of the practices and strategies of deluxe living in Poland in the period before the 1989 breakthrough.