Kestenberg Tenement House

The tenement at Piotrkowska 24 stands next to a twin-built tenement of the Bechtold family at number 22 and bears the name of its later owner, merchant Majer Kestenberg, who raised the building by one storey in 1881.

Shared origins with the neighbouring plot

The land under present-day number 24 was originally part of a larger property with mortgage number 256, which also included the neighbouring number 22. Until 1864 it belonged to blacksmith Marcin Meier, one of the first settlers in industrial Łódź.

Division of the plot and construction of the front building

By contract in February 1864, Meier sold the property to his married daughters. The southern half, present-day number 24, was purchased by spouses Salomea and Krystian Bechtold, and the northern half, present-day number 22, by Maria Matylda and Henryk Bechtold, Krystian's brother. In March 1865 the Bechtold brothers submitted a declaration to build two brick, multi-storey front buildings with façades, covered with roof tiles, 74 feet long, 48 feet wide and 31 feet high. The declaration was approved in October 1865.

Majer Kestenberg and the 1881 extension

From at least the 1880s, the property at Piotrkowska 24 was owned by Majer Kestenberg. According to a design from 1881, signed by architect H. Majewski, Kestenberg raised the front tenement by one storey, giving it a form similar to its present appearance.

Stiller and Bielschowsky Wool Manufactory

In the second half of the 1890s, the property passed into the hands of the Stiller and Bielschowsky Wool Manufactory Joint-Stock Company, one of Łódź's textile enterprises operating on Piotrkowska at that time.

Neighbours on the pedestrian precinct

The building is adjacent to the Bechtold family tenement at number 22 and the Landau family tenement at number 23, and several dozen metres further stands the Belin family tenement at number 25.

Practical information

• address: ul. Piotrkowska 24, Łódź
• access: on foot along the pedestrian precinct or by tram to stops near Wolności Square; the street is closed to motor traffic
• what to expect: a nineteenth-century extended tenement building in the pedestrian precinct frontage; external view only, no access to interiors or courtyard