It is the earliest brick townhouse at the market square in Zamość. 

History

The townhouse was built between 1591 and 1599 for Franciszek Tellani, according to a design created by Bernard Morando. It was the first brick townhouse erected at the Great Market Square. Throughout the 17th century, it was owned by the Zamoyski family. From 1691, it was in the hands of Jan Tuszyński, the Deputy Pantler (podstoli) of Żytomir. In the 1st quarter of the 17th century, the house was enlarged, in the 2nd quarter of the 17th century and at the turn of the 17th/18th centuries, it was enlarged again and the outbuildings were added. From 1707 to 1709, it served as a bishop's residence, from the middle of the 18th century - property of the Ross family. In 1745, a renovation was carried out. It included the beam ceilings on the 1st floor. From the end of the 18th century to the mid-19th century, it belonged to the Milczyński family. From the 2nd half of the 19th to the 1st half of the 20th century, it was in the hands of the Perec family. Between 1817-1823, the façade was renovated. In 1881-1891, the attic was removed and the third storey was added; outbuildings were built according to Władysław Siennicki’s design. Between 1919 and 1926, conservation works were performed under the direction of T. Zaremba. Between 1937 and 1938, a thorough restoration of the building was carried out. It focused in particular on the elevations and on securing the architectural details inside. Conservation works in 1956 and 1975-1979 (full-scale restoration; the works revealed, among other things, a polychrome in the 1st bay), 2003 (renovation of the courtyard of the townhouse, replacement of window woodwork), 2004 (renovation and modernisation of the interiors of the townhouse, arcades) and 2006 (conservation of the portal and stone window surrounds)

Description

The townhouse is situated at the centre of the Old Town, in the eastern part of the southern frontage of the Great market Square. From the east, it adjoins the townhouse at No. 21 Staszica Street. From the south, it is connected with the townhouse at No. 22 Żeromskiego Street. The house has an oriented structure, with the front elevation facing the market, towards the north. Built on an elongated rectangular floor plan comprising a four-section arcade on the ground floor. It follows a two-bay and two-partite design, with a staircase in the second bay. The layout of rooms on the ground floor is partly repeated on the 1st and 2nd floors. From the south-west, a single-bay outbuilding connects it with the townhouse at No. 22 Żeromskiego Street. The townhouse is made of bricks and covered with plaster. It has three storeys and cellars underneath (there are no cellars only under the outbuilding and under the arcade). The main body is covered with a three-slope roof, whereas the outbuilding is topped with a gable roof. The roof has sheet-metal cladding. Three-storey elevations. The north-facing front elevation is symmetrical and four-axial. The first storey has the following features: four arcades, a corner buttress, an entrance in a rectangular sandstone portal, three square-shaped window openings in rectangular surrounds with parapets. The windows of the second storey are surmounted by simple surrounds with window headers and parapets.

The windows of the third storey are smaller and have simple surrounds. Elevations are divided horizontally by poorly formed inter-storey cornices and a corresponding crowning cornice. Vertical divisions are achieved by means of simple pilasters without bases between the window openings of the third storey. In addition, a corner in the first storey is reinforced with a buttress, which turns into a rusticated strip on the second storey and as double pilasters on the third storey. The western side elevation is irregular, the first storey has four axes, the second – five axes, the third – four axes. In the latter, there is also a bricked-in niche. On the lower storey, the entrance opening is enclosed by a portal, the shape and frames of the window openings and the divisions of all storeys are similar to those on the front elevation.

The rear elevation opens onto a rectangular courtyard. It is two-axial and has a wooden porch at the level of the second and the third storeys. The cellars of the townhouse have double barrel vaults. The arcade has barrel-cross vaults with panels with trefoil patterns. The chambers on the ground floor are covered with barrel-lunette vaults. In the eastern chamber, there is a decorative monastic-lunette vault with a stellar arrangement. Over the staircase, there is a sectional vault, based on steel beams and walls. The other storeys are covered with a wooden ceiling. Inside the front bay, there is a vault with profiled panels and stuccoes, completely covered with a polychrome.

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, the so-called Tellanowska townhouse, Tenement house of the Zamoyski family, 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.