It is a characteristic property in the city and has also played an important culture-forming role as a meeting place for the Chrzanów cultural elite.

History of the site

The house was designed and built by Franciszek Urbańczyk, the official district architect of Chrzanów at the turn of the 19th century. The building was probably erected in the last quarter of the 19th century. The historicism details allude to earlier traditions: the arcaded openings in the side facades refer to Rundbogenstil (round-arch style) popular in the mid-19th century and for some 20 years after. Numerous wooden details are also derived from that legacy, such as the general asymmetrical composition with high roofs and the pair of dissimilar avant-corpses flanking the building. The location of the building in the central point of the city, as well as its historical and aesthetic values, urged the local municipality to purchase it directly from the heirs of the last owner, Tadeusz Urbańczyk, in 1981. Soon after, under the supervision of the regional conservator of monuments in Katowice, the building was thoroughly renovated and restored into use for exhibition purposes in late 1985. The Urbańczyk House is now the Temporary Exhibitions Branch of the Museum in Chrzanów.

Site description

The so-called Urbańczyk House in Chrzanów is located in south-west of the city’s market square, on the west side of Aleja Henryka, within the area of the 19th-century development of Chrzanów. The north gable wall of the house touches the annexe of the neighbouring townhouse, yet it is withdrawn in relation to the line of the street and is surrounded by greenery with the so-called “geological garden” in it. The building is made of brick and set on a stone foundation. It is a one-storey, plastered structure with a habitable loft and basement in the west part. The house was built on an elongated rectangular plan with a recessed porch-shaped central section and wings to the sides. The interior layout is two-bay. It was transformed during renovation by removing some walls and creating large open spaces for exhibition purposes. The building is covered with a combined roof covered with ceramic interlocking tiles. The east front façade has seven axes and a symmetrical composition, despite various details. On the sides, there are triangularly closed wings with roofs having clearly protruding eaves. The north wing is a three-axis structure with a side entrance. The ground floor from the gable is separated by an intermediate cornice, and the gable parts along the eaves are decorated with a serrated frieze. The gable has one small window on the axis, and the corners of the ground floor walls are rusticated. The central part of the body has a three-axis veranda with an entrance. The veranda roof is supported on four wooden pillars connected at the top with wooden arcaded arches. Above the entrance, on the axis, there are wooden initials “U F.” Two flights of steps lead up to the veranda. They are set symmetrically on both sides of the landing. The steps have a wrought iron balustrade. The one on the veranda is wooded and fully boarded.

The site is open to visitors.

Author of the note Tomasz Woźniak, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Kraków 07/12/2015

Bibliography

• Decyzja nr(st. rej. Nr A- 1657/97 [A-695/M]z dn. 17-12-1997 r., w sprawie wpisania dobra kultury do rejestru zabytków nieruchomych województwa katowickiego, archiwum MWKZ Kraków
• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, vol. I, Województwo krakowskie, no. 4, Powiat chrzanowski, Warszawa 1952
• Krasnowolski B., Leksykon zabytków architektury Małopolski, Warszawa 2013
• Krasnowolski B., Zabytki i wartości kulturowe, [in:] Muzeum w Chrzanowie (ed.), Chrzanów, Studia z dziejów miasta, vol. 2, Chrzanów współczesny, part 1, Chrzanów 1999