The Machine Production of Ferdynand Pietsch (the Zieleniewski Company)

One of the largest machine production facilities in Lviv was founded as early as before 1850 in Lychakiv. This was a factory of farm machinery, boilers, and pumps, owned by Ferdynand Pietsch, the largest company of its kind in the whole of Galicia in the mid-nineteenth century. However, several decades later the situation at the factory was not too good. Its subsequent history can serve an example of specific "survival" strategies typical of Lviv enterprises in Austrian Galicia. In 1886 the factory was moved to ul. Św. Martina (now vul. Zhovkivska) in Pidzamche. However, the difficulties continued, and the administration began negotiations on a merger with the leading Galician engineering company, the "S. A. L. Zieleniewski" from Krakow. The deal never took place as the Krakow company was uncertain of their abilities, and in 1903 the Pietsch factory was bought by Prince Lubomirski, an industrialist who managed to organize effective production. The factory staff consisted of about two and a half hundred workers.

In 1912 a difficult political situation, associated with the Balkan war, caused a crisis of Austrian industry, which, in turn, significantly affected Galicia as well. The production rate of the factory of Lubomirski began to fall dramatically, so the industrialist decided to appeal to more successful colleagues from Krakow. This time, the two parts managed to reach agreement, and the old Lviv engineering company became a branch of the Krakow "L. Zieleniewski joint-stock company." It was under this brand that the factory worked in the interwar period. In post-war Soviet Lviv repair shops of artillery and small arms were arranged on its territory, and the Radio repair plant functioned there from the early 1950s.