Žilina Gallery :: Fotogaléria mesta Žiliny

18 – Townhouse 20 (Rákoczy house), Mariánske námestie

Turistická informačná tabuľka č. 18 s QR kódom na meštianskom dome č. 20 na Mariánskom námestí
(Foto: 1. 4. 2007)

According to Alexander Lombardini, a well-known Žilina historian (19th century), this house belonged to Francis II Rákoci in 1705. There is, however, no record of this in the town’s archives, so we can but presume that this information is based on the legend that the Kuruc anti-Habsburg rebels occupied Žilina during the Francis II Rákoci uprising in 1703. The fact remains, however, that there is a record dating from 1704 in the Žilina state archives indicating that the leader of the anti-Habsburg uprising bought land to build a Lutheran church, but thus far it has been impossible to determine where the land was located. In 1995 archaeological excavations on the old shingle surfacing of the square unearthed a Francis II Rákoci coin from 1706 – known as a "Libertáš”, after the coin’s inscription - Pro libertate. In 1574 the house belonged to Mikuláš Závodský, and then from 1582 to the Dúbravka family. In 1647 Juraj Silvai obtained it, and then in 1683 it belonged to the Permai and Silvai families. In 1732 the house belonged to Ján Schindler, and then from 1744 to Jakub Maker. From 1755 on, it belonged to Michal Vrábel, who bought it from the dyer Jakub Maker for 850 gold coins. Jakub Maker used the money he acquired by selling the house to establish endowments for poor pupils in Žilina. In 1765 he donated funds to build a Virgin Mary chapel in Chrasť forest and also established a foundation for its maintenance. After Vrábel’s death, the house belonged to his widow and then his sons Daniel and Ján. Their daughters then inherited house, but in 1810 it was sold to Ignác Folkman for 3700 gold coins. In 1837 the house became the property of his son-in-law, Karol Kvaššaj, to whom it still belonged when it was destroyed by fire in 1848. In 1850, it was then sold to Žilina butcher Daniel Hrabovec for 900 gold coins. In 1858 the house was extensively damaged in the earthquake and only the ground floor of the building could be used. From 1885 on, the house belonged to Hrabovec's daughter Anna, the wife of Ľudovit Segéni who bought it for 3300 gold coins. In 1920, however, Anna Segéni sold the house to widow Vilma Puchmayer for 300,000 Czechoslovak crowns. She was also the last owner of the house before it was nationalised in 1962.
It is a terraced house built on a small plot of land. There is a courtyard at the back leading onto Jezuitská Street. Under the house are the original Gothic cellars, probably built sometime in the 14th or 15th centuries and the basement was created during a single stage of construction. The upper floors were destroyed in the great fire of 1521. At that time it was a single-storey double-aisled building, with a passage on the left-hand side, leading onto a corridor from the basement. In the second half of the 16th century, during the second stage of development a new barrel vaulted ground floor with lunettes was built, clearly based on late Gothic network vaulting. Of all the listed buildings in the town, this is considered to be a unique example of linear development from Renaissance style to the older Late Gothic tradition. The early Renaissance layout of the first floor was rebuilt in the second stage of development in the first half of the 17th century. There was a vaulted passage on the first floor with barrel vaulting and lunettes and all the vaulting on this floor comes from the same period. Late 18th century features include the carved, flat, beamed ceilings located in the Great Halls. In the 20th century, the arcades were walled in for commercial purposes. There was a barber’s shop here and later Martin Rothman’s haberdashery.
In the middle of the house on the ground floor there is still an intact vaulted Renaissance room. It is a two-storey building with a triaxial facade and arcades at ground floor level. On the ground floor, the vestibule retains the original vaulting. The house has an early Gothic basement, a Renaissance ground floor and a Classical additional storey. In 1963 the property became listed building no. 1410 /0. In 1993, the entire building was reconstructed and a new high roof with three dormer windows opening onto the square were added. Ing. arch. Peter Dunajec designed the reconstruction. The building is used for administrative purposes and the ground floor is a shop.

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