History of the structure

The present Koraszewskiego Street already appeared in 15th century documents of the city of Opole. In 1594, there were 38 houses on this street, in 1648 - 41 houses, and in 1722 - 42 houses. Some of them were included in the Market Square in 1723.

The three-story building was erected between 1750 and 1815 at what was then Oder Strasse 3 and was intended to house rental apartments and commercial services on the ground floor. The house was built on an elongated rectangular floor plan on the east-west axis and was covered with a flat roof of wooden construction.

In the 1880s, the tenement house was rebuilt. The eastern front wall, which was given a classicizing and eclectic character, dates from this period.

In the interwar period, the building housed a restaurant owned by D. Scholtissek and a cloth store. Both places advertised in Polish newspapers of the time: in “Gazeta Opolska” and “Nowiny”. This address was important for Poles in the German Oppeln, because opposite Mr Scholtissek’s restaurant there was a well-known German hotel “Zum Schwarzen Adler”, and nearby (at Oder Strasse 6) the editorial office of the Polish “Gazeta After 1945, the building continued to serve as a residential and service building. The ground floor housed stores and in the 1960s a bookstore. The technical condition of the building was so bad that in the late 1970s a decision was made to demolish it. The façade was left, recommending that it be restored and incorporated into the new building. This was done. In 1982, the façade was entered in the register of historic monuments of the Opolskie Voivodeship. In 1984, the building was demolished and the front elevation was propped up, renovated and incorporated into a new building that was completed in 1990.

Description of the structure

The historic façade of the building is located in the north-western part of the Old Town, within the compact development of the western frontage of Koraszewskiego Street, at the exit of the street to the market square. The front elevation faces the west and is made of brick with limestone mortar and is entirely plastered. Maintained in eclectic style, it is a material record of the historical development of the market frontage.

The façade has four storeys and the last level is marked by a mezzanino. The ground floor level is mainly defined by display windows and the entrance opening located on the right side of the façade. During the modernization of the ground floor, one of the two entrance openings that once led into the building was removed. Additional elements of vertical articulation are pilasters with composite capitals, placed symmetrically on both sides of the elevation. The level of the first and subsequent storeys is closed by simple string courses. Above the first floor, the elevation has three axes and the axes are marked by rectangular window openings. They are mainly present in the window surrounds, which are widened on the sides with lesene supporting volute corbels with pediments above them. At the level of the first storey, the window surrounds were extended into window sills and the openings were closed with rounded triangular window headers. The windows of the second storey are much more modest: smooth rectangular panels between the corbels, topped with supported cornice sections decorated with teardrop and palmette ornamentation. The mezzanine axes are defined by pairs of rectangular windows. The façade is crowned by a prominent and richly decorated cornice, consisting of a rhythmic sequence of corbels decorated with acanthus leaves; the frieze part is serrated and teardrop-shaped, with a palmette ornament in the upper part of the cornice.

Visitor access: The monument is open to visitors.

Author: Joanna Banik, Katarzyna Latocha, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Opole, 19.11.2018

Bibliography

• Borkowski M., Opole przełomu wieków XIX/XX, Łódź 2015.
• Hamada A., Architektura Opola wpisana w dzieje miasta, Opole 2008.
• Idzikowski F., Opole – dzieje miasta do 1863 roku, Opole 2002.
• Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, ed. T. Chrzanowski, M. Kornecki, Vol. VII (Opolskie Voivodeship), Warsaw 1968.
• Karta ewidencyjna zabytków architektury i budownictwa: budynek mieszkalny ul. Koraszewskiego 3 w Opolu, compiled by P. Godlewski, 1995 [in:] resources of the Voivodeship Heritage Protection Office in Opole.
• Studium historyczno-urbanistyczne miasta Opola, Vol. 2: Katalog zabytków – Opole Śródmieście, PKZ Wrocław 1990, [in:] resources of the Voivodeship Heritage Protection Office in Opole.