The so-called Sołtysówka Jeskiego on Głogowska Street in Poznań’s Łazarz district has been falling into ruin for many years. This monument, unique in the city, has had no luck with its owners. Despite emerging concepts for its modernisation, reconstruction or development, no real action has been taken to save it. The latest plans come from Realvest Głogowska, which has presented a project to build a hotel.
Jeskego’s Sołtysówka in the shadow of tenement houses
Sołtysówka was built in 1902 as a detached, two-storey villa with a fairly compact and simple structure. Yellow and red clinker bricks were used in its construction, and the façades were enriched with decorative details, gables and roof projections. The whole was crowned with a small turret with a sloping roof. Jeski’s former property is separated from Głogowska Street by a decorative cast iron fence. At the back of the plot, two small farm buildings have been preserved, which once served as stables and a coach house. Over time, multi-storey tenement houses have sprung up around the house, while it itself has retained its original scale from the early 20th century. Today, it stands out against this metropolitan backdrop. Interestingly, the building was not actually built for the village administrator, but for his son, after the village of Łazarz was incorporated into Poznań. The customary name Sołtysówka therefore refers to the family’s history.
Traces of the former village of Łazarz
The building was constructed on the site of the former village of Łazarz near Poznań, whose landscape for centuries consisted of meadows, fields, orchards and farms. When Łazarz officially became a district of the capital of the Province of Poznań (German: Provinz Posen) in 1900, intensive development of tall tenement houses began there. The beginning of the 20th century thus brought enormous development to this area. Almost nothing remained of the typical rural landscape, except, of course, the villa. Originally, the chapel of St. Anthony stood on this site. Later, the plot passed into the hands of the Jeske family, who owned extensive property and were well-known in the local community. Adam Jeske was the last village administrator of Święty Łazarz, and a section of today’s Niegolewskich Street was named after him in the interwar period.
Sołtysówka on Głogowska Street and its road to ruin
Sołtysówka later became the property of the State Treasury. The interior was divided into smaller premises and converted into flats, while the modernised farm buildings housed various shops and service premises over the years. Despite its great historical value for Łazarz, the villa and its surroundings were eventually abandoned and fell into ruin. The monument suffered the greatest damage during a series of fires. Since then, it has remained in poor technical condition, which is getting worse. The interiors are devastated and burnt out by the elements, presenting only a shadow of their former elegance. Despite the entry of Jeski’s house in the register of monuments, there is still a huge risk of another fire and complete destruction of the building.
A new Holiday Inn hotel in Poznań?
In recent years, various ideas have been put forward for the development of the ruined property at 37 Głogowska Street. In 2018, planning permission was obtained for a restaurant in Sołtysówka, but the project never progressed beyond the formal stage. Another unrealised proposal involved the construction of a student dormitory with a service section. The breakthrough for the monument was to be the establishment of Realvest Głogowska in 2023, which announced its renovation and the construction of a new hotel under the Holiday Inn brand. The facility, with approximately 190 rooms, would combine the historic building with new development at the rear of the plot. We attempted to contact the investor and company representatives to inquire about the progress of the work, but at the time of publication of this article, we had not received a response. So will this plan remain another empty promise?
Source: zabytek.pl, e-hotelarz.pl
Read also:Architecture in Poland|Poznań|Tenement house|Renovation|Interesting facts|whiteMAD on Instagram
The villa at the beginning of the 20th century and today. Source: lazarz.pl and Google Maps
Sołtysówka in 1973 and 2025. Source: State Archives in Poznań/cyryl.pl and Google Maps
View of the property in the 1970s and today. Source: MKZ in Poznań and Tomasz Hejna LAGOMphoto
