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Vul. Staroyevreiska, 10 – former "Harayevychivska" house

ID: 251
Harayevychivska stone manor house is one of Lviv’s central town characteristic renaissance era masonry buildings, preserving architectural elements of the period.  During its existence it has change ownership repeatedly and undergone numerous reconstructions altering its appearance.  Jewish families owned the building from the 19th century, putting its ground floor to use as a store and pub.  During the soviet period the house was used as a residence, a purpose which it maintains.
The building is a registered national urban architectural landmark – the decision taken by the 442nd session of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic Council of Ministers on 6 September 1979, Decree No. 1296.

History

The original name of this street is connected to the butcher’s trade.  The earliest indicators of its existence come from 1436 with a reference to Zarvanytsia Street.  Over time, the name went through variations of the word – Zarvanska, Zervanska, Serbanska.  In 1863, a section of the street between Servska and Halytska, where building #10 is located, came to be called “Wexlarska”, and from 1888 it was joined with Novozhydovska (pol. Nowożydowska) and Kapitulna, and extended from Teatralna all the way to Arsenalska, under the name of Boyimiv (pol. Boimów) Street.  During the soviet period (from 1944), the Street was called Frunze, and beginning in 1990 – Staroyevreyska.

The oldest building on this lot dates from the 15th century, of a gothic type, timber-frame with brick inlay and a masonry cellar.  According to property registers from 1569 and documents dating from 1573, the building was called the Harlewyczivska Manor.  A merchant, Albert Harajowicz, bought the house in 1597.  He had moved to Lviv from Bushkovych near Mostytsk and was granted municipal citizenship.  On the old foundations and cellar he raised a new structure, characteristic of renaissance stone homes of the period, two-sectioned, double tract construct from white stone.  In Lviv almanacs dating from 1639-1666 the house is referred to as the Harayevychova or Haravevychivska House.  In 1767, the owner was Armenian bootmaker Bedros Lissohorycz.  Near the end of the 18th century, with the boom in Lviv construction, the Harayevychivska House underwent capital reconstruction.  Preserving the façade, the building was given a new architectural layout, the main entrance placed in the central bay, separate from the main foyer and stairs.  Facing the yard, WCs were added on two floors.  At the start of the 19th century, a Jewish family took ownership of the house.  Documents from 1851 show that the owners were Lejb Finkler and Abram-Yosel Railses.  In 1863 the honey shop Naftali was located on the main floor.  The restroom was in very poor condition as the following episode illustrates: a man named Stefan fell through the toilet and landed in the shop.  In 1866 the city gave the owners permission to add a third story lavatory, the project drawn up by Jakub Zwilling.  In 1871 the owners were Ovadia Finkler, Abram-Yosel Railses, and Dwora Berlstein.  In 1881 a proposed remodel draft called for the reconstruction of the attic, raising the roof from 2.6 meters to 5 meters, installing dormer windows, and lighting for the stairway.  In 1890, the contractor Leopold Warchalowski redrew the design for the main floor shop window for a high-end store run by Samuel Hirsch Berlstein.  Abram Awin’s shop occupied the building in 1902, where it was joined by Y.B. Gimpel, director of the Jewish Theater, furrier Lejb Baczys, and men’s tailor Simche Fruks.

Following World War I, Isaak Rudy became the owner and leased the main floor to a number of different craftsmen, shops, and stores.  In 1926, house tenant B.S. Hiffnik planned for the remodeling of the main floor area (currently the front room of flat #6) into a shop and warehouse (currently the passageway into the yard) – the project drawn up by Mark Lakser.  Entrance to the store was from Staroyevreska Street.  The passage into the yard lay in what is currently flat #1 (the back room).  In 1932, the building housed a jeweler’s.  Documents show that the owner was Laura Blic petitioned the city to allow her to display costume jewelry in a façade niche, arguing that, without advertizing the firm will go out of business.  She received a six-month permit to display her goods in the entrance niche.  In 1935 the plumbing and sewer line of the building were rebuilt, the project drawn up by Mecislaw Lozynskyi.  In 1937, the house’s owner, Isaac Rudy, let the entire ground floor to Leon Schlafrig for his belt and bag shop, “Tip Top”.  Wide entrances with windows were opened into two of the areas.  Schlafrig also petitioned to place advertizing on the building façade near the gates.  The project was drawn up by engineer Wladysław Bleim.

