Zapomniana enklawa domów w ogrodach na Krowodrzy ‒ koncepcja bez kontynuacji

Abstract

A FORGOTTEN ENCLAVE OF HOUSES IN KROWODRZA GARDENS – A DISCONTINUED IDEA

The houses at 8 and 10 Cieszyńska Street and 20 and 22 Wrocławska Street are little-known historical monuments of Kraków. They form a charming enclave – a romantic corner in a highly urbanised and now intensively built-up urban space. Historically, this area belonged to the former village of Krowodrza, incorporated into Kraków in 1910. Especially valuable are the houses on Cieszyńska Street, built around 1908 and mostly preserved in their original form. They are rare Kraków examples of the so called Swiss style, popular in Europe from the mid-19th to the early 20th century. These buildings, until now largely unnoticed by most researchers, are important in the context of both architectural and urban development of this part of the city. Both buildings share the same architectural shape, which can be described as a villa. In Galicia at the turn of the 20th century, this was the term used for houses in gardens, often in the suburbs. They are connected with the type of the so-called vernacular villa, which conceptually referred to the “Italian villa”, while in terms of form it was modelled on the so-called rural cottages and Alpine architecture fashionable in the 19th century, known in Poland as “spa” architecture. The houses are also interesting as a historical material testimony to the social changes of the time, namely to the increasing opportunities and activity of an important stratum of city dwellers – the intelligentsia. The architectural type can be interpreted here as a demonstration of the rank or social advancement of the owners. None of them originated from Krowodrza. They had all previously lived in Kraków. They had the same profession – they were post office employees (clerks). Both villas are part of the legacy of the past, a testimony to a short, but valuable stage in the history of Kraków. They are an interesting, but so far unnoticed relic of the original (?) concept of shaping new development in the area of Krowodrza after its incorporation to Kraków, when an attempt was made to implement here the idea of a villa district – a garden city. Unfortunately, the idea was not continued and was soon abandoned in favour of a “metropolitan” structure of blocks filled tightly with terraced housing.