It has survived almost in its original form. 

History

The villa was built in 1898 (date inscribed on one of the ceiling beams). The designer of the building is unknown, but according to the Kraszewski family, it is linked to the figure of Stanisław Witkiewicz, the originator of the Zakopane style. The founder of the villa was Justyna Fedro née Krzeptowska. She built it on the site of an older building shown on the plan of Zakopane in the Almanach Tatrzański from 1894. In May 1910, Justyna Fedrowa sold the building to Dr Wacław Kraszewski (1872-1931), a well-known Zakopane-based medical doctor and social activist. The house has not change the owner ever since. In 1910 the original shingle roofing was replaced thanks to the initiative of the doctor’s daughter, Janina Szmurło (1978), and later his granddaughter, Magdalena Kraszewska (now co-owner), as well as the assistance of the Tatra Museum. In the following years, the building was renovated and preserved a number of times on the initiative of Magdalena Kraszewska. She set up an art gallery and made the house a meeting place and a culture spot.

Description

The villa stands in a garden in ul. Witkiewicza, facing the street. The building is an example of a modest house in the Zakopane style. It has survived to the preset day almost in its original form. The villa is built on a rectangular plan. It is a two-bay and four-axis design with a three-section layout in the front bay with a corridor. This is a one-level building preceded by a porch and with a habitable attic. It is set on a dimension stone foundation. Part of it has a basement. The front central axis has a balcony with side windows on both sides. The house is covered with a gable roof with abutments. It is a wooden log structure house with dovetailed half logs. The roof is covered with wood shingles. The front façade is preceded by a screened porch. On the central axis, there is a frontage with a wooden balcony with an openwork, decoratively carved balustrade. The rectangular window and door openings have adorned frames. The porch windows have a decorative bolection arrangement, and the balustrade is decoratively carved. The eaves of the roof are set on decorative rafter tips. The roof gables in the side façades and the frontage are decorated with the sunny motif. The interiors feature beam ceilings; one of the beams in the central room has the date “1898” engraved. In the east room, one of the beams reads “Szczęść Boże” (May God Bless You). Original tiled stoves made of stylish tiles have been preserved.

The site can be accessed from outside all year round; inside during the opening hours of the Contemporary Art Gallery.

Author of the note Olga Dyba, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Kraków 18-01-2016

Bibliography

• Moździerz Z., Szlak stylu zakopiańskiego. Przewodnik. Zakopane 2014, pp. 88-89.
• Długołęcka L., Pinkwart M., Zakopane. Przewodnik historyczny. Warszawa 1988.
• Długołęcka L., Pinkwart M., Zakopane od A-Z. Warszawa 1994.