See perfectly refurbished entrances to tenement houses in Nadodrze [PHOTO]

At the beginning of September, the conservation of the entrance to the tenement house at ul. Kilińskiego 33/35 was completed. First you have to pass through the entrance gate to the backyard of the mansion, which does not look impressive, because it is daubed with sprays and with patched holes in the plaster.

But the vestibule itself looks beautiful. The azure-blue tile dado lights up the entrance to the stairs, although the light falls in only through a small narrow window. It is decorated with golden medallions with animal motifs.

Entrance to the tenement house at ul. Jedności Robotniczej before its refurbishment, photo: Monument Conservation Workshop – Piotr Pelc /fb

It is better to strip everything off

Specialists from the Monument Conservation Workshop, a company run by Piotr Pelc, had to cope with a few challenges during works. ‘Firstly, a thick layer of oil paint covering the tiles had to be removed. We used mechanical methods and chemicals; we used even scalpels so as to damage the tiles that have survived,‘ tells Piotr Pelc. ‘That was a laborious process. The builders who also did the renovation of the staircase suggested simply stripping all tiles off without unnecessary toil.

Then it was necessary to supplement the missing tiles and the damaged fragments of dadoes. Sculptor and ceramic artist Piotr Michnikowski was responsible for this part of works.

Piotr Pelc: ‘He prepared around 50 completely new tiles, but there were lots of minor holes and cracked tiles.

The renovation of the porcelain dado in the entrance to the adjacent tenement house at Jedności Narodowej 51/53 required less work.

Piotr Pelc: ‘Here we had beautiful art nouveau tiles. They were not covered with paints, but daubed with sprays; there were much fewer holes than at Kilińskiego.

Pearls of Nadodrze

‘The inhabitants of the tenement house at ul. Kilińskiego, Ola and Mateusz, deserve special praise for having persuaded the remaining tenants into carrying out the renovation with respect for the old valuable decoration,’ says Piotr Pelc. ‘Unfortunately, such an attitude does not occur very often, although almost every tenement house in Nadodrze contains many decorations valuable from an artistic and historical perspective. These are not only tiles, but also elements of woodwork, floors, stuccoes and paintings that are covered under thick layers of paint and plaster today. It is worth taking care of them.’