Tenement House at św. Wojciecha 1 in Szczecin

The tenement house at ul. św. Wojciecha 1 in Szczecin is a historic residential and commercial building from 1902-1903, erected in the Art Nouveau style. Much of its original ornamentation has survived, and the Wikipedia entry counts it among the few Szczecin examples of Art Nouveau.

Who designed it and for whom

The design was prepared by the Szczecin architect Friedrich Liebergesell, commissioned by the Berlin freight-forwarding businessman Albert Netz. The building consists of a four-storey front tenement house with an attic and a three-wing rear outbuilding on the courtyard side, laid out in the shape of the letter U. The walls are brick, and since 1972 the whole has been listed in the heritage register as a tenement house with outbuildings.

What to see on the facade

The facade has ten bays. The lower storeys and the gable are decorated with rustication, and in the central part there are entrance recesses with portals crowned by images of eagles. Three-sided oriels with half-domes occupy the bays on the first and third floors, and a helmet stands on the roof. The windows have glazing bars arranged in the shape of winding tree branches. The gateway passage has kept its original door, dark green tiles in the lower part of the walls and a terracotta floor.

The courtyard and later changes

Between the front tenement house and the outbuilding lies a courtyard with a partly preserved original fountain. According to the Wikipedia entry, it is sometimes a venue for artistic performances, concerts, film screenings and exhibition openings. In the 1960s the rooms were divided to increase the number of flats, and in the process part of the stucco work on the ceilings was destroyed. After the war new windows were cut into the gable wall on the Victory Square side.

Practical information

• Address: ul. św. Wojciecha 1, Szczecin, in the city centre, a few dozen metres from the Basilica of St John the Baptist.
• The building is residential and commercial, so you view it from the street and from the gateway passage; the interiors of the flats are not open to visitors.
• Nearby stand the Palace of the Pomeranian Landschaft and the Monument to Kornel Ujejski.