Historic sites
eclectic villa of an industrialist from 1859, today the seat of the Siemianowice Centre of Culture
Historic sites
neo-Renaissance villa of the manufacturer Sixt from 1883, now the seat of the Bielska BWA Gallery
Historic sites
Modernist architect's own house from 1926-1930, a stop on the Modernism Trail
Historic sites
manor house of 1720 rebuilt as a villa, with a park with a pond and a 40-metre white poplar
Historic sites
early 20th-century villa where Wojciech Korfanty lived from 1923
Historic sites
neoclassical villa of the Kramsta industrialist family, for many years a club of creative associations
Historic sites
Neo-Renaissance villa with 25 rooms, since 1922 the home of the Kuder family, today owned by the Jesuits
Historic sites
brick villa with a tower and stepped gable for a tiled stove manufacturer
Villas in Silesia means eight historic houses in Katowice, Siemianowice, Bielsko-Biała, Żywiec and Mysłowice, from neo-Renaissance to modernism.
The overview gathers industrialists' residences, an architect's own house and a manor converted into a villa. Some now serve culture, while others are still homes, so before setting out it is worth checking which can only be seen from the street. The Katowice villas have a separate list: villas in Katowice.
Four villas stand in the Katowice city centre and show three eras: nineteenth-century neoclassicism, late-century neo-Renaissance and the modernism of the interwar years. Two lie on Warszawska Street, so they are easy to see in one day.
The Kramsta Villa at Warszawska 37 is a garden villa in the neoclassical style, put up in 1875-1876 and entered in the register of monuments. Since 1992 it has housed the Marchołt creative club. At number 55 stands the Oskar Działoszyński Villa, a neo-Renaissance brick house from 1897, commissioned by the man who owned a factory making tiled stoves. People live there, so the only way to see it is from the pavement.
Korfantówka, or the Korfanty Villa on Powstańców Street, number 23, dates from 1907-1909. Wojciech Korfanty moved in during 1923, and today a nursery school occupies it. The youngest in this group is the Tadeusz Michejda villa at Poniatowskiego 19, the architect's own house from 1926-1930. It belongs to the Formist trend, is a listed monument and forms part of the Katowice Modernism Trail.
The other four villas lie in four different towns, so each calls for its own trip. Two serve culture today.
In Siemianowice Śląskie, on Fitznerów Street, stands the Fitzner Villa, the former residence of the industrialist Wilhelm Fitzner, built in 1859. The eclectic building has been restored and now houses the Siemianowice Cultural Centre. In Bielsko-Biała, in the Dolne Przedmieście district, the Theodor Sixt villa of 1883 is a neo-Renaissance design by Carl Korn, bequeathed to the town by the entrepreneur and philanthropist. An art gallery operates inside.
In Żywiec, Klementynka, also spelled Klementynówka, is a manor of 1720 rebuilt as a villa in 1887. Grounds with a white poplar forty metres tall wrap around the house. A large footprint belongs to the Kuder Villa in Mysłowice: neo-Renaissance, single-storey, from the 1870s, with twenty-five rooms on a ground floor of more than four hundred and fifty square metres.
The interiors serve culture in the Fitzner Villa in Siemianowice, which is a culture house, in the Sixt villa in Bielsko-Biała, with an art gallery, and in the Kramsta Villa, seat of a creative club. The Działoszyński Villa is a residential building.
In the villa at Powstańców 23 in Katowice, known as Korfantówka. He moved in during 1923, and today a nursery school operates there.
The earliest date belongs to the manor of 1720, rebuilt in 1887 as Klementynka in Żywiec. If you count only buildings erected as villas, the first is the Fitzner Villa of 1859.
Yes, the Tadeusz Michejda villa on Poniatowskiego Street, the architect's own house from 1926-1930.
