It stands in a densely built-up area. The four-storey building has a basement underneath and a diversified architectural detail. It is erected in the Historicist style with Gothic elements. The presented feature is an important element in the spatial layout 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 building is located evolved behind defensive walls quite late, only in the 19th 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 M. Reja Street were developed as far as the gardens of houses located at Wandy, Jedności and Kasprowicza Streets. M. 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 existing buildings were shaped mainly in the early 20th century. Affluent residents of the city owned them. Newly established structures included mostly two- or three-storey tenement houses built in a convention of Historicism, as well as Art Nouveau and Modernism.

No archival documentation concerning the building has survived. Neither do we know the exact date of the building construction, nor the name of the designer or contractor. The building was probably erected at the beginning of 1900. Hostilities of the Second World War did not lead to major damage to the it. After the war, the local government took over ownership of the building and since that time it has been used 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 involved alterations to the layout of the residential interiors. At present, the building houses residential premises. The structure is one of the most representative buildings in the city.

Description

The tenement house located on M. Reja Street is a building erected within dense development. It is situated 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. Mikołaja Reja Street is a part of the strict monument protection zone.

The building is located on a small plot of land and its front façade faces the street. Its facilities include a small yard with an outbuilding and a utility building. Its plan has the shape of a rectangle, with basements underneath. It is made of brick. The four-storey building with a usable attic is covered with a mansard roof clad in ceramic tiles. There are dormers in the roof. The building has a five-axial front façade. A plastered ground floor, separated from upper floors by a cornice. An entrance gate leading to the feature’s yard is located on the extreme axis of the front façade and includes woodwork from the construction times. The entrance gate along with double windows of the first floor is framed by a pointed-arch portal. Ground floor windows are rectangular in shape. Other storeys are pierced with rectangular, bipartite window openings in surrounds, with ornamental panels. In the façade of the gable wall, there is a window with an arch. On the upper storeys, in the middle section, there are serial internal balconies with balustrades with triple-arched windows. Part of the original window and door woodwork has been preserved. The body of the building has been preserved in its original state without major changes. The interior lacks architectural detail.

The tenement house is a monument owned by local government and private entities. Due to the fact that it houses residential premises, 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.

Bibliography

• Studia na początkami i rozplanowaniem miast nad środkową Odrą i dolną Wartą, pod red. Zdzisława Kaczmarczyka i Andrzeja Wędzkiego, Zielona Góra 1970;
• Stanisław Kowalski, Miasta Środkowego Nadodrza, Zbigniew Bujakiewicz, Krajobraz materialny i społeczny Zielonej Góry od końca XVIII do połowy XX wieku, Zielona Góra 2003
• Zielona Góra, Przeszłość i teraźniejszość, pod red. M Szczanieckiego, Poznań 1962
• Zabytki Zielonej Góry, pod red. B. Bielinis-Kopeć, Zielona Góra 2007
• W. Janowska, Zielona Góra. Wytyczne konserwatorskie do miejscowych planów zagospodarowania przestrzennego, Zielona Góra 2004
• Mirosław Kuleba, Topografia winiarska Zielonej, Zielona Góra 2010
• Historia Zielonej Góry. Dzieje miasta do końca XVIII wieku, tom I, pod red. Wojciecha Strzyżewskiego, Zielona Góra 2011
• Biała Karta: Kamienica, ul. M. Reja 11, autor Konrad Chmieliński i Wojciech Eckert opracowanie z 1993 r., [w] archiwum LWKZ w Zielonej Górze.