The Town Hall

The Town Hall in Wałcz is located in the historical town centre in the western side of the market square. The oldest part of Wałcz has a preserved old street layout modelled on the one of Lübeck and Freiburg. There is even a legend, which says that it is for Wałcz this plan had been prepared, but because it was fraudulently stolen, these cities had already expanded the settlements having existed there, and a fishing village called Wałcz or Wolczen had to wait almost 200 years.

Currently, the old market square in the town centre has a trapezoidal shape and is called Wolności Square. It once served as the town market square, then a representative square with a fountain, a market square after the war, a municipal square with lots of greenery, ant it finally returned to its representational function. On the occasion of the 700th anniversary of the town, the square was renovated, paved with cobbles, a fountain was built in its northern part (which twin cities co-financed) and a pump of a shape referring to historical forms of these type of devices was erected. To the west, there is the coat of arms of the town in front of the town hall, laid with cobblestones surrounded by a floral background. The square is limited by Kilińszczaków Street and ks. Domańskiego Street. In the eastern side, there are preserved historic houses with their ground floors that are used as commercial premises. One of them houses a bakery, and there are shops in the others. In the south side, there is St Nicholas's Church - the place has been the location of subsequent parish churches since the beginnings of the town.  However, the town hall building was initially built in the middle of the market square, and it took place probably in the seventeenth century. This wooden building burnt in 1841 and then the function of a town hall was devolved to one of the brick buildings in the side of the square. Apparently, however, it was in poor repair, because it was necessary to demolish it. It took place in 1888. In place of this building a new one was erected by the design of Albert Schur, a teacher of the local building school. A new town hall, built with neo-Renaissance and neoclassical forms, was opened on 1st November 1 1890. In the early twentieth century, a balcony above the main entrance was added, and a new wing from the side of ks. Domańskiego, was built i 1936-37. A new entrance from Kilińszczaków Street was also made then, and the appearance and illumination of the attic was changed.

Today, the building consists of three parts: the main body and two wings, the left one being a kind of risalit. The building is topped with a sloping roof with windows and a tower with the date of completion of construction on it, i.e. 1890. The building has rich architectural ornaments - cornices running along the facades, elaborate window finials, profiled jambs, bossage.

The individual parts have varied window design: the windows on the first floor in the risalit are topped by a wide profiled entablature, their sides are covered with pilasters with the heads in the Ionic order, and the windows in the main part have a simple cornice supported by three ornamented corbels, and their finials are supplemented by flat arches profiled in plastering. An interesting architectural element is the decorative corner bay window, what is noteworthy is the delicate carving of the middle window, and decorative corbels supporting bay windows.

Inside the building, the auditorium (the today's session room) is particularly interesting, where a wooden beamed ceiling with decorative polychrome has been preserved.