It is an important element - in terms of historic value - of the Sienkiewicza Street development in Opole.

History of the structure

The building was erected at the end of the 19th century on what was then Gartenn Strasse and was intended as rental housing. In accordance with its original purpose, the building performs this function to this day. The building has preserved its original shape and architectural decor of the façade in eclectic style with elements referring to Gothic architecture (gable), the Renaissance (window frames on the second floor), Baroque (gable crowned with an interrupted pediment), Classicism (canopies on the first floor windows and decoration under the ground floor windows) and Art Nouveau (female head decorating the lesene at the level of the second floor window base). In the interwar period, the apartment at 34 Sienkiewicza Street housed, among others, attorney Paweł Kwoczek (1904-1975) with his wife Maria (1908-2004) and their children. Both spouses were prominent Polish activists from the Union of Poles in Germany.

Description of the structure

The building is located on the east side of Sienkiewicza Street, in the vicinity of Sądowa Street and the prison. A neighbouring tenement house adjoins it to the south, with an inner courtyard to the east. It is a brick, plastered, three-story building with a usable attic, a full basement, and a gable roof. The tenement house, which was built on an elongated rectangular floor plan on the north-south axis, is divided from the north by a staircase avant-corps, in the ground floor of which the main entrance is located. The elevations were plastered smoothly with the architectural decor in plaster. The western (front) elevation is 3-axial, asymmetrical, articulated with a separate plinth zone and horizontal inter-storey cornices on the level of the first and second storey, as well as a cornice under the window on the third storey. The windows of the ground floor are set in segmented vaulted shallow blind windows, with relief decorations below them in panels. Triangular pediments were placed over the windows of the first storey. The windows of the third storey were framed with surrounds. The axes are marked by rectangular double-section window openings and, on the right-hand side, by single-section window openings The lesene decorated with a female head supporting a double volute situated between double window axes is particularly noteworthy. The entire building is surrounded by a crowning cornice supported on corbels, a fragment of which is marked by a dentil frieze. The left axis of the main façade is closed by a triangular stepped gable with a small bay window in the middle.

Visitor access: the site is accessible to visitors

Author: Joanna Banik, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Opole, 24.09.2018

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. Sienkiewicza 34 w Opolu, compiled by Z. Łabęcki, 1986 [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.
• Wspomnienia Opolan, ed. W. Kornatowski and K. Malczewski, Warsaw 1960.