History

In the second half of the 15th century, the existing buildings were divided into two brick houses, Wolfklajnowski and Sznukowski. The south house was owned by merchants, among them Wolf Klein. Their initials, along with the date of 1570, are still visible on the vault of the vestibule. This is the date of reconstruction closed with the vertical extension at the end of the century. Another renovation and an early Baroque upgrade was carried out in the second quarter of the 17th century: a portal was added to the façade and window frames on the first floor (in the rear façade). The owners were the Puckers; after them the Remers, who combined the market square house with house no. 3 in ul. Szewska. In the 16th and early 17th centuries, the north house was the property of the Cyrus family. In the mid-17th century, it went into the hands of the Sznoks (or Sznuks), wax merchants, originally from Gdańsk. They sold the house to the Romanowicz family. The next owner was Mayor Andrzej Cieniowic. In the years 1699-1734 the house was held by the Ożarowski family.

In 1736 the Kraków magistrate Facchinetti bought the ruined houses, renovated and merged them, and added the missing part of the 3rd floor (on the north side). The enlarged building was purchased by the Winkler family, book sellers and publishers, running a profitable store in the Cloth Hall. The last owner from the family was Bonawentura Winkler, the chamberlain of Halych. Temporarily, the property was held by Kajetan Sołtyk, the bishop of Kraków. In the 1770s, he was considering the purchase of the entire line of houses from ul. Szczepańska to ul. Szewska (he intended to erect a grand bishop’s palace). At the end of the 18th century, the building housed an exchange office run by Wincenty Lewiński, who also owned the house at ul. Szewska 3. The wealthy banker decided to but the house from Winkler. The transaction was closed by his daughter Barbara and son-in-law Jan Gloger (1792). After Gloger’s death in 1803, the house was inherited by the children, Antonina, Regina, Jan, and Apolonia. Apolonia, together with her husband Andrzej Szulc, took over the house from their siblings and renovated it in 1824; the annexe was renewed in 1846. She handed the house down to her daughter and son-in-law, Caspar Reiner. They opened a haberdashery, “known for a wealth of needles, threads, and beads.” The upgrades from the years 1881-1901 caused profound changes that were perpetuated by the renovations carried out in 1913 and 1925. The neoclassical façade has survived from that period. At the end of the 1980s, the building was converted to accommodate a bank. The project assumed the removal of almost all historical equipment.

Description

A four-storey, four-axis building with a preserved portal. A simple, neoclassical façade. Major renovation was held in the years 1985-1995 to adapt the house to the needs of a new tenant, Bank Pekao SA. The 4th floor was added and closely connected with the corner building at Rynek Główny 31.

The site is partly available: freely from the outside 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
• Rożek M., Przewodnik po zabytkach i kulturze Krakowa, Kraków 1993
• Marcinek R., Kraków, Kraków 2001