Žilina Gallery :: Fotogaléria mesta Žiliny

96 – Townhouse 12, Mariánske Square

Turistická informačná tabuľka č. 96 s QR kódom na meštianskom dome č. 12
(Foto: 30. 10. 2017)

The townhouse at Mariánske Square is situated in a block of semidetached houses that borders on the square on the south, Hodžova Street on the east, Mydlárska Street on the north, and Sládkovičova Street on the west. The front façade faces the Mariánske Square. In the back part of the same plot there is another two-floor building at Mydlárska No. 7.
The two-floor building has a rectangular ground plan, two wings and a cellar under the front part of the building. The entrance is on the front façade of the house. In the front there is an arcade with a barrel vault and lunettes, and with a ridge in shape of a flat lath. The arcade has a shape of an arc pressed down. The basement is accessible from a corridor. A two-flight staircase leading to the first floor is situated approximately in the middle of the right wing. Another entrance door with a segmented barrel vault and three fields of Prussian vaults in the central part leads to the yard. The front part of the right wing has a special type of barrel vault and the back part has the Prussian vault. The upper floor has flat ceilings.
The basement is only under the front part of the building and it consists of one room with a barrel vault accessible from the square by means of a sloping ramp (parallel with orientation of the plot) and a direct single-flight of stairs. The entrance lies in the corridor of the left wing on the right. The basement with a vaulted ceiling is situated behind the arcade and so it is pushed into the plot. The basement walls are covered with plaster and the floor is covered with a cement screed.
The ground-floor of the building has two wings, while the staircase to the first floor is situated in an expanded part of the left wing, approximately in its central part. The staircase is lit by a skylight. The front part of the right wing has a special type of barrel vault and it is accessible also from the front façade. Former so-called “black kitchen” was on the right. A corridor with a shallow segmented vault and a space parallel with the flat ceiling are in the back part of the left wing of the ground floor.
The first floor has two wings, too. The staircase joins the landing, from which the premises in the front and back part of the floor are accessible. The front part consists of two spaces in the wings and a third space above the arcade that stretches over the whole width of the plot. Wooden panels with a wooden doorframe have been preserved. The two-wing disposition is also preserved in the back part. There is a narrow corridor in the left wing connecting the house with adjacent premises in the yard.
Façades: The street façade oriented towards the square is three-axial and the ground floor façade is biaxial. The façade is rather poor without any distinctive plastic decorations. There are three windows with a direct window ledge. On the ground floor there is the arcade in the shape of an arc pressed down. The entrance into the front part of the ground floor is on the right and it is a part of the shop window. The wooden parts of the shop window are decorated with Secession plastic plant decorations; the entrance board is original and well preserved. The yard façade is simple and plain. Each window has four window panes.
The medieval building that used to stand on this plot was rebuilt in the 17th century. Based on a preserved arcade vault it can be assumed that the building was rebuilt in the first half of the 17th century. In the first half of the 19th century the building underwent a large reconstruction. The house ground plan was extended and the façade was made in Classicist style with a rich crowning moulding and a triangle gable with a circular hole in the middle above the moulding. Windows were smaller than today and had six panes. After a large fire in 1886 the building was reconstructed again. Changes were made in particular to the roof and the disposition of the 2nd floor was changed as well. In the 20th century the reconstructions were interconnected with a change of the building function according to the needs of then user – Jednota. Older partition walls were removed, doors were replaced, window and door panes were replaced. Façade decoration was removed and the overall architectonic look was made much simpler. Stone floor in the ground floor was replaced, too. The 20th century reconstruction disturbed the monumental value of the building.
In the 18th century the house was owned by the Balabán family. In 1746 Henrich Šrajer purchased the house from Barbara Natulajová, a widow after Ján Balabán, for 340 golden coins. In 1763 the house was sold to Michal Ziman for 520 golden coins. Ziman (Zimanyi) family - Václav Ziman, and later Elisabeth Zimanová who married Jozef Kubáni, owned the house until 1837, when they sold it to Ján Polláššek for 2,200 golden coins. The Polláššek (Poliaček) family owned the house until 1886 and then it belonged to Kalinaj family. Then the house was purchased by Felix Weis, a trader with mixed goods, and the Weis family owned it until they sold it to the state at the beginning of the 60’s of the 20th century. During the first Czechoslovak Republic there was a shop and a renowned ophthalmologist Elisabeth Weis had her seat there, too. After 1963 Jednota was operating a gift shop there and a buffet selling poultry specialties called Pipigril was on the first floor. Since 2014 there is a goldsmith's shop in the front part of the ground floor.
We should not forget to explain the interesting recent past. Jednota was formed by the so-called cooperation movement in the 19th century. Slovak Samuel Jurkovič established the first farmer’s association in Sobotište in 1845. The first food association was established in Žilina in 1919. In 1937 it was renamed to Budúcnosť (Future) and a colony of family houses called Budúcnosť (Future) was built. Later it was renamed as a Jubilee colony. The houses are situated at present Palárikova Street above the hospital. The reconstruction of the house in around 1998 restored the saddle roof with a gable facing the square. The oldest parts of the house include the Renaissance cellars; only remains the of walls of the Renaissance ground floor and the first floor were preserved and so the Romantic style prevails in the building.

Source: Mgr. Peter Štanský, doc. Ing. Novák Milan, PhD. Text prevzatý z webovej stránky TIK Žilina (kliknite): www.tikzilina.eu.