This is probably the most charming street in the heart of the Bojary district, lined with cobblestone, and on both sides there are about 20 properties with wooden buildings from the late 19th and early 20th century. The houses are set parallel or perpendicular to the street, some are surrounded by green old trees or entwined with vines. Most of the buildings have been renovated or incorporated into a modern property, while preserving the historic substance and respecting the Bojary style. In the interwar period, officials lived in the houses on Koszykowa Street, including the district judge, councilor of the Białystok city council Otto Langer (26 Koszykowa Street) and court officials. There were numerous grocery stores here, and the safety of the residents was ensured by the police station (2 Koszykowa Street).

The building has been listed in the register of the Voivodeship Conservator of Monuments since 2005. It was probably built in the late 19th century. It represents the type of a small-town multi-family house with two entrances: in the elevation from the street and from the courtyard with a porch. An additional entrance located in the elevation on the side of the street suggests that one of the premises could have been intended for trade or services. Currently uninhabited, it is in the city’s resources. Plans for its development have been presented many times by cultural associations (the Bojary Cultural Center was to be built here, several concerts and artistic events have taken place here).

It was originally built as a path leading from Aleksandrowska Street (today Warszawska Street) to Słonimska Street. In the 1880s, it was called Stołypińska Street, and in the interwar period it received its current name. Similar to Słonimska Street, apartments were rented here mainly to office workers. However, there were also locksmiths’, shoemakers’ and grocery stores. Many teachers lived here. During the Nazi occupation, secret classes were held in many houses. Only a few wooden houses have survived on Staszica Street to this day, one of which is on the register of historical monuments.

The list of monuments includes the house at number 5, built in the late 19th century as a large multi-family building with a usable attic with lucarnes, covered with a gable roof, set with the ridge facing the street. As a result of multiple reconstructions and thermal modernization, as well as a clear division of ownership into two, now completely different parts, the building lost much of its artistic value.

The oldest house on Staszica Street is the one at number 9, probably built around 1879. Its old age is evidenced by its diagonal location in relation to Staszica Street. You can see that its corner somehow “cuts into” the pavement, because the building originally faced a large garden stretching towards Skorupska Street. It is currently a residential building in the type of a single-storey multi-family house with a usable attic and a gable roof. The original formwork and decking of the corners have been preserved, but the dimensions and divisions of the window openings have been erased. The building is not protected as a historical monument.

To date, it has not been possible to clearly determine where the name of this street comes from. The street has been recorded since 1909, and was created as an
access road to properties sold by the Kitschel family. In the interwar period, several dozen wooden buildings were built on it, inhabited by multi-generational families. The houses were mostly built with their ridges facing the street, they were single-storey with a usable attic and mostly covered with a gable roof. Some of them witnessed important historical events, e.g. the building at 6/1 Wiktorii Street, which no longer exists, hosted Józef Piłsudski in 1905 during one of his last visits in conspiracy as a Polish Socialist Party activist. Until the outbreak of World War II, the street was inhabited by about 50 Catholic families, 19 Orthodox, 10 Evangelical and one Jewish family. Currently, 13 wooden buildings have been preserved on Wiktorii Street, including one listed as a historical monument.

The historic house at 14 Wiktorii Street, built around 1901, has recently been thoroughly renovated, but with the use of natural materials such as wood and ceramic roof tiles. The original layout of the formwork, window joinery and shutters has also been recreated, and the shape and divisions of the elevation have been preserved. The building, which has been part of the city’s resources since the 1950s, was transferred to a children’s home and today serves as a residential facility.

The Sadowski family lived in the house at number nine, built after 1911. The brothers Tadeusz and Czesław were visual artists. Czesław painted portraits, posters, still lifes, illustrated books, he was the author of graphics and caricatures, and above all, landscapes and views of Białystok and its surroundings. The house at 9 Wiktorii Street is an example of a popular in Bojary wide-fronted single-storey residential building, set with its ridge facing the street, with an interesting roof over the main entrance. The building is currently unused and falling into ruin. There are voices about the need to designate the building as a gallery of Sadowski’s works.

The property at 5 Wiktorii Street belonged to the Martysiuk family from the beginning of the 20th century to the 1950s. The building itself was probably built around 1911. It is an example of a large, single-storey, multi-family house with a high attic. At the end of the 20th century, the building became the property of the city and in 2016 was transferred for cultural purposes. At that time, a thorough renovation was carried out, during which part of the historic substance was replaced, but the layout of the façade boarding, some decorations and window joinery were recreated. Thanks to the placement of the Photography Gallery here – a branch of the Sleńdziński Family Gallery, the building was preserved.

