Bartosz Wencl's Former Tavern

The corner tenement at Piotrkowska 45, at the corner with Zielona Street, stands on a site of particular significance in Łódź's history. It was here, in 1827, that the first tavern of the weaving settlement Łódka was established. The present building dates from the 1870s, but its history reaches back to the origins of the industrial city.

The first tavern of the Łódka settlement

In 1827, when Łódź was only beginning as a weaving settlement, the first tavern stood at Piotrkowska 45. It was run by an innkeeper recorded in documents as Wencel Bartosz, though in other records his name appears as Wacław or Wentzel Bartosch. He was assisted in day-to-day operations by Florian Kindermann. Taverns of that era combined the function of serving drinks with that of a social gathering place, with skittle alleys and billiard tables.

Sale and relocation of the proprietor

By contract of November 1848, Wacław Bartosch, born around 1802, together with his wife Marianna née Ritter, sold the property to Józef Richter. Bartosch died in 1857. After selling the property on Piotrkowska, he took over a plot on the former Główna Street, at the site of today's Piłsudskiego 45–49.

Construction of the Wiślicki tenement

By contract of December 1874, Józef Richter sold the corner property to the married couple Hanie and Szai Wiślicki. Around 1875, Wiślicki erected an impressive corner tenement on this plot, with Teodor Rudziński as the builder and entrepreneur. In 1895, a design was approved for a brick, three-storey residential building with outbuildings under mortgage number 264. In 1902, Szaja Wiślicki obtained permission to construct a corner balcony on the first floor. The property tariff of 1920 still lists the successors of Szai and Hana Wiślicki as owners.

Shops and confectioneries at the turn of the centuries

In the 1890s, the Wiślicki tenement housed Jan Janowski's confectionery, known for its dubious reputation as a meeting place for speculators and the so-called black market. Under the same address were also confectioneries run by the Wesołowski family and Michał Ulrichs. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the building contained six shops on the Piotrkowska side and seven on the Zielona side, demonstrating how intensively this corner property served a commercial function. A few numbers further down, at number 43, stands the neighbouring Oscher Kohn's Tenement.

Practical information

• Address: Piotrkowska Street 45, corner with Zielona Street, Śródmieście [city centre]
• Access: on foot or by tram along the Piotrkowska pedestrian precinct; nearby stops for lines crossing central Łódź
• What to expect: the existing corner tenement viewed from outside, in the vicinity of Fryderyk Müller's House and Dawid Prussak's Tenement