Florczak House

Florczak House stands on a corner of ul. Gliwicka in Tarnowskie Góry, right by Plac Gwarków. Tradition holds it to be the first brick building in the town. Today it serves residential and commercial purposes.

Seat of the mining office

The house was built after 1531 on foundations from the early 16th century. Tradition says that until about 1562 it housed the mining office and town hall. In its cellars 20 miners were said to have been held after the rebellion and strike of 1534. The name comes from the merchant Florczak, who was the owner in 1927. Earlier the house belonged, among others, to rope-makers and merchants, and in 1875-1911 to the merchant Hermann Lubitz.

The building

It is a two-storey corner building with a cellar. Originally it was single-storey with a hipped roof, and the upper floors were added later. The old walls and barrel vaults have survived, and on the ceiling of the hallway there is a rosette with the date 1664. Legend has it that on this spot in 1490 the peasant Rybka discovered the first lump of silver, and that the ore was built into the wall, where a rust-coloured stain can be seen above a plaque from 1930.

Nearby

The house lies a few steps from Plac Gwarków in Tarnowskie Góry, and the mining history of the town is shown by the Silver Mine in Tarnowskie Góry.

Practical information

• Address: ul. Gliwicka 6, Tarnowskie Góry.
• The building is entered in the heritage register. The upper floors are residential and shops occupy the ground floor, so the house is viewed from the outside.