The Tenement House Pod Złotą Koroną is one of the unique examples of Silesian Renaissance in Wrocław. Several hundred years of the building’s history reflect the changing character of the city centre and its buildings. The building has gone through successive stages of development, retaining the crown motif in its name, associated with the place since the 16th century.
The House of the Golden Crown – medieval beginnings
The earliest references to buildings on the site date back to the 15th century. In 1471, the existence of a wine bar, which sources describe as Walloon or Italian, was recorded. Researchers indicate that at that time the parcel of land was probably linked to the estate of Bishop Jan Thurzo. Its location on the eastern frontage of the Market Place placed it at an important point in the town.
Renaissance reconstruction in 1521-1528
The breakthrough came after the property was acquired by the merchant Johan von Holtz from Cologne. From 1523, he carried out intensive modernisation of the building. The work lasted five years and the result was very impressive, as a building inspired by the architecture of northern Italy appeared in Breslau. Vincenzio da Parmataro, who was active in the city as the first Italian builder, was probably responsible for the design. The building then received a two-bay form with a courtyard, four storeys on the Market Square side and a façade with a characteristic attic. The richly carved entrance portal with the date 1528 was the work of stonemasons working in the workshop of Wendel Roskopf. This element went down in the history of Wroclaw architecture as an example of exceptionally elaborate decoration of the Renaissance period.
Extension from the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries
After 1557, another phase of transformation began. The tenement house was joined with three neighbouring houses standing on Oławska Street. This procedure led to the creation of an extended complex with new tracts, galleries in the courtyard and a unified attic. The facades were enriched with decorations and ornamentation, and the interiors were furnished with columns with Ionic and Corinthian capitals. At the end of the 17th century, the market façade received polychrome decoration. In 1801 there was a resurrection house in the building, and in the 19th century it housed the Gebrüder Guttentag bank. The main entrance then operated from Oławska Street.
The establishment of the Art Nouveau department store Goldene Krone
The beginning of the 20th century brought the end for the house Under the Goldene Krone. In 1904, the historic building was demolished and a new department store with an Art Nouveau form was built in its place. The design was prepared by Heinrich Joseph Kayser and Karl von Großheim. The building was distinguished by a corner turret with a crown and wide shop windows on the three lower floors. The façade was finished in sandstone and inside there were many businesses, shops and the popular Goldene Krone café. The famous Renaissance portal from the previous building was moved to the State Archives building, where it was destroyed in 1945.
The Goldene Krone department store in 1926 and the Pod Złotą Korona tenement today. Source: Iwona Bińkowska – “Wrocław. Fotografie z okresu międzywojennego”, published by VIA NOVA, Wrocław 2004 and mamik/fotopolska.eu
Destruction of the Goldene Krone
In 1945, the building was almost completely burnt down. Only the steel frame and part of the ground floor survived. Shortly after the end of hostilities, the ground floor was used again as a place for small trade. In 1946, the building was handed over to the Solidarność cooperative, which opened a makeshift shop called the department stores’ there. A photoplasticon operated on the first floor, and cooperative activity developed rapidly.
The Tenement House Under the Golden Crown – reconstruction in 1957-1960
In the second half of the 1950s the building was rebuilt to a design by Zbigniew Politowski. Its façade referred to the appearance of the tenement house from before 1906. The attic and the Renaissance portal transferred from the tenement house in Kazimierza Wielkiego Street reappeared. The architect was inspired by the patterns of Venetian architecture. In the following years, the façade was decorated with ceramic decoration designed by Irena Lipska Zworska and her team. The building housed offices and institutions. For many years it housed Orbis and the Municipal Design Office occupying the wing facing Oławska Street. This part of the tenement house was rebuilt in a very simplified manner.
The tenement house today
Today, the building houses service establishments and offices. The characteristic corner house with its crown motif stands out against the background of the market square. Few people know that it owes its current appearance to the reconstruction of 65 years ago. Had it not been for the war, the Goldene Krone department store would probably still be standing here, and the Renaissance house would have been forgotten. However, history is perverse.
Source: slowowroclawian.pl
Read also: Tenement house | Architecture in Poland | Monument | History | Wrocław
