150th Ann of Gas Supply System

Until the last quarter of the 19th century Zagreb was a peripheral town of small political and economic importance. The building of railway tracks during 1860-ies was a crucial factor for the modernisation of traffic and the emergence of industrial entrepreneurship. Towards the end of the 19th century the share of industry in the total economy of the town was continuously increasing and the town gradually became a regional economic centre.
The town gasworks was put into operation on 31 October 1863 and was situated in the building block enclosed today by the Mažuranić square and Hebrangova, Gundulićeva and Žerjavićeva streets. Its owner was an entrepreneur from Augsburg, L. A. Riedinger to whom the city authorities granted permit to found a company. Although the beginnings of gas network in the centre of Zagreb date almost half a century after the erection of the gasworks in Vienna, the installation of the first gas lamps is an important moment in modernising infrastructure. To the citizens of Zagreb a public lighting system was ensured and the candles and paraffin lamps in homes of well-off citizens were gradually replaced by gas light.
The gasworks was operating efficiently and making significant profit so that in 1873 its shares were bought up by national entrepreneurs. The town municipality overtook the gasworks in 1900. By that time the technology of production has already been modernised - gas was no longer produced by dry distillation of wood and coal was used instead.
The speeded up erection of downtown housing blocks, squares and green areas resulted with the fact that at the end of the 19th century the gasworks was situated inside the Zagreb „green horseshoe”. The gasometers stood several tens of metres away from the Croatian National Theatre building. The need for further spreading of business influenced the moving of gasworks to town outskirts. In 1911 first modern plant for gas production and distribution, situated at the beginning of the today’s Radnička Street, was put into operation. The new gasworks was erected in an area south of railway tracks which according to the city plan was aimed to become a city’s industrial and entrepreneur zone. In the vicinity of the gasworks there stood various factories and soon also the City’s Slaughterhouse was built. Soon after being moved to that new location, the gasworks constructed two building blocks for its employees which are today considered to be among the first planned workers settlements in Zagreb.
The gasworks operates today at that same location in the part of the town which has seen significant changes in the last decade and has been transformed from industrial into business area (City). The gas production has been moved to another location but the logistics centre and distribution are still there, at the beginning of Radnička Street. Although the recognisable gasometers were demolished some fifteen years ago, the preserved original parts of the gasworks installation from 1911 witness about the importance of the city’s oldest municipal company in the process of modernising the infrastructure of Zagreb.