Poznaj lokalne zabytki


Wyraź zgodę na lokalizację i oglądaj zabytki w najbliższej okolicy

Zmień ustawienia przeglądarki aby zezwolić na pobranie lokalizacji
This website is using cookies. Learn more.

Town hall - Zabytek.pl

Town hall


town hall 19th century Rawa Mazowiecka

Address
Rawa Mazowiecka, Plac Marszałka Piłsudskiego 5

Location
woj. łódzkie, pow. rawski, gm. Rawa Mazowiecka (gm. miejska)

An example of Classicist public architecture.The town house was built according to a design of B. Witkowski in the period of the Kingdom of Poland.

History

Until the 1820s, the central point of the market square in Rawa Mazowiecka was a wooden town hall, which also housed an inn and butcher stalls. In the absence of archaeological research, it is not possible to determine its precise location or appearance. At the beginning of the 19th century, the technical condition of the wooden building was so bad that it was no longer used.

Wooden buildings were being replaced with masonry ones as part of the action plan introduced by the authorities of the Kingdom of Poland to regulate and expand towns and cities. This provided an additional incentive for the authorities of Rawa authorities to replace the ruined building with a modern, spacious and more elegant building. In addition, it was to be used only by officials and clerks and the stalls were to be moved elsewhere.

The new town hall was designed by Bonifacy Witkowski in 1820. The building was to be erected on a plot of land purchased especially for that purpose, in the southern frontage of the market square. Land plots in this area could be purchased at an advantageous price, because they were hardly any buildings there. The construction works began in 1822 and were completed in 1824.

Additional investments, such as the installation of the clock on the tower or building utility buildings at the back of the property, lasted until the 1830s.

Due to poor workmanship and bad quality building materials, the town hall required frequent renovations and repairs after it had been put into use. As early as in the 1840s, the roof covering was replaced and part of the attic was removed. Between 1859 and 1861, the building was extended south-west. The extension works were accompanied by another renovation of the existing part. The enlarged building was more comfortable for staff. It was large enough to accommodate a guardhouse, prison, municipal treasury and even the apartment of the mayor. One of the important elements of the town hall was the clock tower. It was removed during one of the renovations, much to the irritation of the residents. At their request, the tower was rebuilt during the next extension of the building. It survived until the Second World War II, when it was destroyed. Between 2005 and 2006, the building underwent another renovation and the tower was reconstructed yet again.

Description

The building occupies a corner plot in the southern frontage of the market square, with one wing situated at the end of Kopernika Street.

The town hall in Rawa is an example of a building constructed in accordance with the guidelines issued by the authorities of the Kingdom of Poland in the town regulation process. It was situated in the frontage, and not in the middle of the market, as had been the practice before. The town hall stands out from other buildings with its clock tower, articulation of the elevations and its deeply recessed portico, which was often used in public buildings. The architect created a design based on a Neoclassical model that was popular at that time, in giant order.

One-storey building, erected on an L-shaped floor plan. The building is made of brick with lime mortar. It is plastered on both sides. It has a wooden roof truss and is covered with a gable roof.

The north-eastern elevation, visible from Piłsudzkiego Square, serves as the façade. It is asymmetrical, two-storey and seven-axial. Its central element is the recessed portico resting on two Tuscan columns that support the solid entablature. Its extreme axes are flanked by doubled pilasters. The main rectangular entrance opening is situated in the central part of the portico. The window openings are rectangular too. They are placed in shallow recesses. On the ground floor, the recesses are terminated with arches, arranged rhythmically into an arcade-like sequence. In the westernmost axis, on the wall, there is a plaque commemorating important dates in the history of the town. The eastern elevation (situated along Kopernika Street) has five axes, accented by the window openings arranged in a similar way as in the façade. The southern part of the wing situated in Kopernika Street is a three-storey building, whose top storey contains a usable attic illuminated by a window. The southern (yard-facing) elevation of the wing at Piłsudskiego Square has five axes. In the second axis from the west, there is a staircase placed in a polygonal avant-corps. In the corner of the wings of the building, there is a single-storey extension. The yard-facing elevations in both wings have a cornice dividing the two storeys. All elevations are crowned with a crowning cornice.

The interiors have been altered in contemporary times. In some of the rooms, there are surviving stucco decorations (south-eastern part of the building).

The town hall can be visited during its working hours.

Compiled by Anna Michalska, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Łódź. 14 February 2020

Bibliography

  • Kusztelski A., Town Hall in Rawa Mazowiecka, Łódź 1978, typescript, historical and architectural documentation made available to the Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Łódź
  • Kalinowski W., Trawkowski St., Przebudowa Rawy Mazowieckiej w okresie konstytucyjnym Królestwa Polskiego (1815-1830) [in:] Studia z historii budowy miast, Warszawa 1955
  • Kubiak J., Rawa Mazowiecka, program konserwatorski [in:] Ochrona Zabytków, Warszawa 1980, no. 1
  • Kubiak J., Historical and urban study for the town spatial development plan, Warsaw 1964, typescript in the collection of the Voivodeship Monuments Protection Office in Łódź
  • Bartczakowa A., Ratusze klasycystyczne na Mazowszu [in:] Biuletyn Historii Sztuki, 1963, no. 2
  • Katalog zabytków sztuki, woj. łódzkie, Warszawa 1954
  • Katalog zabytków architektury, województwo skierniewickie, Warszawa 1996
  • Poradowski R., Rawa Mazowiecka i okolice, Rawa 1997
  • Ziemia rawska w fotografii i pocztówce, Rawa 2010
  • Pazyra S., Geneza i rozwój miast mazowieckich , Warszawa 1959
  • Rawa w kolorze sepii, fotografie ze starego albumu, Rawa 1998.
  • Zarys dziejów Rawy do końca 1973 r., edited by S. M. Zajączkowski, Łódź 1975

Category: town hall

Architecture: Classicism

Building material:  brick

Protection: Register of monuments, Monuments records

Inspire id: PL.1.9.ZIPOZ.NID_N_10_BK.127442, PL.1.9.ZIPOZ.NID_E_10_BK.179262