History

The first development in the plot goes back to the 14th century.After 1527 the building housed a pharmacy. The rear section of the house, facing ul. Stolarska, was called the Abramowska house after Abraham of Gorzyce. This part of the edifice was later owned by Łukasz and Zbigniew Lanckoroński from Wodzisław. Jan Wodzisławski sold it in 1534 to the printing house owner Wolfgang Lern. The square market part was owned by families involved in the pharmacy business, Alantsee, Zajdlicz (1607-1646), and Pernus (until 1678). Alterations were probably carried out at the turn of the 16th century and again in the mid-17th century and in the 1670s. The structure was reinforced, and the interior was upgraded. Tradition has it that the house hosted the envoys of the Venetian Republic visiting Kraków. The Renaissance sculpture of the Lion of St Mark (lost at the beginning of the 20th century) was though to confirm that. In 1699 the house was purchased by the Wieliczka salt mine enterprise, but around 1710 it returned into the hands of the local bourgeoisie. In the years 1718-1744, it was owned by a Florentine sculptor, Francisco Toriani; it also housed a spice store. In 1809 it was remodelled in the classicist style for the cloth merchant Józef Leopold Wasserab according to the design by Szczepan Humbert. Later, his daughters, Katarzyna Matakiewiczowa, wife of a notary and university professor, and Józefa, married to Leon Chwalibogowski, became the owners of the “deep house” with two courtyards. In 1851 the annexes burnt down in 1850 were rebuilt. The historical Venetian House was demolished, despite the opposition of architects and conservators, to give way to the construction of a new townhouse as it is today. 

Description

Five-storey and three-axis façade with modernist decoration, completed at the beginning of the 20th century. Old relics retained only at the basement level (all surface levels were demolished). The house was erected in the years 1913-1917 according to the design by Adolf Siódmak. A new multi-wing edifice was built, loosely alluding to the layout of the former townhouse. This impressive façade (the highest in the east side of the market square) contains a high attic, a set of floors and a two-level lower section (with a balcony). The decoration of the courtyard wall refers to Venetian Renaissance architecture.

The site is partly available: freely from the outside (including Bielak Arcade) but inside only during the working hours of the stores and institutions.

Author of the note Roman Marcinek, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Kraków 20/04/2016

Bibliography

• Dyba O., Kraków. Zabytki architektury i budownictwa, Warszawa 2007
• Encyklopedia Krakowa, Warszawa – Kraków 2000.
• Fabiański M., Purchla J., Historia architektury Krakowa w zarysie, Kraków 2001
• Komorowski W., Sudacka A., Rynek Główny w Krakowie, Ossolineum 2008
• Komorowski W., Pałace miejskie Krakowa 1. połowy XIX w., “Teki Krakowskie”, vol. XIII
• Rożek M., Przewodnik po zabytkach i kulturze Krakowa, Kraków 1993
• Marcinek R., Kraków, Kraków 2001