History

The luxurious villa in ul. Grunwaldzka was built in the years 1907-1909 by Count Andrzej Potocki, co-owner of the Mining and Steelworks in Siersza (now a neighbourhood of Trzebinia), for the then director of the Artur Coal Mine, Antoni Schimitzk. The designer is unknown. Perhaps, it might have been a joint effort of the architect Kazimierz Wyczyński and the stained glass artist Henryk Uziębła from Kraków. The villa furnishings and equipment were displayed at the exhibition, Architecture and Interiors in a Garden Setting, organised the Polish Applied Arts Society in 1912. The villa was home to successive mine directors until WW2. After the war, it served as a kindergarten (until 1960), then the seat of the Association of Mining Engineers and Technicians, and the Chief Technical Organisation (abbreviated in Polish as “NOT”). The building has since been commonly referred to as the “NOT villa,” although since 1984 it has been a culture centre.

Description

The villa at ul. Grunwaldzka 29 in Trzebinia-Siersza sits within a park and garden complex in its south-east corner. It is a brick, plastered building with a basement, built on the plan of an elongated quadrilateral. The body of the building is asymmetrical and irregular. It consists of two-storey, perpendicularly arranged wings with jerkinhead, gable roofs covered with metal sheet. The east wing has an oval, open loggia and an arcaded entrance with flattened arches supported by a small column and pillars. The shorter sides of the building are extended by porches; in the east, there is a shallow avant-corps supporting the balcony. The façade is decorated with a simple cornice separating the floors. The dominant artistic form defining the style of the building is the window joinery in the shape of large rectangles divided geometrically with pane dividers. The interiors feature materials typical of Young Poland artists: stained glass and mosaics as well as glass in combination with wood and metal. Some the interiors exhibit the original wooden wall veneer combined with fabric and ceramic floors. The historical pieces of interior equipment are two stained-glass windows by Henryk Uziembło and two oil paintings, one Uziembło’s and the other Jerzy Poszowski’s. Next to the villa, there is a gardener’s house, which, together with the relics of the former park, complements the picturesque surroundings of the villa and lends it the character of a mansion immersed in the landscape, displaying a modern architectural form and, at the same time, strongly related to the tradition of the Polish manor house.

The building can be viewed from the outside.

Compiled by Tomasz Woźniak, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Kraków 04/08/2014

Bibliography

• Kostka A., Piskorz J., Trzebińskie opowieści, Trzebinia 2008
• Krasnowolski B., Leksykon zabytków architektury Małopolski, Warszawa 2013
• Decyzja nr A-70/M w sprawie wpisania dobra kultury do rejestru zabytków nieruchomych województwa małopolskiego z dnia 03-08-2007, MWKZ Kraków