History of the place

Rzeźnicza 32-33

People have eaten, drunk and traded at this address for centuries. Here is what we know about the building and the street.

The "Pod Trzema Górami" inn

Before today's building, numbers 32 and 33 were two town houses: "Pod Złotym Orłem" (At the Golden Eagle) and "Pod Trzema Górami" (At the Three Mountains).

Number 33 housed the "Pod Trzema Górami" inn (Zu den Drei Bergen). According to A. Tomaszewicz it was one of the better hotels in Wrocław, famous for excellent cooking and a very wide choice of wines. The writer and actor Karl von Holtei lived there from 1870 to 1877; a plaque in the building's portal has marked it since 1998.

At number 32, Karl Linke set up a carriage-building workshop in 1839. Both houses were demolished in 1899.

Detail of a hand-coloured 1853 plan of Wrocław: blocks of town houses between Nicolai and Reusche streets, with a street labelled Büttner in the middle.
Büttnerstraße, today Rzeźnicza, on a plan of Wrocław from 1853. The plot of today's building lies on the west side of the street, between Nikolaistraße (today św. Mikołaja) and Reuschestraße (today Ruska).Plan von Breslau, drawn by C. Studt, lithographed by R. Jäger, published by J. Urban Kern, Breslau 1853 (detail). Toruń University Library, Polona (opens in a new tab), public domain.
Wood engraving: an older man with long white hair and a beard, in a hat and a fur-collared coat, captioned Karl von Holtei.
Karl von Holtei in a wood engraving from the weekly "Die Gartenlaube", 1873, from the years when he lived in the "Pod Trzema Górami" inn (1870-1877).Die Gartenlaube, 1873, p. 48, Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab), public domain.

A department store from 1901

Between 1899 and 1901 the Schlesinger & Grünbaum department store went up in their place. Since 1885 Leo Schlesinger and David Eljakim Grünbaum had run a wholesale and export business in men's and boys' clothing. Leo Schlesinger designed the building, modelled on the Tiedemann department store in Berlin.

The facade has eight stone pillars and seven bays closed by arches, filled with glass set in steel. It carries Art Nouveau heads of crowned women, and the entrance is through a black portal.

Detail of a coloured plan of Wrocław from about 1909: Büttner street between Nicolai and Reusche streets, next to Weissgerber and Herren streets and St Elizabeth's church.
The same street on a Pharus plan from about 1909, when the Schlesinger & Grünbaum department store already stood on its west side. The plan does not mark the building itself.Pharus-Plan Breslau, Pharus-Verlag, Berlin, about 1909 (detail). National Library of Poland, Polona (opens in a new tab), public domain.

The 1930s

The department store traded until the 1930s. Its owners were Jewish merchants. In the 1930s, during the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany, they were forced to sell their property.

In 1937 the building was adapted for production and trade. We write about this because it is part of the history of this address and of the people who built it.

After the war

The fighting in 1945 did not damage the building. After the war it housed the Intermoda clothing factory, with a shop on the ground and first floors.

The building was rebuilt in 1995 and adapted for offices and services between 2006 and 2013. The sandstone facade was cleaned in 2012.

The butchers' street

Rzeźnicza runs parallel to the west side of the Market Square, from Ruska to Łazienna, for about 280 m.

Its old German names include Kuttlergasse, after the Kuttelhof slaughterhouse by the Oder, which stood from the 13th century where the street meets Łazienna. On a plan from 1562 the northern stretch is called Fleischergasse, the butchers' street. Cowsheds and stores serving the slaughterhouse stood along the northern stretch; the slaughterhouse was destroyed in the Second World War and pulled down in 1956.

R32

R32 opened in February 2026. The first, closed evening took place on 12 February 2026, and we count that day as R32's birthday.

Today the address is home to The Cork restaurant, SiSi Cocktail Bar, the SiSi music club and R32 Event Space.

„Elegancja bez krawata”

Kamil Chabier, president of the R32 concept ("elegance without a tie"). Wrocławskie Fakty, 10 February 2026 (opens in a new tab)

Sources

The history of the building follows the sources below. If you know more or spot a mistake, write to us at biuro@rzeznicza32.pl.

Illustrations

All illustrations on this page are in the public domain. We have not yet found old photographs of the building itself under a free licence. If you have one or know where to look, write to us at biuro@rzeznicza32.pl.

At this address today

The 1901 department store is now home to three venues and a space for your event.