The tenement house that stood at 48. Zielona Street in Łódź has not been preserved to this day. Mojżesz Dawid Kałuszyner, a leather trader, had it built in 1912. The Kałuszyners' house was an impressive, four-storey urban building, with three backhouses. It was an example of a combination of post-Art Nouveau and early modernist style, characteristic of Łódź in the early 20th century. A hundred years later, the house still remained one of the largest buildings in the area. It became the residence of the widely branched Kałuszyner family and a meeting place for the Łódź intelligentsia. The most famous inhabitants of the building were the brothers Ludwik Starski (Kałuszyner) and Adam Ochocki (Kałuszyner), grandsons of the founder of the house. Ludwik Starski (1903–1984) wrote lyrics to numerous pre-war hit songs, such as Ach, jak przyjemnie (Oh, How Pleasant), Już taki jestem zimny drań (Cool-Headed Buster, That's the Way I Am) (together with Jerzy Nel) as well as scripts for the first post-war film Zakazane piosenki (Forbidden Songs) (1946) and the first Polish colour film Przygoda na Mariensztacie (An Adventure at Mariensztat) (1953) (with Roman Niewiarowicz). The younger one, Adam (1913–1991), was a journalist, author of memoirs about Łódź, as well as co-author of the script for the children's series Zaczarowany ołówek (The Magic Pencil) (with Karol Baraniecki).
After World War I, rampant inflation and loss of access to Russian sales markets undermined the financial standing of the Kałuszyner family, which was forced to sell the tenement house. After the end of another great war, the building became the property of the city. In 2004, a part of the structure was consumed by a fire, which accelerated the devastation of the building. The house was then condemned for demolition. Due to lack of funds, it was not pulled down until ten years later.
Until the end of the tenement's existence, a reminder of its origin was an ornate cartouche with the first owner's monogram (MK) which adorned the front façade of the building. Preserved fragments of the cartouche (which hung above the main entrance) were removed from the building in March 2010 during its demolition. They were bought by Pnina Segal (née Kałuszyner), Mojżesz Kałuszyner's great-granddaughter, who donated this sole memento of the family house to the POLIN Museum collection.
The detail was made of mineral binder. The first fragment consists of an oval, medallion-shaped cartouche framed with peacock feathers, with the monogram “MK”' inscribed in it. Above the cartouche, there is an ornament resembling a rolled sheet metal tape (scrollwork). The other fragment consists of a relatively small (compared to the ornament) oval medallion placed on a flat, rectangular surface. The medallion isn enclosed framed by a lavish ornament in the form of convolute acanthus leaves on the right and left side.
The history of the tenement house at 48 Zielona Street appears to be a sad metaphor for the disappearance of the Jewish community of Łódź.
Marta Frączkiewicz
