Moshe Działowski Tenement House

The corner tenement at the junction of Piotrkowska 76 and Moniuszki Street bears the name of the family who built the first brick building here in the 19th century, although the present structure was erected under subsequent owners. It is one of those addresses on Piotrkowska where the history of the property is more complex than the name on the plaque.

The Działowski Tenement and reconstruction for Wiener

The plot at the present number 76 was taken over in 1833 by weaver Jan Gottlieb Halang, who was obliged to erect a wooden house and a linen and cotton mill. In the mid-1870s, the owner became Ludwik Meyer, who also held shares in the neighbouring plots numbered 72 and 74 and purchased the land for himself. Meyer sold the front part of the property to the married couple Taubie and Moshe Działowski, who in 1881 erected a corner tenement in a shape similar to today's. The building was, however, burdened with a mortgage and in mid-1885 went to auction, where Ludwik Meyer bought it back. In 1889 the property passed into the hands of Moshe Aron Wiener, who according to architect Gustav Landau-Gutenteger's design from 1892 erected a splendid tenement extending along the Meyera passage, today's Moniuszki Street. The house tariff from 1920 still lists Wiener as the owner.

Confectioneries at the corner with the Meyera passage

From 1 July 1891, a confectionery run by Aleksander Roszkowski, well known in the city, operated in the building. It occupied the ground floor with an entrance at the corner as well as rooms on the first and third floors, where a billiards room and reading room for domestic and foreign press were located. From mid-1912 the confectionery was run by Bolesław Gostomski, and in 1932, after renovation of the premises, a Warsaw branch of the "Ziemiańska" confectionery was opened here, run by Karol Albrecht. The corner location at the entrance to the Meyera passage made this establishment one of the most recognisable meeting points on Piotrkowska at that time.

Practical information

A few dozen steps towards Wolności Square stands the Juliusz Pfeiffer Tenement House with a painted fresco on the side wall, and on the opposite side of the street the Palace of Maksymilian Goldfeder. Towards Reymonta Square, at number 78, is located the Izrael Rosenblatt Tenement House.

• Address: Piotrkowska 76, corner with Moniuszki Street, Łódź
• Getting there: by tram or bus to stops on Piotrkowska in Śródmieście [city centre], then on foot along the pedestrian mall
• What to expect: a corner, 19th-century rental tenement with a history of reconstruction and former confectioneries on the ground floor