The facility for slaughtering animals and processing meat was located on Miletičova Street (historical name Dolná Šancová) as early as 1884. At that time, however, these premises were just temporary and probably consisted of wooden buildings. The hygienic requirements for industrial premises of this type were changing at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and so a construction of a modern city abattoir with a rendering plant was considered. An important role in the decision to locate the new municipal slaughterhouse on Miletičova Street was played by the favourable location of this site outside the city structures and at the same time close to one of the gates to the city - the Trnavské Mýto (nowadays an important intersection in one of the city parts). What was also crucial, was the location near the railway providing transport of cattle and processed meat. However, the modernisation of the site did not happen until the inter-war period.
The slaughterhouse was completed in 1928 based on the plans of the Pittel+Brausewetter construction company. Originally, there was a gatehouse, an office building, a market hall, a slaughterhouse for cattle and small cattle, a cold store, a machine shop, a boiler house, a slaughterhouse hall for pigs, a siding with unloading ramps, an isolation abattoir, a horse slaughterhouse, a rendering plant and a house of the catcher of stray animals.
At the time of its construction, the complex was a modern and sophisticated functional unit with a good standard of hygiene. The buildings of the halls were of reinforced concrete construction, with smooth plastered facades and slightly sloped roofs with overlights. The buildings of the facilities and the gatehouse had gabled roofs with eternit roofing.
The Bratislava slaughterhouse is currently used for a different purpose than it was originally. On its premises, the legendary Bratislava Miletička marketplace was built. In addition to the market and other commercial units located in the preserved slaughterhouse halls, some premises were also adapted for sports and cultural purposes (Elledanse dance school). The Ružinov municipal district is preparing a competition for a complex revitalisation of the area, taking into account the original industrial character of the place, of which the slaughterhouse was an essential part.
Bibliography:
KŘIVANEC, Karel (red.): SIA Pamätnica bratislavského odboru Spolku čsl. inžinierov 1919-1929. Bratislava, Spolok čsl. inžinierov 1929, s. 150 – 152.
OBUCHOVÁ, Viera: Priemyselná Bratislava. Bratislava, Marenčin PT 2009, s. 115 – 119.
HALLON, Ľudovít: Firma Pittel a Brausewetter. Bratislava, Historický ústav SAV 2014, s. 64 – 111.
