Villa Koliba was the first house built in the Zakopane style. It was built in 1892–1894 based on the design by Stanisław Witkiewicz (painter, art critic and theorist, writer) for Zygmunt Gnatowski, a landowner (‘ziemianin’) from Jakimówka in Ukraine. The house was built by Gorals: Maciej Gąsienica Józkowy, the only licensed master carpenter in Zakopane at the time, and ‘budarze’ (craftsmen-loggers settled in forests) – Jasiek Stachoń, Staszek Bobak and Klimek Bachleda. Woodcarving was done by Wojciech Brzega and Józef Kaspruś Stoch. In accordance with Witkiewicz’s ideas, the architecture was to be complemented by appropriate furnishings. The shape, structure, and ornamentation of most of the furniture and other objects evoked specific items or decorative motifs known from Goral cottages. Several years later, in 1901, Gnatowski added a massive western wing to the building, which destroyed Witkiewicz’s original artistic design. The architecture of the added wing represents the Zakopane style in its heyday.