With no doubt, the house is a town attraction.

History

The oldest part of the building is constituted by a Renaissance house erected in 1570 by Walenty and Anna nee Niemiec Wrzesień. In the 30s of the 17th century, the building was substantially extended by its new owner — mayor of Chęciny Walenty Soboniewski. The extension consisted in adding a "great room" from the yard. The interior layout formed then is typical of Chęciny of the 17th century; it can be found in many tenement houses (there are still around 20 such houses here) — the central drive-hall leads to the yard, and on its side there are two vaulted rooms, next to them a kitchen without windows, and a spacious day room from the yard. Such houses featured vaulted basements, accessible from the hall. Since the 18th century, the house had been owned by a Jewish Najfeld family, who run a bakery and a forge at the back of the house. Since 1945, the building has been communal property; in the 1950s, its technical condition was very bad. In early 1970., the house was converted and renovated — among other things partition walls were removed, a landing was added, and the roof was laid with wood shingles. In 2006, the building along with the yard was thoroughly restored and modernised — to serve tourist traffic. Currently, it houses the Centre of Tourist and Historical Information of the Commune of Chęciny.

Description

The complex is comprised of main building and surroundings — yard. The main building is a one-storey house on a plan shaped like the letter "L", with front façade within the street's frontage. It features basements and currently, also an usable attic, additionally lit by dormers. The basement level is comprised of three vaulted rooms with plain stone portals; it is accessible from the drive-hall. The main entrance from the street leads to the roofed hall whose walls feature stone portals (inter alia with a Renaissance cartouche with the first construction date), leading to side rooms and the basement. Further on towards the yard, there is a nearly square room ("great room") with an old ceiling beam (of 1643, with the name of the mayor inscribed), and original, triple window in the southern wall, divided by pillars reminiscent of Tuscan columns. The usable attic was created in the 19th century, and it is accessible by the staircase located in the south-western part of the house. The front façade is 4-axial, rests on a low foundation, and in the top section features a profiled eaves cornice; window surrounds are of stone, and above the entrance gate, there is a modern, stone cartouche. The ending section of the yard inside was originally adjacent to the parallel Jędrzejewska Street, where a craft workshop operated. Currently, the yard is significantly smaller, surrounded by walls with seats in niches and covered with roof tiles, with access to a well cased with stone. The building is made of local stone — limestone slits with some bricks here and there, some rooms features vaults, some flat ceilings; on the wooden truss over the attic, there is a gable and shed roof covered with wood shingles. The entire building is renovated and in good condition.

The historical building is open to visitors.

Compiled by Dariusz Kalina, 20.12.2014.

Bibliography 

• Karta ewidencyjna architektury i budownictwa, d. dom mieszczański zwany „Niemczówka”, compiled by S. Parafianowicz, Kielce 1983, mps, archiwum Wojewódzkiego Urzędu Ochrony Zabytków w Kielcach i  Narodowego Instytutu Dziedzictwa w Warszawie.
• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, vol. III: Województwo kieleckie, fasc. 4: Powiat kielecki, Warszawa 1959.
• Barbasiewicz M, Kubiak J., Chęciny Studium historyczno-urbanistyczne, Warszawa 1981, archiwum WKZ w Kielcach.
• Kalina D., Dzieje Chęcin, Chęciny 2007.
• Rawita-Witanowski M., Dawny powiat chęciński. Z ilustracjami prof. Jana Olszewskiego, compiled by D. Kalina, Kielce 2001.