House with Lions

The House with Lions (Romanian: Casa cu Lei) is a neo-Baroque palace in the northwestern part of the Union Square in Timișoara, Romania. It is classified as a historical monument, being part of the urban site of Timișoara Fortress.[1] After its former owners, the palace is also known as Lajos Weisz House or Sándor Weisz House.[2]

House with Lions
Casa cu Lei
The House with Lions in 2008
Former namesSándor Weisz House
Lajos Weisz House
General information
Architectural styleSecession, neo-Baroque
LocationUnion Square, Timișoara
Coordinates45°45′30″N 21°13′42″E
Completed1758
Renovated1906

History

The first time that the House with Lions appears on the plans of Timișoara is in 1758.[3] By 1818 it is known as Palick House, after the name of its owner.[4] After 1840, the building housed in turn the Zur golden Sonne eating house (English: Golden Sun), the Zur Weißen Hund grocery store (English: White Dog) and the Zur Großen Pfeife shop (English: Big Whistle).[5][6] In 1851, Angelica Palick, who inherited the house, married István Damaszkin from Beregsău Mic. He sold the house, in 1871, to businessman Sándor Weisz, who, for decades, had a famous haberdashery and wholesale business.[4]

Lajos Weisz, one of Sándor's sons, expanded the warehouse on the ground floor and restored the facade in 1906. This is when the emblematic lions on the roof appear.[7] During the socialist period, in the 1950s, the House with Lions was the headquarters of Siguranța (the future Securitate), the cellars being transformed into detention centers.[4]

Architecture
Mascaron above a window

The house was originally built in the Austrian Baroque style, the round oriel on the corner of the building existing before 1840.[3] In 1906 the facade was redone in Secession style.[5][6] The ground floor of the building forms a socle with bossages. The floor is decorated with pilasters with Ionic volutes in the upper part.[5][3] Three of the central windows on the first floor are decorated with mascarons. The facade is decorated with plant motifs. At the top is a pediment in which on the shield four swords form the letter "W", the initial of Weisz. The shield is supported by griffins.[2] The pediment is placed on an attic on which there are two life-size lions, from which the name of the house comes, but today they are 70% deteriorated.[7]

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to House with Lions.
  1. "Lista monumentelor istorice din județul Timiș". Direcția Județeană pentru Cultură Timiș.
  2. Moldovan, Mihai-Claudiu (21 September 2020). "Casa Lajos Weisz". Heritage of Timișoara.
  3. "Cartarea monumentelor istorice din situl urban "Cetatea Timișoara" – cvartal 03" (PDF). Primăria municipiului Timișoara. p. 37.
  4. Both, Ștefan (19 January 2016). "Restaurarea unei clădiri emblematice din Timișoara: „Le spun turiștilor că văd două jivine. Cândva au fost lei"". Adevărul.
  5. Opriș, Mihai; Botescu, Mihai (2014). Arhitectura istorică din Timișoara. Timișoara: Tempus. p. 135. ISBN 978-973-1958-28-6.
  6. Neumann, Getta (2019). Pe urmele Timișoarei evreiești. Timișoara: Brumar. pp. 79–80. ISBN 978-606-726-145-5.
  7. Popescu, Cristina (21 January 2016). "„Casa cu lei", un pas înainte spre reabilitare". Banatul Azi.
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