History

The property consists of two premises. At the beginning of the 18th century, the property in today’s Pijarska Street belonged to the Lewkowicz family. It was occupied by a building built from bricks and wood. The Lewkowicz family sold the house to Wiktoria Kozłowska Nowińska, who sold the house to Urszula and Kazimierz Wojciechowski in 1776. At the beginning of the 18th century, the corner plot facing today’s Konarskiego Street belonged to Elżbieta and Bartłomiej Bienkiewicz. In 1733, it was sold to a Jesuit college. After the dissolution of the congregation in 1773, the property was taken over by the Piarists. In 1786, the Wojciechowski family bought the property from the Piarists. In the same year, a fire swept through Piotrków which destroyed the then existing townhouse in Pijarska Street. At the beginning of the 19th century, a brick townhouse was erected there. It had a shingled roof and was accompanied by wooden stables. The townhouse occupied both properties. In 1822, the property was put up for public auction and was bought by Tomasz Ebert. The next owners of the property were: Marianna Lehman née Roj, Marianna and Karol Drewicz and Fryderyk Hassenmajer. In the sale-related documents, it is mentioned that the property sold to Rozalia and Hipolit Kreske contained a brick building, covered with roof tiles, with utility buildings at the back. In 1889, the property was bought at a public auction by Maria Masłowska. The next owners were Franciszek Rejment, Franciszka and Karol Truszkowscy, Abram Świder, Anna Sałacińska, Cecylia and Antoni Damazy Zalewscy, Lejzer and Bajla Goldhersz. In 1939, the property was bought by Fiszer and Fajda Landau, who died during the Second World War. After the war, it was taken over by the State Treasury and is currently owned by the Municipality of Piotrków Trybunalski.

Description

The townhouse is located in the Old Town area, in the south-west corner of the quarter between the streets: Konarskiego (from the west), Pijarska (from the south), Krakowskie Przedmieście (from the east) and Grodzka (from the north). The property has the shape of an elongated rectangle placed along the east-west axis. The building is incorporated in the northern frontage of Pijarska Street and the eastern frontage of Konarskiego Street. The main entrance is from Konarskiego Street. Access to the property is provided through a gate in a solid brick fence, in the frontage of Pijarska Street. The gate has two wings and a wicket for pedestrians.

The building does not represent any style.

The townhouse was built on an L-shaped plan. The principal block facing Konarskiego Street is two-bay, with a single suite of rooms and a short wing facing Pijarska Street. On the axis of the principal block, there is a hallway and a staircase. The entire building is cellared.

Both wings are of equal height and have three storeys. The roofs are low. There is a gable roof over the principal block and a shed roof over the southern wing.

The building has two wings of equal height and two storeys, with a non-usable attic. The western wing has a three-hipped roof and a gable roof on the side facing Grodzka Street. The yard-facing southern elevation of the northern wing is adjoined by a two-storey annex with a porch. The porch provides access to the first floor.

The cellars of the building are made of solid ceramic bricks and fieldstones bound with lime mortar. The walls of the above-ground storeys are made from solid ceramic bricks bound with lime mortar. The walls are plastered inside and outside.

The cellars are topped with barrel vaults and barrel vaults with lunettes. The vaults are made from solid ceramic bricks bound with lime mortar. The above-ground storeys are covered with wooden beam ceilings, with a soffit, smoothly plastered with lime mortar, with a reed mat as a plaster base. In the hall and in the staircase, there are plastered Klein ceilings.

The roof truss above the principal block - wooden, purlin-collar beam, with purlins supported on four rows of queen posts. In the corner, the queen post extend to form the shed roof of the southern wing. The roof areas are covered with bituminous felt on the roof boarding.

In the cellar, there is a daub floor. On the ground floor, in the staircase and in the bathrooms built as a result of secondary alterations, there are terracotta or concrete walls. In other rooms, there are white plank floors on joists, partially covered with PVC flooring.

The balconies are supported by decorative cast iron corbels. The balustrades of balconies are made from straight metal bars. The balcony platforms are made from planks.

One-flight, quarter-turn stairs lead to the cellars. The stairs have winders and are made from bricks finished with a concrete screed. The brick stairs leading to the first floor are based on Klein ceilings, with wooden threads. The wooden balustrade is made from turned balusters and has a wooden, profiled handrail.

There are jambed, double, two-wing windows in PCV or wooden frames. Each wing is divided into three sections.

The doors are wooden, frame-panelled or planked, with one or two wings and a fanlight. The balcony doors are of a porte-fenêtre type, with a tiltable fanlight. In the cellars, there are wooden plank doors.

The front (western) elevation is six-axial, three-storey and asymmetrical. It is plastered with a smooth finish. The elevation is set on a foundation with a berm. The axes are accented by the rectangular openings. The main entrance is on the axis of the building. On both its sides, on the ground level, there is a rectangular cellar window. To the south of the door, two axes are accented by the window openings. To the north of the entrance, there are three window axes. Under each of the windows, there is a sill formed by a profiled section of the cornice. On the second storey, in the second axis from the north, there is a porte-fenêtre window and a balcony. The other axes are accented by the window openings. Under each of the windows, there is a sill formed by a profiled section of the cornice. The storey is crowned with a profiled, narrow string course. Above, the axes are separated by pilaster strips. In the second axis from the north, there is a porte-fenêtre window and a balcony. The other axes are accented by the window openings. The window openings are enclosed by profiled surrounds. Under the windows, there are sections of profiled cornice. The storey is crowned with an under-eaves cornice.

The southern elevation is three-storey, five-axial and asymmetrical. All axes are accented by the window openings. The elevation is articulated in a similar way as the western wall.

Property of the municipality. The building can be viewed from the outside.

Compiled by Agnieszka Lorenc-Karczewska, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Łódź 28 May 2020

Bibliography

• Pietrzak J., Record sheet of monuments of architecture and construction, 1996, Voivodeship Monuments Protection Office in Łódź, National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Warsaw,
• Głowacki K., Urbanistyka Piotrkowa Trybunalskiego, Piotrków Trybunalski – Kielce 1984.
• Kozalski A., Dokumentacja historyczno-archiwalna VII bloku zabudowy staromiejskiej, PKZ Kielce, typescript of the Voivodeship Monuments Protection Office in Łódź from 1988.