Jan Lehmanna Trougota Tenement House

The tenement at Piotrkowska 149 in Łódź is a three-storey residential building erected on the site of an earlier wooden house. It takes the name of Jan Traugott Lehmann, the property owner who gave it its present form in the 19th century.

Who built the property before Lehmann

The plot under today's number 149 was taken over in 1834 by weaver Gottlieb Müller, who built a wooden house there. In the following decades the property changed hands, passing through the hands of the Radke, Bartosch, Grunwald, Schultz, Balle and Weber families, and by the late 1860s belonged to Ignacy Effenberger.

Manufacturer Jan Traugott Lehmann

From the second half of the 1870s the property was managed by Jan Traugott Lehmann, who purchased the land in 1876. According to a design from 1881, signed by city architect Hilary Majewski, Lehmann erected a two-storey manual woollen textile mill in the courtyard – the first brick building on that plot. In 1893 it employed 38 workers.

Front tenement from 1896

In place of the single-storey wooden building, a three-storey front tenement was erected according to a design from 1896. A preserved building document from that year describes the construction of a brick three-storey residential building, two identical outbuildings and a single-storey storage shed. The Lehmann family remained the owner of the property until the end of the first decade of the 20th century, and subsequently, until the 1920s, the building belonged to the married couple Emmy and Adolf Neumann.

Apron factory and workshop in the attic

In the interwar period at Piotrkowska 149 there was a depot of the apron factory of Józef Horak, run later by his sons Adolf and Gustaw. Gustaw Horak, besides running his father's depot, was also a musician and a community activist. In the second half of the 20th century the attic of the tenement housed the workshop of architect Włodzimierz Adamiak, which he made available for meetings of the artistic group Łódź Kaliska.

Neighbours on Piotrkowska

A few properties further on, at number 151, stands the palace of Gustaw Adolf Kindermann, and at number 152 the tenement of Ryszard Bechtold. On the other side, at number 153, is the tenement of Florian Jarisch with a villa at the rear of the property.

Practical information

• Address: Piotrkowska 149, Łódź, Śródmieście district.
• Getting there: by tram or bus to stops in the central part of Piotrkowska, then on foot.
• What to expect: historic facade of a residential tenement from the late 19th century, viewed from outside within the continuous built-up area of the street.