Goldstein Palace

The Goldstein Palace is the Neo-Renaissance villa of the brothers Abraham and Josef Goldstein on the corner of plac Wolności and ul. Matejki in the western part of Katowice city centre. Construction was completed in 1872; according to the heritage register the work continued until 1875.

Who the Goldsteins were

The brothers came from the Kingdom of Poland to Katowice to set up another of their chain of sawmills, which they had on both sides of the Prussian-Russian border. The sawmill stood behind the palace. After a fire in 1892 and the losses it caused, they moved the firm to Wrocław and sold the property to the firm Kohlen Produzenten Georg von Giesches Erben. The architect is not known; historians suspect he came from Berlin.

Architecture

The villa has two or three storeys (sources differ in the description), is of brick, in the Neo-Renaissance style, and the heritage register describes its style as Neoclassical. The façades are decorated with rich stucco and stonework decoration. On the side elevation there are sculptures of three female figures, allegories of industry, science and fine arts, with a hammer, a locomotive, a book, a torch, a scroll and an artist's palette.

Inside there is a grand staircase and a hall with rich painted decoration with gilding. The meeting room has a coffered ceiling lined with gilded cordovan leather, and the floors are made of marble. The owners' monogram AJG appears in the decoration.

Later uses of the building

Before the Second World War the Chamber of Industry and Commerce was housed here. From 1952 to 1990 the Polish-Soviet Friendship Society and the Przyjaźń cinema operated here, and in the cellars from 1975 the avant-garde theatre 12a, connected with the Puls student club, where the first Rawa Blues festival also took place. Today it houses a registry office, and the building belongs to the city.

Nearby

From plac Wolności it is close to the Silesian Theatre, the Cathedral of Christ the King and the Rialto Cinema-Theatre.

Practical information

• Address: plac Wolności 12a, Katowice.
• The building is entered in the heritage register and serves as an office, so the interiors are not visited as in a museum; the rules of entry must be checked with the office.
• The façade is best viewed from plac Wolności and from ul. Matejki.