Ryszard Bechtold's Tenement House

The tenement house at ulica Piotrkowska 152 in Łódź is a four-storey residential building, one of the younger structures on this section of the street, erected only in the early second decade of the twentieth century. In the interwar period, it housed a restaurant and café renowned throughout Poland.

Owners of the plot before Bechtold

The plot under the present number 152 was taken over in 1833 by a weaver, Karol Luniak, who had arrived from Bohemia. Over the course of the nineteenth century the property changed hands: successively Florian Diesner, Karol Rathe, Karol Süssman, from the early 1880s Henry Bauer, and in the years 1888–1911 the Schlösser family, who also owned the neighbouring plot at number 150.

Construction of the tenement house by Ryszard Bechtold

The four-storey street-facing tenement house was built around 1913 by Ryszard Adolf Bechtold. A preserved building document from that year describes a design for a brick, four-storey structure with an attic and basements, a street-facing residential building at number 152 on ulica Piotrkowska.

Roma restaurant and café

In the interwar period at the address Piotrkowska 152 there was located the Roma restaurant and café. The renowned Polish dance orchestra of Kazimierz Englard, who lived in the years 1894–1942 and was the composer of the composition "The Most Beautiful Tango", frequently performed there. The tenement house also housed a ladies' hairdressing salon, run by Anna Neuman.

Neighbourhood on Piotrkowska

On one side, at number 151, stands the palace of Gustaw Adolf Kindermann, and on the other, at number 149, the tenement house of Jan Lehmann Trougot. A little further on, at number 153, is located the tenement house of Florian Jarisch.

Practical information

• Address: ulica Piotrkowska 152, Łódź, Śródmieście [city centre].
• Getting there: by tram or bus to stops in the central part of Piotrkowska, then on foot.
• What to expect: the façade of a four-storey residential tenement house from the early twentieth century, viewed from outside in the compact street development.