History

The construction of the tenement house is attributed to Maciej Gilba, who was the cook of the owner of the town, Kajetan Sołtyka, bishop of Cracow. The façade facing the market square was decorated with a stone polychrome relief plaque preserved to this day, depicting the Sołtyk coat of arms consisting of an eagle, and the second larger plaque which was removed by the Germans during World War 2, bearing the inscription known from historical records: KROLU NIEBIESKI / TEMU BŁOGOSŁAW DOMOWI / NA KTÓRYM ZŁOTY ORZEŁ / W GORZE SIĘ STANOWI / NIECHAJ DOM SKRZYDŁAMI / JEGO ZASŁONIONY OD ZŁYCH PRZYPADKÓW / NIE ZAZNA WSZELAKIEJ SZKODY / 1767 ANNO. The tenement house was erected on the corner of the chartered town market square and one of the oldest streets called “Mała” as early as in 1668. In 1766, Gilba funded a stone statue of St. Thecla in front of his property; in the first half of the 19th century the statue mas moved to the square adjacent to the market square, which was named after the statute. In the late 18th century, the tenement house belonged to Jan Saul, merchant of wine; in 1803 it was owned by Franiszek Escher Ferleger, and then to Jakub Franek and his successors. After the fire of Kielce in 1800, the roof of the damaged tenement house underwent alteration from a gable room with a gable facing the market square to a hip roof. According to the description from 1845, the proportions of the building were similar to the current ones. At the back of the house there was a masonry multi-storey outbuilding separated by a yard and the present house at 2 Mała Street. Both buildings were connected by means of a wooden gallery hanging over the courtyard. Some of the rooms of the tenement house were vaulted. In the courtyard there was a well and masonry sewers. In 1866, the property was owned by Antoni Schwartz who ran there a famous winery. His widow, Wanda, married Rudzki. Since 1920, the tenement house belonged to the Jewish Kahane that contemporaneously regained it. In 1959, the pillar supporting the arcade of the tenement house collapsed together with the vault and the entire corner of the upper storey. At that time, the house was reconstructed and repaired, some of the vaults were removed, and the basement was enlarged.

Description

The tenement house is situated in the densely built-up area of the southern frontage of the market square, on a corner plot of land, by the junction with Mała Street. It was built of stone and brick, in the form of a multi-storey cuboid covered with a tall hip roof. The narrower side of it projects from the frontage with an arcade supported by piers, consisting of basket-handle arches, and open on three sides. The arcade supports the upper storey. The façades are plastered, enclosed by a stone plinth, and crowned with a massive cornice under the eaves. Two front bays of the arcade are covered with a double barrel vault, separated by a massive arch, and cover the main entrance to the building framed by an arcaded Late Baroque portal made of sandstone (identical to the portal on the Church of St. Adalbert in Kielce). The upper storey of the façade is distinguished by chambranle surrounds of four windows decorated with overhanging pediments and polychrome relief bearing the Sołtyk coat of arms. The articulation of the side façade of the tenement house facing Mała Street is limited to rectangular windows with surrounds, arranged axially in two zones of the ground floor and first floor. The interior of the ground floor has retained its old layout with a hallway to the east, narrowing significantly towards the courtyard, running along three rooms arranged in an enfilade. Only the first front room is covered with a double barrel vault. The basement is under almost the whole tenement house, but only two northern localities have retained barrel vaults.

Service and residential building; part of the ground floor and first floor is open to visitors.

compiled by Anna Adamczyk, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Kielce, 10-12-2014.

Bibliography

• National Archives in Kielce, files of the Insurance Directorate, ref. no. 133, pp. 349-358.
• Adamczyk J. L., Rynek w Kielcach. Przekształcenia przestrzenne i zabudowa mieszczańska Kielc lokacyjnych w XVII-XIX wieku, Kielce 1993, pp. 31-32, 67, fig. 40, 49, 50.
• Adamczyk J.L., Wróbel T., Kielce portrety zabytków, Kielce 2008, p. 35.
• Miks N., Podcienia rynku kieleckiego. “Ochrona Zabytków”, 1954, no. 2, p. 131.
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, vol. 3. Województwo kieleckie, issue 4. Powiat kielecki, prepared by Przypkowski T., Warsaw 1957, p. 40.