History

The older multi-storey front building currently used as a post office, adjacent to the Mortgage building, with a nine-axial façade, was built in the 1820s as a starting point for the development of the frontage of new Konstantego Street (now Sienkiewicza Street).

The street was created in cultivated agricultural land according to the regulatory plan of Kielce. The house, most probably originally used for residential purposes, was built by Andrzej Kosowicz, legal clerk working for the Government Commission for Revenues and Treasury of the Mining Department (Polish: Komisja Rządowa Przychodu i Skarbu Wydziału Górniczego) on land leased from the Mining Directorate in 1823.

In 1830, the property with the front building, masonry one-storey outbuilding, utility buildings and garden was purchased by the Directorate-General of the Post of the Kingdom of Poland, moving the post from Duża Street to that building. The plot had a square plan. The main post office building occupied only half of the front. Behind there was a yard with a well, surrounded by peripheral buildings, including an outbuilding, stables and carriage house. The western part of the plot was occupied by a garden, separated by a fence from the street. In 1837, the wood shingles on the roof of the main building were replaced with sheet metal cladding, and five years later windows were fitted with protective grilles. In 1874, the building underwent alterations according to a design by Alfons Welke, builder of the Kielce district. Four years later, the structure was extended by adding an outbuilding to accommodate passengers and lower-rank post officials, since post services also included transport of passengers at that time. Until 1918, the front area was occupied only by a building erected by Kosowicz. In the back of the property, on the western side, there was a masonry one-storey outbuilding linked to the building only by means of a corner. Prior to 1928, the front part was enlarged to the present state by adding a multi-storey annex with a chamfered corner between the old Post Office and the outbuilding. As a result of the construction of the residential district called Sienkiewiczowska Dzielnica Mieszkaniowa in the 1950s, part of the plot that was occupied by a garden was taken and part of the buildings belonging to the post office was dismantled to create a small urban square.

Description

The front masonry post office building is situated in the densely built-up area of the southern frontage of Sienkiewicza Street, on a corner plot at Sienkiewiczowska Dzielnica Mieszkaniowa square.

The older multi-storey building was built of stone and brick, on a rectangular floor plan, and covered with a gable roof. The structure has a symmetrical shape and basement. The interiors feature a two-bay layout, separated by a vaulted hallway on the axis (former gateway). The central classical front façade was accentuated by fitting it with surrounds in the form of lesenes supporting a pediment. The surrounds are built around pilaster surrounds of the main entrance and columns flanking the balcony door on the upper storey. The windows of the lower rusticated storey are placed in blind arcades, windows on the upper storey have pediments supported by corbels. The front façades of the corner annex dating from 1918-1928 were shaped similarly, but with slightly denser rustication, arcaded windows on the ground floor and entablature ornamented with consoles. The face of the chamfered corner is adorned with the symbol of the post office consisting of a post horn and sgraffito decorations depicting the image of Jan Kochanowski, made when designing the Sienkiewiczowska Dzielnica Mieszkaniowa square. The interior of the old post office has retained its basic layout of rooms from the first quarter of the 19th century and barrel vaults in the basements and hallway.

Limited access to the monument. The structure can be viewed from the outside. The service spaces of the post office are open to the public.

compiled by Anna Adamczyk, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Kielce, 04-12-2014.

Bibliography

• Record sheet, Budynek poczty, prepared by E. Traczyński, A. Jurkiewicz, R. Mirowski, H. Brylski, 2005, Archives of the Regional Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments in Kielce and of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Warsaw.
• “Gazeta Kielecka”, 1877, no. 87; 1878, no. 65; 1910 no. 78; 1914, no. 39.
• Adamczyk J. L., Przewodnik po zabytkach architektury i budownictwa Kielc, Kielce 1998, pp. 68-69.
• Adamczyk J. L., Wróbel T., Portrety zabytków Kielc, Kielce 2004, p. 38.
• Studium historyczno-urbanistyczne miasta Kielc, J. L. Adamczyka (ed.), vol. 9b, part 1, Kielce 1990, fig. 062116, typescript, Archives of the Regional Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments in Kielce.
• Szczepański J., Architekci i budowniczowie. Materiały, Warsaw-Cracow 1990, p. 160.
• Wrońska-Gorzkowska R., Gorzkowski E., Album Kielecki. Starówka, part II: Ulica Henryka Sienkiewicza, Kielce 1996, pp. 32-39.