Žilina Gallery :: Fotogaléria mesta Žiliny

37 – Royal district court in Žilina

Penzión Majovey, pôvodne väznica pri okresnom súde
(Foto: 7. 8. 2013)

V roku 1906 In 1906 Julius Grün of the building trade bought building land on the corner of what are now Národná and Milcova streets, where he built a magnificent eclectic building for the Royal district court in Žilina. This building had a Hungarian sign on the front of it until it was removed after 1919 and operated as a court until 1939, when it moved into its present building on Hviezdoslava Street. It was purchased in 1926 for 400,000 crowns by timber traders Emanuel Ellenbogen and Jozef Preiss. In 1930 they extended the prison building near the courthouse on Milcová Street. The front part of the building fronting Masaryk Street was used for commercial purposes.
After 1990, several alterations were made to the building and it continues to be used as commercial and office space. The former prison became Majovey hotel.
In 1934 Frankl family Bank House was based here, designed according to plans by the respected architect Joseph Zweigenthal. In 1938 the house taken over by the national administration. The ground floor and first floor were the temporary location for Post Office I, and on the ground floor there was also a customs office, NUPOD Food Cooperative, the German Commercial and Credit Bank and smaller shops.
The court prison was still located in the adjacent building in the courtyard, occupied in September 1944 by German Einsatzkomando 13 led by W Schöneman, where partisans and their supporters were imprisoned. There were 7 cells altogether in the prison. Most prisoners were executed and interred in a mass grave in Chrastie district, where there is now a monument. The headquarters of the German emergency unit were located on the first floor. The prison continued to be used for this purpose after the war as well.
In the main building there were a number of shops, e.g. Texta owned by Viliam Pollák well-known throughout Žilina. After the war the building was still used by the national administration up until 1955 when it was bought at auction by Štátne Cesty Žilina, which later became Cestné stavby. In 1970 the building was renovated and Potraviny Zdroj, Žilina’s other self-service grocery’s was established on the ground floor. In the process the Secessionist architecture of the ground floor was destroyed, oversized aluminium windows were installed and the overall character of the building was damaged. Only part of the building on Milcová Street retained its original architecture.
In 1990 the building was used as office space by Cestné stavby and Zdroj had a grocery’s there as well. After 1990, several alterations were carried out and the building is still used as commercial and office space. The former prison became the Majovey hotel.

Source: Mgr. Jozef Moravčík, Mgr. Peter Štanský. Text prevzatý z webovej stránky TIK Žilina (kliknite): www.tikzilina.eu.