Have you considered some names that would suggest that the building is an office? Such as, for instance, office center?
There are a lot of such names and they do not differ from each other at all. The ones which are simpler and have better sounding have already been used. In any case, this is the name which entered my mind when I was performing my first building. There was a stable in the past in this place, and thus I called it Nowa Stajnia (New Stable). I like it sounds and I think it is not repellent. If a tenant has a different opinion about it, they can change it.
How many elements from the old stable are you going to keep in Nowa Stajnia?
There will be foundations, which are in good condition, and the walls on the ground floor. Their condition is also good, and, most importantly, the proper thickness provides them with good thermal isolation. Fortunately, we do not have to think about acoustic isolation because it is provided by the park. It is a quiet place, even though we are in the city center, in fact.
When was this stable built?
Unfortunately, we do not have precise information about it. I estimate the date of its foundation on, more or less, the half of the 19th century. The building was redeveloped several times, in fact. It can be about 150 or even 160 years old. The office role of the building is its second life because not only the function but also the appearance are going to change, even though it will be of the same size.
Nowa Stajnia is to be located on the area of a several-hectare-large garden
Nowa Stajnia is being performed in a special place, as for the city center. It is situated on the area of a large garden next to the courtyard owned by your family. Can you tell us something more about this place?
Olsza had been located outside Krakow before the end of the World War 2. I remember some letters from my old aunties, who wrote "Olsza near Krakow" and the post came without any particular address. Then, the place was incorporated into the administrational borders of the city. Krakow incorporated other areas in the 60-ties, especially the area of Nowa Huta, and the fields after the war became developed. The distance from out garden to the Old Town amounts to 5 km in a straight line. Additionally, this region is well communicated with main arteries. The people’s government tried to banish my parents, however, they managed to save this remaining part, that is this courtyard, several developments and several-hectare park. My parents started to cultivate champignons at the end of the 50ties and they survived this most difficult period thanks to gardening. The renovation of the house started at the end of the 70ties, which has not been modernized for a very long time and started to go rack and ruin. The investment was initiated by my parents, and completed by me. Although in case of such development it is difficult to say about final completion of works because such a big house still needs repairing and the scale of the problem is even much more bigger than in case of relatively big modern houses.
The court owned by the Potoccy family
The oldest part of the courtyard dates back to the turn of the 17th and 18th century, however, the building was redeveloped and expanded many times and its present form is much less from the end of 19th century. The exception is the roof, which was redeveloped in the 70-ties of the 20th century The courtyard had different owners and it was owned by different Krakow’s orders, for instance, Kamedulow. Finally, it came to the known Krakow bourgeois family of Szastrow. Mr Szaster was the founder of the department of pharmacy at Jagiellonian University. And then, through marriages, came to Zakaszewscy. My great-great-grandfather married with Ms Zakrzewska, which brought him the courtyard and wealth within the dowry. It was not treated as a big property in that times, and rather treated as a place for living while coming from other possessions to Krakow, for instance, during carnival. And this is how the courtyard stayed in the family.
It is an attractive location so the area had to arouse great interest among investors who wanted to purchase a piece of land from you?
Indeed. I received a lot of questions and propositions from investors or developers. There were even so rumor about selling this area. My parents were very committed to the struggle for keeping this place in one piece, so I also do not image to divide or sale it. Development of this place is possible, of course, but the biggest part should remain in the form of a park. When the Stadium of spatial developing of the city was proceeded in Krakow, I made sure that the greatest area of the park would be classified as greenery. If the stadium would be changed into a plan of spatial development, it would be signed that it is a park and I could be calm about it.