Relatively little information about Eskens’ House preserved. It is known it was built as a family house by Toruń merchant and later the town mayor, Henryk Hitfeld at the end of 14th century. The first information about the house comes from 1417. Franciszek Esken bought the house after Konrad Hitfeld’s death about 1551. About 1590 the son, Franciszek II transformed a Gothic house into a Renaissance residence with a stone portal which was made by a Flemish sculptor from Gdańsk - Wilhelm van den Blocke. Beautifully carved door made of white sandstone with a scene of the departure the Prodigal Son was inserted into and at present it is located in the Old Town Hall. The ceiling of the Great Entrance Hall was ornamented by a polychrome. At the moment the building is known as a palace. In spite of the great past, the splendour of the building didn’t manage to preserve. In 1703 Samuel Schiedler bought it, then Walenty Mariański became its owner and in 1764 it came into a possession of a family from Elbląg, Friese. In 1825 the tenement house was bought by Jan Telka and his wife Helena Klaszewska who started a reconstruction of the building for storage purposes. In 1844 the owner of the tenement house became a merchant company L. Damman and Kordes. At that time the building lost completely its former destination and started to function as a granary. The floor system, the roof and the placement of windows were changed during the reconstruction. In the time of the Interwar Period and after the Second World War there were storerooms of famous Toruń company of Bronisław Hozakowski in the tenement house. Till 70ies of 20th century a storage of poppy seeds was located here. In years 1980-1989 thanks to Provincial Monuments Conservator, Eskens’ House was rearranged to museum needs and since 1990 it has been one of the objects of the District Museum in Toruń.
Local
See and Do
- The Museum of the History of Toruń (The Eskens' House) Toruń (0.0 miles) - Relatively little information about Eskens’ House preserved. It is known it was built as a family ...
- Under the Star House Toruń (0.1 miles) - The Star House is an excellent example of the historical lavish residences of wealthy burghers and p...
- The Museum of Toruń Gingerbread Toruń (0.1 miles) - The Museum of Toruń Gingerbread is a unique tourist attraction. Not only is it Poland’s largest m...
- Copernicus House Toruń (0.1 miles) - There is no doubt that Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Toruń !! It is much harder to determine exac...
- Old Town Hall Toruń (0.1 miles) - Throughout the centuries the Old Town Hall has been the most famous and representative secular edifi...
