History

Czarnecki Square is situated in the Old Town, at the north-west corner of the Market Square. It was established in 1819, when the area between the streets: Żydowska, Krótka and Kościelna was parcelled out into 10 plots. The square was called Nowy Rynek (New Market) and later Plac Maślany (Butter Square). The building at number 8 (now 7) had been built earlier. It was an inn called Under the Mother of God, because there was a painting of the Mother of God with the Child in the dormer window. The Inn belonged to Mr. Gruszkowski. In 1836, the corner plot and two adjacent plots were bought by the spouses Andrzej and Marianna Kinn. After Andrzej’s death, half of the property was inherited by Marianna Krochalska née Kinn and her children. In the 1870s, the property was sold to Jewish merchants. At the end of the 19th century, it belonged to the Bartenbach brothers. In 1897, it became the property of Bolesław and Amalia Bartenbach. In 1917, it was purchased by Josef and Gitla Perłowicz. In 1924, after Josef’s death, the property remained in the hands of the widow and their six children. Just before the Second World War, the property was owned by Szloma Perłowicz and then by Fajga Wołkowicz.

In the 20th century, the building housed butcher’s shops. In 1918, they were converted into warehouses.

Description

The house is located in the eastern frontage of the square. It is the third building from the south. It adjoins a two-storey townhouse from the south and a one-storey building from the north. From the west, the building is adjoined by a perpendicular one-storey connector linking it with the two-storey outbuilding. A gateway provides access to the yard from the south.

As a result of numerous alterations, the original stylistic features of the building have been blurred. Only the wall dormer has late Baroque features.

The two-bay building was erected on a floor plan of a rectangle. In the front part, there are three rooms entered directly from the street. The connector provides access to the suite of rooms at the back. Only the southern part of the building is cellared. Under the stairs in the hallway, there is an entrance leading to the cellars. A small, east-facing window provides natural light to the cellars. In the southern part of the attic, there is a separate habitable space.

The building is made from ceramic bricks bound with lime mortar and covered with plaster. In the cellars, there are barrel vaults. The passage connecting the front suite of rooms with the one at the back has a barrel vault too. The ceiling is made from wooden beams. The ceilings are plastered, with a reed mat used as a plaster base. The roof truss is wooden and has a rafter and collar structure. The roof is covered with galvanized sheet metal. The building has plank floors. In the front rooms and in the corridors, however, there are ceramic tile floors. One-flight, brick stairs lead to the cellar. The two-flight stairs leading to the habitable part of the attic are made of wood, with a stair well and a landing. Access to the non-habitable part of the attic is provided via winder stairs, with a railing consisting of wooden posts. The single and double-wing doors are frame-panelled. The front door is glazed, with a fanlight. The windows are modern, made of PVC, coupled. In the wall dormers, there are jambed, two-wing windows with a rectangular, tiltable fanlight. The building has one storey and is covered with a gable roof, with the roof ridge parallel to the road. On the axis of the building, in both surfaces of the roof, there are gabled wall dormers, contoured with a pattern resembling a trefoil. The wall dormers are covered with gable roofs. To the south of the wall dormer, in both surfaces of the roof, there are two windows topped with little gable roofs.

The front-western elevation. One-storey, set on a low plinth, smoothly plastered, six-axial, with an entrance on the third axis from the north. All the original openings have been altered and enlarged and are rectangular. In the wall dormer, there is a smaller, rectangular window, also a secondary one. The side walls of the wall dormer are topped with a stepped cornice.

The eastern elevation is one-storey, set on a high plinth, with six axes. The door on the third axis from the south is preceded by a one-storey connector. The windows are rectangular, inserted in openings splayed towards the inside. The wall dormer and the windows are identical to the ones at the front.

Private property. The building can be viewed from outside.

Compiled by Agnieszka Lorenc-Karczewska, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Łódź 8 June 2020

Bibliography

• Szelągowska E., Record sheet of monuments of architecture and construction, 1997, Voivodeship Monuments Protection Office in Łódź, National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Warsaw,
• Głowacki K., Urbanistyka Piotrkowa Trybunalskiego, Piotrków Trybunalski – Kielce 1984.