Disregarding the famous cathedrals, castle, medieval market square and university, one could still spend years of their life wide-eyed wandering the side streets of Kraków, tripping on cobbles, taking in every architectural detail, every subtle flourish on every facade. Rhinoceroses, lizards, eagles, angels, ships and roses are just some of the many emblematic additions Krakowian architects have affixed to the facades of the city, making each tenement unique in some way from its neighbour. Though often left undiscovered by tourists, some of the most surprising and distinctively adorned buildings in Kraków lie on the edge of the Old Town bearing the name of one of the city’s most brilliant and unsung architectural talents, Teodor Talowski (take a bow Sir, this is your moment).

Born in 1857 in the Polish village of Zassów (outside Tarnów), Talowski attended school in Krakow before moving to Vienna and then Lviv, where he completed a masters in architecture. In 1881 he returned to Krakow, becoming a professor at the Technical University, and produced the most definitive works of his career here at the close of the 19th century, before returning to Lviv in 1901. Designer of larger or more visible works around town like the handsome Bonifratów hospital (ul. Trynitarska 11, D-7) and the recently retouched Lubicz railroad viaduct (E-2) near Galeria Krakowska, Talowski is best-remembered for his weirdly asymmetrical, slightly whimsical apartment houses, of which he designed at least 13 in Kraków.

Generally defying stylistic categorisation, Talowski’s unconventional creations connected several architectural movements, incorporating elements of art nouveau, historicism, mannerism and modernism. In an attempt to place Talowski’s work within the recognised canon of architectural movements, he eventually became known by scholars as the founder of ‘eclecticism’ – an equivocal catch-all term for maverick architects whose work combined a variety of historic influences. Sadly for its founding father, however, eclecticism - owing to the very basic but unspecific nature of its definition - proved to be a rather useless term in the art world and never caught on as an architectural movement, perhaps further validating Talowski’s vision as uniquely his own. His use of fantastic ornamentation and inscriptions, asymmetry, irregular stripes of stone or plaster and the use of a particularly dark brick with ceramic pocks and bulges, all make Talowski’s facades easily identifiable. (The bricks in fact were made at his own factory, the recipe for which he apparently took to the grave).

Fortunately for the fatigued, walk-weary tourist, seven of Tarlowski’s tenements lie in an easily admired cluster on or around ul. Retoryka and don’t deserve to be overlooked. Head to the corner of ul. Piłsudskiego and Retoryka (A-4), to give yourself a one-and-a-half block tour of this man’s work, where Retoryka numbers 1-2, 3, 7, 9 and 15 all bear the askew stamp of his genius. On the southwest corner at Retoryka 1-2, you’ll see one of Talowski’s most famous buildings, ‘Under the Singing Frog.’ At the time it was built in 1889, a tributary of the Wisła ran through the middle of Retoryka’s green median, which was apparently full of ceaselessly chirping frogs. Asked to design a new music school, Talowski placed his iconic ukulele-playing frog at the top of the facade, flanked by stripes of sheet music, in homage to the croaking heard around the area. The peaking facade of neighbouring Retoryka 3 was built two years later in 1891.

The handsome ‘Festina lente’ tenement at Retoryka 7 was Talowski’s first building in Kraków, dating to 1887. In English ‘retoryk’ translates to ‘rhetoric’ and ironically Talowski enjoyed inscribing his buildings with strange phrases as well as fantastic creatures. Retoryka 7 bears two Latin inscriptions – ‘Festina lente’ (Hurry slowly) and ‘Ars longa vita brevis’ (Life is brief, art long-term) – as well as the architect’s ornate cartouche and some unique stone and brick details. Flush with number 9 next door, these two buildings make up one of the most interesting and beautiful blocks in the city. Bearing the inscription ‘Faber est suae quisque fortunae’ (Every man is the maker of his own fortune), number 9 features several other charming flourishes, the most prominent of which is the bust of a crying mule, by which the tenants affectionately refer to the building by the name ‘Under an Ass Together.’

Upon reaching the end of the block, make sure to hang a right and get a look at Teddy’s treatment of Smoleńsk 18 and 20, where an incredible bronze dragon menaces the facade of number 18 (built 1889). Crossing over Smoleńsk back onto Retoryka, you’ll find one more of Talowski’s buildings at number 15 (built 1888). One of the architect’s more understated ef forts, it bears the small, subtle inscription, this time in Polish - ‘Długo myśl, prędko czyń’ (Think long, act swiftly).

And finally, though it’s neither a hop, skip nor jump away, we can’t conclude without mentioning ‘Under the Spider’ – perhaps Kraków’s most bizarre building and Talowski’s personal residence. At the corner of ul. Karmelicka and Stefana Batorego (A-1), ‘Under the Spider’ was built in 1889 and features Talowski’s signature asymmetry and irregular stone and brick work, as well as special channels in the facade for woodbines and wild grapes to take hold and a winged dragon under an inscription of the architect’s name. Meeting at a for ty-five degree angle the building possesses two peaked facades, the one which overlooks Karmelicka street being the site of Talowski’s most imaginative, if not eccentric stroke. At the summit of his home, Talowski placed a large porthole with a bronze web and attendant spider at its centre; directly below the porthole is a bronze sun and below that a sundial. The symbolism Talowski has woven here is lost on us; in fact the more we struggle to unravel it, the more we find ourselves enmeshed in its mystery...