Fiszel Wajkselficz Building

The building at Piotrkowska 92 began as a mill plot before passing into the hands of a textile manufacturer in the second half of the nineteenth century. Today it is associated above all with the name Fiszel Wajkselficz, though documents also record the spelling Weichselfisch.

Millers above present-day Sienkiewicza

Plot number 92 was taken over in 1833 by miller Fryderyk Wilhelm Günther, who had the duty to keep a windmill in operation. A year later, another owner, Samuel Meischatz, also called Majszac, erected a windmill at the rear of the plot near present-day Sienkiewicza Street. The property subsequently passed through the hands of millers Jan Goltz, owner from 1848, and Dienegott Henselmann, owner from 1851. The Henselmann family held the plot at least until Dienegott's death in 1870.

Fiszel Wajkselfisz and weaving mills

In the 1880s and 1890s, the property belonged to Fiszel Weichselfisch, also known as Wajkselfisz. A two-storey building already stood in 1892, and that same year Wajkselfisz obtained permission to construct a brick, three-storey residential outbuilding with an attic. A year later, in 1893, plans were drawn up for another brick, three-storey outbuilding with residential basements. It housed hand looms and accommodation for workers.

Kazimierz Olszowski, diplomat

In April 1901, Weichselfisch sold the property to Kazimierz Olszowski, who remained its owner during the interwar period. Olszowski was a figure extending beyond Łódź commerce: in the 1920s he served as minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary of the Polish Republic to the Government of the German Reich in Berlin, and died in 1933 in Ankara as ambassador of the Polish Republic to Turkey.

Piotrkowska 92 on a walking route

Number 92 lies in the central section of the pedestrian precinct, close to several other buildings from the same period. Next to it stand Alojzy Balle Building at number 87 and Buta House at number 98, and a little further on Siemens Building and Gustaw Goldblum Building.

Practical information

• Address: Piotrkowska 92, Łódź
• Access: on foot or by tram to stops on Piotrkowska Street or Kościuszko Avenue
• What to expect: façade of a nineteenth-century building with outbuildings at the rear of the plot