meštiansky dom Burgher house

Townhouse in Prešov is a typical urban residential building whose architecture and layout evolved from the Middle Ages to the Baroque period. Its appearance affected materials, the financial situation of owners and the need for defense.

In the Middle Ages, houses were mostly wooden, brick only with richer owners. In the 17th and 18th centuries the interest of nobility in residence in cities increased due to its functions in the county and military administration. The nobles bought neighbouring plots and connected them to representative settlements. The growing population next to the construction of rental houses, which, by their tectonic and shape - ensemble, followed the traditions of city palaces.

The architecture of the burgher houses covered various types: - Tower houses were multi-storey buildings on land with high stone walls, while economic buildings stood at the opposite end of the plot. - Chamber houses had a longitudinal floor plan with a front room next to the facade, a chamber in the yard and a black kitchen in the middle. - Hall houses had a hall on both floors, and later they focused on the solar side. - Houses with passages became the most common layout type of urban residential buildings. - Pavlačové houses consisted of four-wing blocks with central courtyards and common sanitation facilities at the end of the spider. - Houses of poverty and iron houses were located on the outskirts of the city near the walls.

Original objects were modernized mainly in the parter, where commercial use was often preserved, although the sales method changed. The function of housing in these houses persists today, only comfort requirements change. An example of this is the town house on the street Andrej Kmeťa 5 in Banská Štiavnica, whose construction included an older unorganized building with narrow streets. Baroque terraced burgher houses maintain the original urban situation in connection with communication routes.