Konsum in Katowice-Murcki

The former Princely Department Store on Kasprowicza Square in Murcki, Katowice, is the largest commercial building of the company estate built by the management of the Hochberg family. Since 2021 it has been entered in the heritage register as part of the Murcki estate complex.

Where it came from

The building was erected in 1905-1908, in the period of the Hochberg management's greatest investments in Katowice, and was originally called the Fürstliches Kaufhaus. The design was by Alfred Malpricht, the princely building inspector, who designed most of the buildings of the estate. Various dates of commissioning are mentioned; the year most often given is 1906.

Besides the shops, the building held warehouses, offices, a coffee-roasting room, a cold store and flats for employees, and at the back a grain-drying room, a barley-roasting room and a smokehouse. In time an Evangelical chapel was set up at the back, and in the interwar period a school for the German minority. In 1958-1968 the Miners' Club operated in the right wing.

Appearance

The masonry, plastered building has a C-shaped plan, a high gabled roof covered with tiles and a seven-bay facade with two projecting bays ending in gables. The main entrance, preceded by steps, is set in a niche with a basket-handle arch, and above it rises a mansard with a wavy gable and a clock. The style is described as early modernism with features of company estates. The building closes the view from Wolności Street and is the dominant feature of the square.

Practical information

• Address: plac Jana Kasprowicza 4, Katowice-Murcki.
• Today it houses flats and retail and service premises, so you can mainly see the facade from the square side.
• Not far away lies the Las Murckowski nature reserve.