Eisner Family Tenement Building (Chany i Szapsy Eisnerów)

An imposing four-storey tenement building at the junction of Piotrkowska and Narutowicza streets, formerly Dzielna Street, closes the corner of the block in a manner that to this day catches the eye with its irregular, asymmetrical façade. This is the result of the way it was constructed - the new building incorporated an older structure that stood on the same property.

From Kittlaus to Dobraniccy

The original wide plot numbered 193, comprising the present-day addresses Piotrkowska 50 and 52, was divided in 1825. Its southern corner section was inherited in 1851 by Karol Wilhelm Kittlaus, who built a single-storey brick house on it. A year later, the property was purchased by merchant Antoni Sperlich, and in 1874 he sold it to the married couple Sura and Abraham Dobraniccy. In the mid-1870s, they erected an imposing two-storey front tenement building on Dzielna Street side, featuring thirteen bays of elevation.

The Kenig family and purchase by the Eisners

Between 1881 and 1891, the property owner was Berko Kenig, and after his death in 1887, it was managed by his heirs. From the 1890s until 1938, Szapsia and Chana Eisner gradually purchased the western part of the property from the Kenig family, thus laying the foundation for a major future investment.

New corner tenement building

In 1912-1913, the Eisners erected an imposing four-storey corner tenement building at the corner of Piotrkowska and Dzielna streets, according to a design from 1912, described in documentation as a five-storey building. The new building incorporated part of the older structure on the property, resulting in an asymmetrical elevation visible to this day. In February 1933, Szapsia Eisner sold the property to a joint-stock company, Textile Trade S. Eisner Joint-Stock Company.

Łódź's first lithography workshop

In the second half of the nineteenth century, in the building preceding the present tenement, at an address then known as Nowy Rynek 2, the first lithography workshop in Łódź operated from 1860, run by Felix Gotz. The workshop was closed after its owner was exiled to Siberia for printing insurgent materials during the January Uprising.

On Piotrkowska Street block

The tenement building neighbours the Franciszek Fischer Tenement Building at number 54 and stands several dozen metres from the Izrael Poznański Tenement Building at number 51.

Practical information

• Address: Piotrkowska Street 52, corner with Narutowicza Street, Śródmieście
• Access: on foot along the Piotrkowska promenade, close to tram stops at Narutowicza
• What to expect: an existing corner tenement building viewed from outside, in the vicinity of the Lamplighter Monument and the former inn of Bartosz Wencl