Vul. Staroievreiska, 26 – former Pokorovychivska townhouse

1611 – a townhouse is constructed by Pokorowicz and Przychylny in the place of an old one from the 16^th c.
1746 – the Pokorovychivska house is substantially reconstructed in the Baroque style by constructor Jan Herbut Wygodny; the original house’s vaulted ground floor and cellars have been preserved.
Late 19^th c. – a reconstruction is carried out; a zinc-coated tin roof with small roof windows in the façade wall is made.
1933 – shop windows are arranged during an adaptation of the ground floor premises for shops.
1940s – the ground floor premises are adapted for apartments.
Early 1990s – a footwear shop called Malva is opened in the ground floor premises.

This townhouse was called Pokorovychivska and was a home for several generations of representative Lviv architects and constructors for two centuries. Its history is known due to Volodymyr Vuytsyk, a noted expert in Lviv’s history.

At the turn of the 17^th century this parcel located on Zarwańska street (its present-day address is Staroyevreyska street 26) was occupied by a townhouse which belonged to Martin Brzemiński and, consequently, was called Brzemińska. The townhouse was also known as Sholtsivska (Szolcowska) as merchant Jan Szolc’s daughter, Katarzyna, was Martin Brzemiński’s wife. In 1605 the house was bought for 2 thousand guldens by noted Lviv constructors, Italians by birth, Ambroży Przychylny and Adam de Larto nicknamed Pokora. These two architects were on friendly terms from the time of their arrival in Lviv and always accompanied each other in their professional activities. After Ambroży Przychylny sold his house situated on Harbarska (now Drahomanova) street in the Halytske suburb in 1611, he and Pokora started to reconstruct the newly purchased townhouse. At the same time they were constructing a corner townhouse called Klopotivska (Staroyevreyska street 28) for Tomasz Karcz, a member of the town council of Lviv.

After Adam Pokora died in about 1638, his part of the townhouse was inherited by his son Jan (Giovanni) known under the patronymic of Pokorowicz and by his daughter Katarzyna who was the wife of Mikołaj Silwestri, an architect. Young Pokorowicz was a constructor like his father. When he died on 10 November 1645 it turned out that he had not left a will causing thus serious problems for his household (four daughters) in dividing the property. The Pokorovychivska house was divided by a commission convened by the Magistrate on 7 May 1646. Apart from Pokorowicz and Przychylny, in the early 17^th century some parts of the Brzemińska house were owned by Andrzej Bemer, a constructor who built the old Lviv town hall tower, and Jan Francyskin, known under the guild nickname of Poprawa, who managed stone quarries and lime ovens in the Briukhovytsky forest near the village of Holosko. When still alive, Jan Pokorowicz made over a part of his townhouse to the St. Lazarus hospital while his sister Katarzyna made over a part of her inherited house to the Corpus Christi Brotherhood under the Cathedral in 1654.

Pokorowicz’s heirs owned the townhouse on what was then called Zarwańska street till the 18^th century. In the 1740s the house was inhabited by Jan Herbut known also under the guild nickname of Wygodny. It was from his name that the house became called Herbutivska. Vygodny reconstructed Lviv buildings, in particular, the Darmukhivska townhouse situated on the present-day Katedralna square 3 and the monastery of St. John the Baptist. It was also he who built the Holy Trinity printing house on Teatralna street 5. In 1745 Herbut divided his townhouse between his sons-in-law, Michał Pichowicz and Antoni Rudzicki, who were married to his daughters, respectively, Dorota and Regina. The house was substantially reconstructed in 1746. In 1751 Rudzicki sold his part to Yakiv Antonovych, an Armenian, who was the senior of the goldsmiths’ guild for a long time.

As Yakiv and his wife, Rozalia Antonovych (nee Seferovych), died childless, their part of the house was inherited by Mykhaylo Avakovych and later, 1770, by Josyf Dublowski, a guild constructor. The other part of the house, which had belonged to Pichowicz, became owned by the Brotherhood of the Rosary existing under the Latin Cathedral. This part was bought from the Brotherhood by Jan Ratyński, a member of the town court, and Andrzej Andzułowski, a merchant and wine trader. The following year they sold it to Józef Dublowski who thus became a sole proprietor of the whole townhouse.

Józef Dublowski was a rather active constructor who worked both in Lviv and in the province. He built and reconstructed several houses in Lviv, in particular, the neighbouring Boni townhouse (no. 24) in 1791. In 1781 Dublowski sold Pokorovychivska (or Herbutivska) house to Mikołaj Wartanowicz, an Armenian, who eight years later sold it in his turn to Lejzor Neustein. From 1789 the house was continually inhabited by Jewish families.

It is not known what the house looked like in the time of Przychylny and Pokorowicz. Its original appearance has been lost due to reconstructions. In the late 19^th century the inflammable roofing was replaced with a new one made of zink-coated tin. The high roof with lucarnes was then made lower; small roof windows were cut in the façade wall. In 1933 shop windows were arranged while adapting the ground floor premises for shops. In the Soviet time the ground floor was residential; a footwear shop called Malva was opened in the premises located on the right in the early 1990s.