In 1970—1972 Monuments Conservation Workshops in Lublin prepared ,,A Perspective Renewal Programme” and ,,A Local Detailed Plan of Land Development” for the Old Town in Lublin. The plans represent a basic tool in carrying out conservation, land, programme actions on that territory. The Old Town covers the area of 10 ha. It is situated on the promontory of the upland elevated 17 m. above the surrounding land. Main values of this complex are concentrated in an unimpaired mediaeval urban arrangement, an interesting town silhouette and quite a big number of fine structures from the mediaeval times, through Renaissance, baroque, classicism to the 19th century. The beginnings of the settlement date back to the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries. Civic rights were granted to Lublin in 1317. D e s i g n Wo r k s . „The Renewal Plan” was preceded with a series of scientific and historic studies as well as with a preparation of preliminary materials concerning a technical condition of the buildings, groundwork and underground outfit. Data on the use and insolation of buildings have also been compiled. A study of the green and transportation systems has been prepared as well. Design works have been based on the following foundations: — to leave intact an urban arrangement of the mediaeval town, — to set off a historic trade route, ' — to change the programme of the use of the buildings so to ensure their proper exploitation, — to maintain a division of former building plots with a simultaneous use of the interiors as interblock spaces in housing areas, — to pay a full respect to all stylistic values of subsequent layers, — to carry out repair and conservation works as well as modernization aimed at the equipment of buildings of buildings with water supply and sewage systems, central heating, gas, electric and telephone appliances, — to eliminate traffic to the maximum degree. The utility programme has been subordinated to conservation requirements. A proposed use of buildings is flexible and it combines housing and servicing functions. In the Old Town there are 155 buildings, used for living-in and servicing purposes, with the total cubature of 775,000 m3 and usable floor area of 92,900 m2. 4,720 people live in 1,354 flats. Only those rooms which have a required standard may be used as flats. And so, the Old Town will eventually have 1,600 inhabitants. Services are to be rendered mostly on behalf of tourists and they are to comprise hotels, catering places, tourist information, shops and small craftsman’s workshops. Comprehensive works will cover the reconstruction of infrastructure and the protection of underground excavations. The arrangement of roads and squares will be left unchanged. Traffic, with the exception of ambulances, fire brigades and suppliers, has been prohibited. T h e E x e c u t i o n . The whole area of the Old Town has been divided into blocks worked up according to the order of questions, rendered in full conservation problems and concluded with „The Proposals to the Block Renewal Plan” . Preliminary materials, together with an analysis of optimum technical solutions, constitute a point of departure for projects that are to be executed.
The author of the present article describes the history and future of tenement houses at Grodzka Street nos 3, 5 and 5a in the Old Town in Lublin. The house at 3, Grodzka Street was built in the early 16th century and was called then ’’Lubomielska” or ’’Pasage” house. Its proprietors changed quite frequently and included many well-known Polish families. The development and re building of th e house was nearly a continuous process and went through a number of stages. The other house at 5, Grodzka Street was first rebuilt in the mid-17th- century in a Renaissance style and then reconstructed again in the mid-19th-century. The building at 5a, Grodzka Street was raised in the turn of the 15 th and 16th centuries. In the early 18th century it was already a two-storey tenement house and in the years that came it developed into a structure with outbuildings and a number of modifications introduced. A technical condition of the frontages, despite numerous craks in in the walls and partial destruction of the elements, qualified them for the maintenance and preservation. Constructional walls were raised from lime stone and brick on lime mortar. At the present moment they are in a bad technical condition and require rebuilding; the same, to a smaller extent, refers to vaultings and staircases. Interiors of the buildings have also to be preserved to a maximum extent. Polychromies from the 16th and 17 th centuries, uncovered in many parts of the buildings, will be preserved and subjected to conservations. The same holds true of other ruined elements. During archaeological studies ceramic floor tiles were uncovered and they will be made anew. The courtyard inside the block was also tudied by archaeologists, geotechnicians and miners collaborating with them. During these works a number of valuable discoveries were made, just to mention unknown cellars and an old baking stove. In accordance with a long-term programme of the renewal of the Old Town in Lublin, houses at 3, 5 and 5a Grodzka Street are destined for immediate rescue. They are to be completely renewed including the rebuilding of outbuidings, with the attention paid to their new function as the house of the associations of Polish architects, art historians and town-planners. The programme assumed combines an administration function and cultural activities to be performed in the building and it will be executed so as to satisfy these requirements. In the back buildings at 5 and 5a Grodzka Street it is envisaged to have a summer coffe house. The shape of the site, division into plots, partitional walls and greenery will harmonize with the plan for the entire sur rounding block.
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