History

The existing palace was built by the von Szczutowsky family probably in 1879. The only remnant of the earlier, 18th-century residence of the owners of the Jakubowice estate is the basement. In 1937 the palace was in the hands of Maria Seeger von Szczutowsky, and after WW2 is was occupied by the offices of the local state-owned farm. After 1993 the estate was taken over by the Agency of Agricultural Property of the State Treasury. Today the palace is held by a private owner, and since 2003 it has been accommodating a nursing home.

Description

The palace sits in the west part of the village. It is swaddled by a landscape park; north-east of it, there are the old grange buildings.

The palace was built on the plan of a polygon made up of a rectangle with its longer side on the north-south axis, with an extension in the north-west, and two quadrilateral towers differing in size in the corners of the east façade. A three-sided avant-corps is added on the front side of the larger tower (north). The entrance to the palace is through a high set of steps with a terrace.

The building is made of brick and plastered. It was erected essentially as a two-storey building with a three-storey north tower, high cellars and a loft. The interior layout is a two-bay system with the hall and staircase shifted slightly north in relation to the transverse axis of the building. Originally, in the front bay, the chambers were arranged in an enfilade layout.

The palace has different roofs: the body is covered with a hipped roof with dormers on the front and on the side; the central avant-corps is covered with a pyramidal roof and towers with pyramid cupolas. The cupola of the north tower has a vane dated 1879; the cupola of the south tower and the avant-corps are topped by metal, openwork fleurons.

The front façade of the palace is a 12-axis, non-symmetrical pattern (1+4+3+2+2) where the extreme axes include the towers and the central ones are in the slightly protruding entrance avant-corps. The vertical articulation of the façade is imposed by cornices: an inter-storey cornice in the form of an aedicula frieze with floral themes and a prominent crowning cornice. The dominant vertical element is the entrance avant-corps, preceded by a set of steps and a terrace; it has a form of a two-storey, semicircularly terminated niche with a heraldic cartouche placed above. The ground floor façade is adorned with belt rustication. The window openings are varied on each level: at the basement and ground floor, they are rectangular, above semicircular in plaster surrounds with keystones and wedges, over them, there are sections of window header. The last level of the north tower exhibits three semicircular window openings with surrounds with a keystone. The other façade show similar articulation.

The interior of the palace have been converted over the years and adapted to the most recent function - a nursing home. Some original features have been maintained, such as a tiled stove in the hallway and door joinery.

Privately-owned facility - Nursing Home, limited access.

Compiled by Aleksandra Ziółkowska, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Opole, 06-08-2015.

Bibliography

• Zapomniane zabytki. Dwory i pałace wiejskie południowej Polski. Śląsk Opolski, t.1 , E. Molak, I. Racławicki, Opole 2008, s. 121-126
• Karta ewidencyjna zabytku architektury - Pałac, Jakubowice, oprac. D. Stoces, 2003 r., Arch. WUOZ w Opolu
• http://www.palac-jakubowice.pl/jak-pol.html (05.08.2015 r.)