Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.17685/Peristil.56.3
Stipošević Housing Complex in Trogir
Ana Plosnić Škarić
orcid.org/0000-0002-9666-3575
; Institute of Art History Zagreb
Abstract
Sixteen documents in all (from 1416 – 1487) have been collected from the unpublished papers of the Communal Archives in Trogir (annex 1–16) – mostly contracts of purchase/sale and lease/rent, which – according to the descriptions of locations of houses or stores in their ground floors recorded in them – can be considered as part of the housing block lying north of the Cathedral.
Most of these houses belonged to the complex owned by the brothers Lovro and Andrija Stipošević, which covered almost the entire space of the block. The wall structure and architectural shaping of the front of the block seem to belong to a time later than the dates on the documents. Only two late 15th century window frames survived
in the northeastern corner of the block (ill. 8) of which the south one is certainly not in situ.
On the ground floor of the south part of the block, a cistern-head survived in accordance with its relief of the coat of arms, one can date it to the time when the Stipošević brothers were no more the owners of the complex. (ill. 7) Fragments of the porch also survived – two columns and segments of an arch – which judging from their
formal and stylistic properties can be placed into the 14th century. (ill. 4, 5, 6) On the basis of data found in the 15th century documents, the remains of the porch and the plan of the 1830 land registry survey (recording a relatively large courtyard in the central part of the block) it was possible to make a graphic reconstruction of the Stipošević complex in the mid-fifteenth century. (ill. 9) When this complex is compared with similar complexes in Trogir (ill. 1), one can conclude that it came into
being in pre-communal times (ill. 10a) and was composed of houses surrounding the inner court and probably had a tower which defended it. In the 14th and 15th century these complexes were reshaped by introducing of a porch in the court. Among the earliest porches was the one built in the court of what we call the Stipošević complex (ill. 10b). The next transformation introduced in the Complex / Block was a new construction in the court: data found in the 15th century documents (ill. 10c) and those derived from land registry surveys in 1830
(ill. 10d) compared with the recent changes of the layout of the block (ill. 10e) they all testify to many centuries of a gradual process ending in the almost complete disappearance of initially spacious court provided with a porch. With the exception of the Bishop’s Palace, all the complexes mentioned above (ill. 1) (as far as one can gather
the relevant information about their owners) were all owned by the mightiest patrician families. Venetian rule introduced in 1420 led to a sudden rise in social status and a strong increase in wealth of commoner families, who gained status and distinction buying houses in the best parts of the city – and also, wholly or in part, became
the owners of some of the blocks of housing referred to in this article. The Stipošević family also belonged to the circle of distinguished local commoner families, and soon became the owners of a large complex of housing in the very centre of Trogir.
Keywords
residential architecture; changes in the urban structure; archive documents; Stipošević family; 15th century; Trogir
Hrčak ID:
134114
URI
Publication date:
5.3.2014.
Visits: 2.216 *