History

The villa was built by Julian Zubrzycki, the originator of the resort in Rabka, as one of the first spa houses probably around 1864. It is marked on the cadastral plan from ca. 1880 and on the resort plan from 1888. In the prime time of the resort, it was inhabited by the intelligentsia and landowners of Galicia and the Kingdom of Poland who would arrive in Rabka as patients. In the interwar period, it was a guesthouse. After 1945, it was converted to accommodate offices and tenement apartments. In the years 1969-1970, major alteration works were carried out. The interior divisions were partly removed, and the façades were boarded. Currently, the building houses apartments, offices and the Municipal Culture Centre with the Under the Angel Gallery (Galeria Pod Aniołem).

Description

The villa is situated on a slope in a park, facing ul. Parkowa.  It is an outstanding example of the “health and spa style” from the earliest period of operation of the health resort, inspired by Tyrolean and Swiss architectural styles. The villa is built on the plan of an elongated rectangle, with avant-corpse porches in the front and back façades and extra porches protruding in front of the side façades. The original interior layout was two-bay with the vestibule on the axis; it was partially distorted during the adaptation from the years 1969-1970. This is a one-level building with a habitable attic, partially with a basement. It is rested on a stone and brick levelling foundation. It has a gable roof with eaves supported on profiled rafter tips and with protruding planes at the gables. In both roof panes on the central axis, the frontages are covered with a shared gable roof with a ridge perpendicular to the ridge of the roof. On the sides of the frontages, there are dormers covered with gable roofs: four in the front and two in the back plane. A wooden, log structure villa, horizontally boarded with brown painted planks. The roof is clad in metal tiles. The front façade has seven axes and is symmetrical; in the central part, it is highlighted with a three-axis, two-level porch resting on pillars and connected to the entrance vestibule and the frontage with a separate shed roof. The porch has openwork balustrades cut out in planks. The eastern side façade is symmetrical and preceded by a porch along the entire width of the ground floor and a balcony in the central part of the gable. The west side façade is similar. The windows are double-leaf, eight-light in decorative frames painted dark brown.

The structure can be accessed from inside and outside.

Author of the note Olga Dyba, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Kraków 15/02/2016

Bibliography

• Matuszczyk A., Trybowska E., Rabka i okolice. Przewodnik i informator turystyczny, Rabka Zdrój 2001.
• Kowalczyk K., Rapta M., Moskal G., Szlaga J., Rabka Juliana Zubrzyckiego. Rabka Zdrój 2012.
• Ceklarz K., Ceklarz J., Gaweł J., Kuczaj P., Urbanowski H., Złote lata Rabki. Rabka Zdrój 2014.