Panenská Street was originally a street of Bratislava craftsmen and winegrowers. It was founded in the Middle Ages on the property of the female Poor Clares holy order. The space was then called Nunnenpewnt. In 1879, it was renamed Matej Bel Street, after a well-known geographer and historian who was the principal of the nearby Evangelical Lyceum.
The name Panenská Street originated after the First World War.
Today’s Panenská Street in the 16th century was still insignificant, but its importance increased rapidly in the 1770s, when the Evangelical church centre was moved here from the inner city.
The important cultural centre of the Evangelicals is still evoked by two evangelical churches which were built in the second half of the 18th century.
Panenská Street has a rich history, and in the past a lively social life was concentrated here Many houses on the current Panenská Street have the character of aristocratic palaces. Most of the houses that have been preserved from the old built-up area are baroque or classicist buildings, similar to the building of the BORA GROUP, s.r.o. company at the current Panenská street 13.
The building
The oldest identified construction stage of the object at the present-day Panenská Street 13 dates from the 17th century, while during the 18th century the object was again reconstructed. The record of the owners in the archival documents speaks of heirs from 1749 – descendants of the Buchegger family. Architectural and historical research has shown a general reconstruction of the building carried out by Johan Adam Zechmeister (an iron merchant) approximately from the last quarter of the 18th century until about 1820.
Anton Laban was the owner of the house from 1826, and twenty years later the ownership of the house changed and Filip Scherz – a producer of liqueurs and vinegar – became the owner. After the mid-19th century, changes took place in the building, shifting the original character of the suburban palace with its economic and representative function more in a production-utility direction. From 1878, the sons of Filip Scherz were the owners of the building. The burgher houses, such as the house at the current Panenská Street 13, belong among the most typical urban buildings of the period from the late 18th and early 19th century.
In the construction of these urban buildings, Bourgeois classicism was shown itself in its most characteristic works through its clarity, simplicity and discipline.
In architecture, it avoided formal and extravagant use of architectural and artistic elements. In this house, very few artistic elements were used, and yet this architecture, at first glance not very effective, is beautiful in its simple harmony.
The burgher houses were also progressive in their layouts and thus new types of rental houses were developed.
In 1929, Simon Kellerman became the owner of the building, and at that time the building was definitively divided into rental apartments. The gradual devastation of the house and its gradual decay date from this period. In 1976, Družstav became the owner of the object and in 1981 a complete architectural reconstruction of the house took place, signalling the decline of its architectural expression.
The company BORA GROUP, s.r.o. became the owner of the house in 2003, when it bought it from the previous owner – the Allianz – Slovenská poisťovňa, a.s. company.