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Master-buildersThanks to the preserved inscriptions we managed to determine the names of five master-builders (Baumeister - B.M.) in Nizina Sartowicko-Nowska - Fr. Böhnke, K. L. Luske, J. Rathler, Becher and Alensko. However, none of these names is present in the available literature on the region and in the 19th century address books.Only the name Becher is related to the Mennonite religious group[1]. The available photo of the no longer existing inscription does not allow identification of the first name, but the Becher family is known in villages in the southern part of Nizina[2]. It would confirm the existence of a local workshop. The building constructed by Becher had a corner-notched construction with the farm section in one row (illustration 33 ![]() Another important fact is the signature of houses in Mątawy 28 and 54 by one person - Fr. Böhnke. Although the homestead no. 28 is dispersed (with an arcade extensions) and 54 belongs to the joint linear type, those houses have a lot of common features. Their number is the evidence of considerable wealth of their owners (the homestead no. 54 is almost 60 meters long). Both were built in the thirties of the 19th century, before the enfranchisement, in the same village. The homestead Mątawy 28 stands with its ridge to the road and the homestead 54 with its gable to it. The similarity remains however in the spatial layout. Due to the conservation documentation of 1967 we know the almost original layout of the no. 54, with the still preserved 'black kitchen'[3]. Both sites were double-bay, had the hallway in the longitudinal wall. Next to it a 'black kitchen' and a kitchen room were situated. In the back bay there was a winter kitchen, with a second entrance. On both sides of the hallway were rooms and chambers. In the gable wall was the third exit. These houses are the first to bear traces of the Classicistic architecture in this region. The arcade in the no. 28 is situated on four stylised columns. In both houses the slats covering the wall quoins are rusticated. Windows with a post have additional partition creating double-cased, three-level panes. Such windows are preserved in the northern elevation of the cottage no. 54. From the known iconography we know that the no. 28 originally also had such windows. Both houses are characterised by a decorative floral motive. In the cottage no. 54 the concave form of a flower appears in the shutters (illustration 78 ![]() Did the master-builder Böhnke built other houses in this area? Some elements indicate similarity with a no longer existing house with an arcade extension in Zajączkowo (illustration 37 ![]() ![]() ![]() Even if these are only two houses, it is the second master-builder after Peter Loewen, a constructor from Żuławy[6], who signed more than one building and his work may be subject to comparative analysis. In some cases, even with the lack of inscription, similarities between sites are so important that it is difficult to talk about different workshops. The largest analogies are between the sites in Wielki Lubień 47 and Osiek 5, two very big homesteads where residential and farm sections are connected. Similar internal layouts, unique (on the scale of the entire colonisation) location of a mansard roof in the roof surface, giving space for rooms, moulding of slats under the eaves, although different, constituting the most developed form in this area, and finally doors in the ridge and gable walls almost identical in both houses and having no equivalent in this zone, allow a conclusion that they were made by one workshop. We know that in Nizina Sartowicko-Nowska several master-builders were active. High level of carpenter maters' artistry was characterised by frequent drawing from the forms of architecture combined with rural motives. Baumeister Becher is an example of local master-builder, originating from the Mennonite community, although only one house is signed with his name. Others belonged to other religious group or did not live in this area. Fr. Böhnke drew mainly from Classicistic forms, although he simplified them. A proof of versatility is the construction of a house being the latest stage of Olęder homestead development (detached with an arcade extension in the ridge), as well as the example of the connected residential and farm section.
[1] Only the name is listed in the census of Mennonites in Mątawy-Grupa gmina in 1740 (Wiebe) and 1800-1840 (Goertz). In case of the later we find Wilhelm Becher with his family, sons Wilhelm (born in 1809) and Heinrich (born in 1827) born in Dziewięć Włók. Compare: Ibidem; H. Wiebe, op. cit., p. 73. |
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