Located in the central part of Zamość – at the Great Market Square - it stands out from other townhouses in Zamość due to its stylistically rich Renaissance portal. The portal is arcaded, lavishly carved, topped with a stylized pediment with a cartouche and an entablature resting on Ionic columns. 

History

The present-day townhouse dates back to the end of the 16th century, when in 1591 it was registered as the property of Hans Kuntz Bartel, a patrician from Gdańsk who had settled in Zamość. Its construction was completed around 1603, when it belonged to Christofor Grzegorzowicz - an Armenian. It was a single-storey structure then. In the 2nd quarter of the 17th century, the house was enlarged to include the second storey and the attics.  In the 18th century, it was owned by the Lubecki, Siekierzyński, Zieliński and Radajewski families. In the 19th century, it belonged to the Celiński and Sawicki families. After 1918 it was owned by the Sawicki family. After the Second World War, it was first owned by the Antoniszewski family and then it became a municipal property. After 1887, the attics were removed and the second storey was added. The first major renovation of the building took place in 1937-38 under the supervision of T. Zaremba. The building was renovated again in 1957, when exterior walls were re-plastered and the roof and the window and door woodwork were refurbished. Between 1973 and 1977, the house was restored according to J. Grudziński’s design – iron-concrete ceilings were laid and the elevations were renovated. In 1999, the elevations were renovated again. In 2004, renovation works also covered the courtyard.

Description

The townhouse is situated in the central part of the Old Town, at the eastern frontage of the Great Market Square. It forms one block with the neighboring townhouses. It is an example of patrician architecture following the “third model of Bernardo Morando”. It is named after its 17th-century owners: – Szymon Birkowski, a medical scholar and professor, and the Zamoyski Academy.  The house has an oriented structure and its front (western) elevation faces the market square. Built on an elongated rectangular floor plan with a three-section arcade on the ground floor, it consists of two sections, with a wide hallway facing north and a narrower chamber facing south. It follows a two-bay and three-bay design. The first floor, second floor and the attic are adapted for residential purposes and have a similar layout. However, they are divided into rooms differently and have a separate entrance from the staircase. Next to the back wall, there is a single-storey, rectangular, single-space outbuilding. The townhouse is made of bricks and covered with plaster. It has three storeys and cellars and is covered with a gable roof. Three dormer windows are inserted in the roof section facing the market. In the eastern roof section, there are skylights. The roof has sheet-metal cladding. The elevations have three storeys. The front one is asymmetrical, with a three-axial ground floor and four-axial first and seconds floors.

On the ground floor, there is a three-section, semi-circular arcade with massive impost cornices at the base. One pillar is reinforced with a buttress. The windows are rectangular in shape, On the second floor, they are larger and feature decorative surrounds and cornices laid directly above them. The façade is adorned with mortar-based decorations. The second and third storeys of the façade and of the back elevation are painted brown, the arcade is painted white. At the front, the main entrance door is surmounted by a Renaissance, arcaded portal, richly carved, topped with a stylized abutment with a cartouche and an entablature supported by Ionic columns. The door is wooden, single-leaf and adorned with a pattern of floral and geometric motifs cut out from steel sheet.  The original layout of the interiors has been mostly preserved. The cellars, ground floor and a part of the first floor are covered with barrel-cross and barrel vaults. The remaining interiors on the first and second floors are covered with a flat ceiling. On the first floor, there is a reconstructed suspended wooden beamed ceiling.  

Access to the site is limited.

compiled by Ewa Prusicka, Regional Branch Office of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Lublin,20 November 2016

Bibliography

• Baranowska Z., Sygietyńska H., Kamienice rynku zamojskiego w XVII wieku, /in:/ Zamość i Zamojszczyzna w dziejach i kulturze polskiej, Zamość 1969.
• Czterysta lat Zamościa, J. Kowalczyk (ed.), Wrocław-Łódź 1983
• Herbst S., Zamość, Warsaw 1954
• Kędziora A., Dawna architektura i budownictwo Zamościa, Zamość 1990
• Kowalczyk J., Zamość. Przewodnik, Warsaw 1975.
• Pawlicki M. B., Kamienice mieszczańskie Zamościa. Problemy ochrony, Krakow 1999.
• Zarębska T., Zamość – Miasto idealne i jego realizacja, /in:/ Zamość miasto idealne, ed. J. Kowalczyka, Lublin 1980 
• Record sheet, Residential House  Rynek Wielki 1, formerly Pl. Mickiewicza 1, Zamość, compiled by M. Kowalczyk, L. Lameński, 1997, Archives of the Voivodeship Office for the Protection of Historic Monuments in Lublin, Branch Office in Zamość and the Archives of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Warsaw.