Fabbrica macchine caldaie e piroscafi, Stabilimento Lazarus - building

address: The port of Baross, later shipyard Viktor Lenac in Martinšćica
Period: Historicism
Kind: Immovable material heritage
Century: 19
Year: 1900
Purpose: industrial

In 1870, the port of Rijeka came under direct Hungarian administration and this set off a number of changes: new port pools were built, new plants were set up and transit traffic was increased. The same period was marked by the completion of the rail links Budapest –Rijeka – Zagreb and Rijeka – St. Peter, with which the port finally received an adequate connection with the hinterland. The Hungarian economy stimulated shipbuilding, especially for the Navy, but also the construction of passenger and merchant ships. Attempts were made to open a local company for producing marine equipment and carrying out ship overhaul and engine repair. The construction of such a plant was entrusted to the engineer Josip Lazarus and he was granted an area of 600 m2 within Port Baross. The factory was allegedly built at his own expense and that is why the Hungarian government promised him the status of a privileged businessmen. The full name of the company was Fabbrica macchine caldaie e piroscafi. On 19 January 1900, the factory was officially put into operation. It manufactured anchors, chains, boilers, small machinery and other ship equipment and was engaged in the repair of ship engines. The shipyard performed minor welding work and overhauled ships. Lazarus’s company was known for its many technological innovations such as the construction of steam engines in Rijeka. Lazarus’s ability is witnessed not only by the fact that parallel to the factory and shipyard in Rijeka, he became the owner of the restored shipyard in Kraljevica and tried to compete with the Hungarian group Danubius. In addition, he also took over the Howaldt shipyard in Brgud after its liquidation. In 1905, a fire broke out in Lazarus’s factory and the damage caused by the fire was too much for him to recover from. Only the workshop remained from the former factory complex, and shipbuilding jobs were reduced to revision operations on the ships’ engines and other marine equipment. Nevertheless, Lazarus’s engine workshop was, together with Skull’s and Cussaro’s, among the most important ones in the city, as evidenced by its large number of employees including blacksmiths, smelters, boilermakers, bolt makers and others. Since working conditions as well as occupational health and safety measures were particularly bad, work related injuries were frequent. After World War I, Stabilimento Lazarus continued its work as a smaller dockyard with sixty employees. Later, in 1948, the shipyard Viktor Lenac developed on the foundations of Stabilimento Lazarus. Increased demand for larger and more comprehensive ship overhauls prompted the relocation of the shipyard to the Gulf of Martinščica in the 1960s. The gulf has excellent natural characteristics and is only two nautical miles away from the central part of the port of Rijeka.

Valorization:

This is a Neo-Gothic building which used to be at the very root of the Rijeka waterfront. Until today, nothing has been preserved of the entire complex, except detailed archive designs. The designs indicate a unique example of Neo-Gothic architecture built for the purposes of the factory. Today the existence of the factory is crucial for understanding the emergence of the still operational shipyard Viktor Lenac in Martinšćica.