A three-storey building with a usable attic has a basement and diversified architectural detail. The tenement house was built in the Art Nouveau style. 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 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 on 7 Reja Street has survived. We do not know the exact date of construction, 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 were applied to the ground floor functions and consisted in opening a service facility. This reconstruction probably took place in the 1990s. Currently the tenement house includes apartments and a service outlet. The structure is one of the most representative buildings in the city.

Description

The tenement house is located in the centre of Zielona Góra, west of the old town’s marketplace, and forms a part of dense development. 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 and its facade is facing the street. Its facilities include a small yard with utility buildings (an outbuilding and a carpenter’s shop). The tenement house was built of brick on a plan roughly resembling a rectangle. Its walls are plastered on both sides. It has three storeys and a usable attic topped with a mansard roof that is covered with roof tiles. The roofing includes dormers covered with small roofs. On the first floor level, a bay window with oval corners is suspended on levers. A balcony basket is adorned with an arcaded frieze. An ornamental motif with a head surmounts the balcony surrounds. Windows in a bay terminate in a floral ornament; other window openings are rectangular with ornamental framing. A basement extends under the whole building. Main entrance is located in the facade’s extreme axis and terminates in a slightly protruding avant-corps with blind 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 hosts an original wooden staircase with a handrail and posts and fragments of ceramic floor.

The tenement house is a monument owned by the self-government and private entities. Due to the fact that it hosts service 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

• Bujakiewicz Z., Krajobraz materialny i społeczny Zielonej Góry od końca XVIII do połowy XX wieku, Zielona Góra 2003, s. 82-85.
• Garbacz K., Szlakiem zabytkowych miast, Zielona Góra 2005, s. 7-27.
• Kochański P., Specyfika i znaczenie ulicy Reja w rozwoju przestrzennym Zielonej Góry w XX wieku, [w:] Biliński T. (red.), Renowacje budynków i modernizacja obszarów zabudowanych, t. 2, Zielona Góra 2006, s. 213-223.
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