It was built in 1934 in the Old Market Square, as one of the investments within the framework of the city organization project initiated by President Seweryn Nowakowski. Situated right next to the market square, the hall had a light wooden structure with a central room covered with a roof with an open roof truss. It had 38 sales points, including six fish tanks, ten stalls and 22 walk-in shops which mainly sold meat. The building’s cubic capacity was 1,500 m2, and one of its builders was Jan Jezierski. The hall survived the war in good condition, trade continued there for several years after the war, and in the 1970s it was no longer open. It was entered into the register of historical monuments in 1988, and in the 1990s it was renovated. Despite significant changes, e.g. in the shape and size of door and window openings, covering the central hall with a ceiling and covering the elevation with siding, the original wooden structure with a raised central part, and, to a large extent, the layout of the rooms, have been preserved in an unchanged state. Today, it is the only preserved interwar wooden building for commercial purposes in the whole of Białystok, and perhaps one of the few such in Poland. It retains its original function to this day.

The wooden buildings of Słonimska Street are being replaced by the emerging modern apartment blocks. Practically the entire side of the street with even-number addresses has been devoid of wooden buildings, but on the opposite side several gems of wooden architecture have been preserved.

Surveyor Jan Wolter lived here. It was built according to the design of Rudolf Macura in 1934. In 2009, the owners carried out a thorough renovation to restore the villa to its original appearance. It is undoubtedly one of the most valuable historic buildings in Białystok and has been on the conservator’s register since 1990.

The list of monuments also includes house number 33, built in the mid-1920s in a characteristic manor style. The large, single-storey building is covered with a rare half-gable roof with an attic room, and the entrance is protected by a glass porch. The building is in good condition, but remains unused, and its location deep inside the property limits the possibility of viewing it.

The well-preserved villa at 35/2 Słonimska Street was built in 1933 by Adam Puciłowski and presents an interesting example of a horizontally boarded ‘overlapping’ structure. Large windows and hipped roofs as well as spacious interiors draw attention. The villa is located deep in a nameless alley leading off Słonimska Street.

The course of the street has not changed since it was marked out in 1927. Three interesting wooden houses of various shapes and functions have survived to this day and have been entered on the list of historical monuments. Together with the brick villa at no. 6, they constitute a great example of the former compact development typical of the center of Białystok.

The house, built in 1932 by Aaron Kapłan, is an example of a very well-preserved residential building from the interwar period. Single-storey, with a usable attic, interesting decorative formwork and a very characteristic door frame. In the yard, the brick building of the former mikvah has survived, testifying to the pre-war Jewish owners of the property.

The recently restored city villa at 8 Złota Street, dating back to 1930, displays elements of the manor house style with a characteristic mansard roof with attic rooms on both sides. During the renovation, the elevation divisions were preserved and the decorative planking was recreated.

The most impressive building on Złota Street is a two-storey tenement house at number 9. It was built before 1934 for Czupa Kane, whose heir Diana Kwart sold it toAntoni Przyłucki after the war. The building remains in the possession of this family to this day. In the post-war period, there were four separate apartments there. In the years 1947-1970, one of the premises was rented by priest Michał Sopoćko, later blessed (there is a plaque on the building dedicated to this). The building is distinguished by its symmetrical shape, decorative formwork and corners, as well as interesting entrance doors inspired by Art Nouveau.

It is the only wooden religious building in Białystok. Its oldest part, the presbytery, was built in the late 19th century. The newer part, where the chapel is located today, was built in the years 1955-57 on the initiative of Father Michał Sopoćko, according to the design of Michał Bałasz, and the interior concept was developed by Placyda Bukowska. The building was already a religious house in the interwar period, and the property belonged to the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Family. In 1970, Father Sopoćko moved in here and spent the last years of his life under the care of the sisters (he died in 1975). The room with furniture and equipment, where the posthumously blessed lived, has survived to this day. Since 1982, the chapel has been the parish church of the newly established parish of the Holy Family. Currently, it is a parish chapel transferred to the Congregation of the Sisters of Merciful Jesus. The chapel is an elongated building with both historical parts separated. It is covered by a multi-pitched roof with a bell tower. During the last modernization, the roof covering, formwork, window and door joinery and most of the floors were replaced. Since 1995, it has been on the list of historical monuments.

