Highland homes

did not have a basement, and nothing strange in this, because the clay-stony ground, frequently flooded by water courses , does not guarantee the stability of the structure. The foundations were not all stone - only in the corners of house were sunk into the ground the stones, the so-called "pecki". The walls were made from halved logs, combined at the corners by quoin. Cracks between the logs were sealed with moss, or wooden shavings, entwined in the queue.Houses were placed so as to have output to the south, with a slight deviation to the east. Small windows and doors protect the house from wind and heat loss.Roofs were steep, so they do not in arrears the snow, and it was covered with a „gont” - tiles made of wood.

The beauty of these houses, marked by the severity of stone and wood, has proved to be an extraordinary stimulus to the inspiration of architects, who with a wave of bohemian Cracow, began at the turn of the century to arrive to Zakopane.Among them was Stanislaw Witkiewicz, painter, architect, writer, art theorist, later founder of folk-based style design mountaineer, called Zakopane style. Breathtaking house at Koziniec - "Willa pod Jedlami" -designed by him for family Pawlikowski, is a typical example of this style.Monumental, stone foundation of this house (located on the slope) reaches a height of 4 meters in some places , this gives of the building a very majestic nature. Dark wood goes here in the stone so as sky suddenly turns into a steep slope and it seems , that otherwise can no longer be, if nature created such a composition - man can only reproduce it.

The first house built in the Zakopane style was the Villa "Koliba".Built in 1892 for Zygmunt Gnatowski - a wealthy landowner from the Ukraine.

Zakopane – Villa „Koliba”

Villa „Koliba”

House "Pod Jedlami", built in 1896-97 designed by Witkiewicz;regarded as a classic example of a new Zakopane style.

House „Pod Jedlami"

willa „Pod Jedlami” („Beneath Firs”)

Next to the house „Pod Jedlami”, hidden in a thicket of trees,there is a beautiful wooden well. It is also built in the Zakopane style.

Living room in the house "Pod Jedlami"

Zakopane - the house where lived painter Wojciech Kossak

Zakopane - Villa "Konstantynówka"; work of the creator of Zakopane style - Stanislaw Witkiewicz

Villa Konstantynówka in Zakopane, place of stay of Joseph Conrad in 1914

Zakopane - wooden villa "Śmigło" built in 1935 by the architect Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz.

Zakopane - Villa "Ślimak" (1902)

Villa „Ślimak”

Zakopane - "Witkiewiczówka" This villa was built in 1903-04 designed by Jan Koszczyc-Witkiewicz

„Witkiewiczówka”

The Gate of "Witkiewiczówka"

Zakopane – House „Pod Jesionami”

Zakopane – „Czerwony Dwór” („Red Manor”)

Zakopane - dom „Pod Giewontem”

Zakopane - willa „Oksza”

Willa „Oksza”

Wooden house "Na Harendzie", built in 1920

Zakopane – willa „Atma”

"Atma"

In Podhale even dog houses are stylish Marian Ściseł – wooden folk sculpture

Sound background - "Pod Tatrami" (In the Tatras); contractor: Highlander Band of Stanislaus Ogórek

Illustrations from the websites had searched - Anna