History

In the mid- 18th century a wooden town hall was located on one of the frontages of the market square. The current one was built in the years 1765-1767, probably to the design of Jan Zygmunt Deybel. It was expanded by adding two side wings in the years 1784-1787, upon initiative of Aleksandra Ogińska and to the design of Bogumił Schutz. The building performed commercial and administrative functions. It was damaged by fires in 1789 and 1877. After the destruction of World War II, it was rebuilt between 1945 and 1952. In the years 1985-1987 it underwent renovation. Currently, it houses a Regional Museum in Siedlce.

Description

The town hall is located in the centre of the city, along the main north-south axis of the market square. Erected in the Baroque-Classicist style, on a cross plan, with a massive octagonal tower in a central position. The floor plan of the building has a symmetric two-bay arrangement. The main corpus, set on the Greek cross plan, with chamfered corners includes a large quadrangular hall accessible through entrances in chamfered corners between the corpus and avant-corps. Suites of former stands adjoin the main corpus on both sides, on a T-shaped plan. Pass-through halls are found at the corpus. Stands that are perpendicular to the corpus have a single bay. Other stands are two-bay ones. The town hall plan is a wide-front, centripetal one, with an enfilade arrangement of rooms. The building’s body has a distinctive, two-storey main corpus, over which there is an octagonal tower crowned with a wooden part on; a quadrangular, wooden corpus with chamfered corners, much narrower than the masonry tower, there is a quadrangular obelisk with a figure of Atlas, dubbed “Jack.” On a longitudinal axis, one-storey, T-shaped, perpendicular rooms are added to the main corpus; they are covered with hip roofs with dormers. Roof covers project by 30 cm before the walls’ face. The building is made of solid bricks and rests on a foundation made of fieldstones, bound by means of lime mortar. The walls are built of solid ceramic bricks and are plastered on both sides. There are cross-barrel ceilings in the basement and on the ground floor; ceramic ceilings on the second storey. Concrete stairs clad with marble boards. Wooden, spiral stairs lead from the second storey to the tower and attic. The roof truss is made of wood, has a rafter-collar beam structure and is supported by queen posts. The roof is covered with copper sheet. Two-wing, box windows: six-field ones on the ground floor, segment-headed on the second storey, ten-field with semicircular arches in the tower; four-field dormers. Internal and external wooden doors, one and two-wing; external doors with transom light. All façades partitioned by Tuscan pilasters, rusticated in avant-corps and on corners, with frame demarcations and semi-circularly cut corners in the upper part. Avant-corps windows in chambranle surrounds, segment-headed, with cornices. On corners, the tower is rusticated, crowned with a corbel cornice, surrounded by a gallery with an iron balustrade, accentuated with pedestals surmounted by amphorae on each corner. A quadrangular upper part with chamfered corners accentuated with pairs of pilasters; upon them - entablature with a triglypgh frieze and a cornice. The entire building is crowned with an obelisk with a figure of Atlas carrying a gold plated ball.

The structure is open to visitors, during the working hours of the Regional Museum in Siedlce.

Compiled by Katarzyna Kosior, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Warsaw, 27-10-2014.

Bibliography

• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, Tom X Województwo Warszawskie, zeszyt 22 powiat siedlecki, Instytut Sztuki PAN, Warszawa 1965 r.
• Karta ewidencyjna zabytku architektury i budownictwa tzw Karta Biała, L. Piotrowski, 1992 r.
• Atlas Zabytków Architektury w Polsce, H. Faryna-Paszkiewicz, M. Omilanowska, R. Pasieczny, Wydawnictwo naukowe PWN. Warszawa 2003 r.
• J. Żabicki, Leksykon zabytków architektury Mazowsza i Podlasia, Arkady, Warszawa 2010 r.
• S. Kordaczuk, Pejzaż Siedlec z „Jackiem” w tle, Siedlce 2006 r.