Today’s reconstruction of a wooden building from the end of the 19th century is a testimony to what everyday life in Białystok looked like at the turn of the century. It was originally one of two watering booths for large animals erected as part of the construction of the Białystok waterworks. The architecture of the building refers to traditional Russian wooden architecture (and Białystok was under the Russian annexation until 1915). The small building on a quadrangle plan is covered with a multi-slope roof, with cut-out decorative elements and fluted boarding. Today, the facility serves as a gastronomical facility.

Młynowa Street ran through the heart of Chanajki, the district of the Jewish poor, and right next to Rynek Sienny, the largest market square in the city in the 1930s. The existing buildings here were dense, with a mix of two-story brick buildings and single- story wooden buildings from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. They housed shops and craft workshops. Currently, four characteristic wooden buildings have been preserved in the downtown part of Młynowa, and another eight are located on the other side of Wyszyńskiego Street, right next to a modern housing estate.

The most interesting building on Młynowa is the house at number 19. A large, single- storey house with attics, shutters and a glazed veranda with coloured windows belonged to the Jewish Szmidt family in the interwar period, and later it was home to, among others, the entrepreneur Szloma Flikier. Currently unused.

The two-storey tenement house, characteristic of the interwar period, is one of the few in the city to have survived in such good technical condition. The original shape of the building, divisions of the elevation, the original staircase, and even the door handles have been preserved. The house was built for the married couple Feliks and Wiktoria Kamieński, according to the design of the architect Szymon Pappe in the early 1930s. Feliks Kamieński was a soldier of the Union of Armed Struggle – Home Army, nicknamed ‘Dąb’ (“Oak”), and the house on Grunwaldzka served as a meeting place for people from the resistance movement. The house has been a historic monument since 2018.

It commemorates the birthplace (born on November 26th, 1919, at 7 Mazowiecka Street) and youth of the last President of the Republic of Poland in Exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski. It actually includes three buildings, including two brick ones (33 Mazowiecka Street – a former tannery, and 35 Mazowiecka Street – a primary school attended by young Kaczorowski).

The most interesting building is the corner ‘wooden tenement house’, also called by some the ‘iron house’ (because it is shaped like an iron), at 31/1 Mazowiecka Street, entered into the register of monuments in 2021. The characteristic trapezoidal shape of the building was forced by the size and location of the plot at the intersection of Mazowiecka and Wesoła (then Flakertowska) streets. The two-story building with a high hipped roof was built shortly before 1932 by Kiwa and Frajna Wałłach. It was equipped with all connections and furnace heating, downstairs there were rooms intended for commercial functions, and upstairs apartments. You can pay attention to: the characteristic planking (vertically, horizontally, in a herringbone pattern), as well as profiled ledges and decorations on the corners. The house is unused, deteriorating, but its entry on the list of monuments gives hope for the preservation and restoration of the building.

Nearby, at 52 Mazowiecka Street, there is another interesting wooden building. It is one of the few preserved multi-family tenement houses in the city. The two-storey building with a hipped roof covered with sheet metal has a cubic shape with a pentagonal avant-corps adjacent to it from the front. It was probably built around 1935. The characteristic modest detail, herringbone boarding, illuminated staircase and shape indicate inspiration from modernism.

The impressive villa was built in its current form by Major General Baron Mikołaj von Osten-Driesen in 1890. It was probably intended as a representative building for the baron’s stays in the city or he associated it with his retirement plans. However, at the end of the 19th century, the general left Białystok permanently and the building was sold, first to Abram Tiktin, then to the Hasbach family and subsequent owners, until the building was municipalized after the war. The building served various functions, including a clinic, a district court, and apartments for rent. Since 1993, it has been the seat of the Alfons Karny Sculpture Museum. The villa was built in the ‘Swiss’ style, fashionable at the end of the 19th century – a fragmented body with two protruding avant-corps is covered with a multi-slope roof with significantly protruding canopies, decorated gables and an ornate balcony. The rich openwork ornamentation in the spaces of the gables, on the cornices and corners is impressive. The interiors of the villa have also been preserved in exceptionally good condition: coffered ceilings, floral wallpaper from 1900, paintings with stucco reliefs, a Moorish study with a polychrome ceiling. The whole, together with the buildings of the former stable, coach house and a small park, is a unique example of a representative urban residential home.

The only preserved example of a wooden industrial facility in the city. It was built in 1947 by Kazimierz Gwoździej and operated as a private enterprise for several years. In 1953 it was taken over by the compulsory management of ‘Samopomoc Chłopska’ (“Peasant Self-help”) and in 1962 to the State Treasury. It is currently owned by the city and has undergone a thorough renovation. The original, complete and functional equipment of the mill has been preserved. The facility is not in use. It has been in the register of historical monuments since 2011.