The building is a significant element of the spatial arrangement of Zielona Góra.

History

The process of development of individual zones and streets of the suburbs of Zielona Góra began as early as in the 14th century. The growing town needed land for residential, commercial and craft development. The area where the tenement house is located evolved behind defensive walls quite late, only in the 17th century. Today’s Reja Street (Klietestrasse during German times) is marked as suitable for horse carriages and surrounded by pastures on the Büttner’s plan of 1864. This area was a wetland - a stream feeding the Złota Łącza river was running there. The feature was also located next to an old moat that surrounded the town in the Middle Ages. Parts of today’s Reja Street were developed as far as the gardens of houses located at Wandy, Jedności and Kasprowicza streets. The Reja Street was demarcated in 1901, whereas construction works and laying of the pavement were completed in 1904. The street was regulated and plots of land were demarcated for future development. The erected development was shaped mainly in the early 20th century. Affluent residents of the city owned the buildings. Newly established structures included mostly two or three-storey tenement houses built in a convention of historicism as well as Art Nouveau and modernist ones.

No archival documentation concerning the tenement house at Reja 8 Street has survived. Neither do we know the exact date of the building construction, nor the name of designer or contractor. Most probably, the building was erected in early 1900. Hostilities of the Second World War did not lead to major damage to the building. After the war, the local government took over ownership of the tenement house and since that time it has been occupied for residential purposes. Unfortunately, documentation concerning the course of later construction and preservation works conducted in the building has not survived. No major alterations have been made to the structure - minor changes concerned internal functions of apartments. Currently, it hosts office and residential units. The structure is one of the most representative buildings in the city.

Description

The tenement house located in Reja Street is a part of the dense development. The tenement house is located in the centre of Zielona Góra, west of the old town’s marketplace. The Reja Street is an extension of Moniuszki Street towards the north, functions as a small section between Jedności Street and Bohaterów Westerplatte Street and is located in the strict urban monument preservation zone.

A three-storey building with a basement and a usable attic covered with a mansard roof topped with roof tiles is located on a small plot and its facade is facing the street. It was made of brick, on a plan roughly resembling a rectangle; its walls are covered with plaster on both sides. The tenement house’s facilities include a small yard with an outbuilding and a utility building. The tenement house’s roof includes dormers. A rusticated ground floor, separated from upper floors by a cornice. An entrance gate leading to the feature’s yard is located in the extreme axis of the facade and includes woodwork from the construction times. The ground floor rectangular windows terminate in overhanging segmental arches and surrounds. Other storeys are pierced by rectangular, tripartite window openings with ornamental panels. The end wall includes an avant-corps with a centrally located bay window. The bay window rests on supports and is braced with lesenes in the corners. The avant-corps are crowned with corrugated gables with windows. Upper floors contain external balconies with balustrades decorated with floral motifs. Original window and door woodwork has been preserved in the part of the building and the building’s body has survived in an original shape and without major transformations. The interior houses an original wooden staircase.

The tenement house is a monument owned by the self-government and private entities. Due to the fact that it hosts office and residential units, the building is not widely available to the public.

Compiled by Krzysztof Słowiński, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Zielona Góra, 08-07-2014 r.

Bibliography

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