Dwór Bractwa św. Jerzego, Gdańsk

The figure of Saint George at the roofline gives Dwór Bractwa św. Jerzego its dramatic presence. This Gothic building was created as the home of an association drawn from Gdańsk’s leading urban families.

Jan Glothau constructed it over the years from fourteen eighty-seven to fourteen ninety-four, beside the later Golden Gate on Targ Węglowy. The fellowship had gathered at Artus Court before it gained this purpose-built house. Its rooms reveal that the members were not merely diners and ceremony-makers: the lower part held an archers’ practice space and their equipment, while the storey above contained a grand room for meetings, feasts, major occasions, and theatrical performances.

The rooftop saint, shown defeating a dragon, was added in fifteen sixty-six. The building later passed to the city after the fellowship ended in seventeen ninety-eight; a guardroom occupied the ground level, and an art school used the level above. Wartime damage destroyed the roof and burned out the interior, yet the Saint George figure survived after being removed to the Bielkowo hydroelectric plant.

Reconstruction followed in the years from nineteen fifty to nineteen fifty-three. Today, the house serves the regional branch of Poland’s architects’ association.