History of the structure

The building was erected at the beginning of the 20th century on the former Groß-Strehlitzerstraße, which started to develop after 1845, when the Wrocław-Tarnowskie Góry railroad line was brought to Opole. The 1902 city address book records “Construction Site” at this address. The tenement house was erected in the years 1902-1903. It was an investment of a certain Wolff. In 1909 the building was owned by Józef Staletz, and in 1926 it belonged to Maria Rüter. The building housed mostly railroad workers - clerks, craftsmen and labourers.

After the end of World War II, the tenement house became the property of the State Treasury. After 1945, minor renovations were made and the apartments were newly divided. In 2001 the building was entered into the register of historic monuments of the Opolskie Voivodeship.

Description of the structure

The tenement house is located in the downtown of Opole, in its south-eastern part. It is a corner building located at the intersection of Armii Krajowej and Dubois Streets. It lies a short distance from the town market and south-west of the Opole Główne railroad station. It is adjoined to the west by buildings on the northern frontage of Armii Krajowej Street, and to the north by an internal courtyard.

The four-story building was erected in the eclectic style on an L-shaped plan with slightly protruding side avant-corps in the front elevation and a truncated corner at the street intersection. It is a brick building with a basement and a flat roof, mono-pitched on the street side, covered with roof tiles. In the roof slope there are six dormer windows, triangular in shape, covered with separate roofs. The first floor and rear elevations were plastered, and the higher elevations were faced with façade brick.

The front elevation is located from Armii Krajowej and Dubois Streets. The ten-axis southern elevation (front) is articulated with a separate plinth zone, a cordon cornice on the line of the ceiling of the first floor, a window cornice on the second floor and an under-eaves cornice. Additionally, the elevation is divided by vertical and horizontal plaster strips, separating the avant-corps. The windows are rectangular in shape with profiled window surrounds. On the ground floor, above the windows, there are semi-circular pediments and keystones. In the second storey, a shell motif is visible in the pediment fields. At the truncated corner in the second and third storeys there are balconies with metal balustrades in the form of a grid bulging outward. Noteworthy is the Art Nouveau, stylized head of a woman placed in a triangular pediment, placed above the third-storey window.

The front elevation from Dubois Street is seven-axial - with divisions similar to the elevation from Armii Krajowej Street. The rear elevation is five-axis, styleless, without divisions. On the extreme axis is the entrance to the building with a wooden single-leaf door.

The interior of the building is two-route, styleless, rebuilt.

Visitor access: the site is accessible, inhabited

Author: Joanna Banik, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Opole, 17.07.2018

Bibliography

• Borkowski M., Opole przełomu wieków XIX/XX, Łódź 2015.
• Hamada A., Architektura Opola wpisana w dzieje miasta, Opole 2008.
• Studium historyczno-urbanistyczne miasta Opola, Katalog zabytków – Opole Wschód, PKZ Wrocław 1990 [in:] resources of the Voivodeship Heritage Protection Office in Opole.
• Karta ewidencyjna zabytków architektury i budownictwa: dom mieszkalny (kamienica) Armii Krajowej 6 w Opolu [Record sheet of architectural and construction monuments: a residential house (tenement house) at 6 Armii Krajowej Str. in Opole], compiled by W. Żurakowski, 2001 [in:] resources of the Voivodeship Heritage Protection Office in Opole.