During soviet times the main floor was converted into living quarters, with the two doorways remodeled as windows.  In 1990 the Ukrzakhidproektrestavratsiya Institute conducted a comprehensive study of the building, and architectural and archaeological assessment and developed a project to restore it to its Renaissance roots (Ihor Ambitskyi, lead architect).  In 2000, the façade was fully restored.

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Architecture

The Havrayevychivska House is located on a lot from the medieval block on a back street at the northern end of Rynok Square.  It is bounded by Staroyevreyska, Serbska, Brativ Rohatyntsiv, and Halytskoho Streets, fitting organically into the construction ensemble on Staroyevreyska Street.  It is built in the 17th century on the foundation and cellar fragments of the preserved 15th century gothic house that stood there.  It was rebuilt a number of times throughout its history, in particular at the end of the 18th century with the reconfiguring of the main floor, and the installation in the first section of a stairway.  The arrangement of the façade reflects its 17th-19th century existence.

The house is elongated and constructed of brick (late-gothic masonry) on a stone foundation with the inclusion of white stone elements (main entrance portal, relief window framing, the preservation of the white stone gates in the cellar, carved renaissance pillars, etc.)  The house is triple-bayed with the customary asymmetrical three-windowed façade and internal courtyard.  On its edges the façade is highlighted with squared rustic blocks, and the main floor façade done in French rustic.  The windows are rectangular with decorations in relief and right-angled framing and vase decorations on the second floor.  In the frieze are three dormer windows.  A high cornice tops the façade ensemble.  The main entrance is accented with a white stone renaissance portal with recessed lighting. The main doors are wooden, windowed, routered and fitted with wrought-iron lattices with the initials RL in lozenges.

The interior floorplan - double-bayed; remnants of the hypocaust; main floor (originally the front room of the gate and passageway with front stairs) – has been redone.  In the first section, the reconfigured area holds the larder (originally, a gate/passage), with cylindrical arch ceilings, halls, rooms, and stairs (originally a main room, separated with brick partitions.)  The staircases have chiseled wooden balusters and skylights.  In the second section, residence #1 (formerly the rear room) has a narrow passage to the yard with an overhang above.  In halls in the east wing fragments of renaissance white stone décor – pine cones, a fertility symbol – are preserved.  The home is a common example of the type of residences built in the XVI-XVII centuries.

Personalities

Abram Awin – owner of a salon on the first floor of the home.
Ihor Ambitskyi – architect, restorer Ukrzakhidproektstavratsia Institute, led building assessment in 1990.
Lej Baczys – furrier, resided in the manor
Dwora Berlstein – manor owner
Samuel Hirsch Berlstein – salon owner in the manor
Laura Blic – owner of jewelry store in the manor
Władysław Blaim – engineer, designer
Leopold Warchałowski – contractor
Albert Harayovych – merchant who built the Harayevychivska Renaissance-era house
B.S. Hiffnik – main floor tenant
J.B. Gimpel – Director of the Jewish Theater, manor resident
Bedros Lissohorycz – Armenian bootmaker, manor owner in 1767
Mieczyslaw Loziński - architect
Naftali – owner of honey shop on the manor main floor in 1863
Abram-Josel Railses – manor owner
Isaak Rudy – owner of the manor following World War I
Stefan – pub frequenter
Lejb Finkler – manor owner
Owadia Finkler – manor owner
Simche Fruks – tailor who resided in the manor
Jakub Zwilling – contractor who built the third-floor lavatory
Leon Schlafrig – main floor tenant who ran the “Tip Top”milliner’s shop.

Sources

  1. Księga adresowa król. stoł. miasta Lwowa (Lwów, 1902).
  2. Skorowidz nowych i dawnych numerów realności (Lwów, 1872).
  3. Ukrzakhidproetrestavratsia Institute archives, 252 (Architectural, archaeological assessments.  Preliminary studies, project proposals).
  4. Lviv Oblast State Archives 2/3/135 (construction of stone manor #10 on Staroyevreyska Street)
  5. Central Lviv State Historical Archives 186/8/829 (Lviv Survey Map, 1849)
  6. B. Melnyk, N. Shestakova – Naming Lviv’s Manors with City Almanacs (Lviv, 2008, #12).
  7. V. Vuitsyk, Construction Movement in Lviv in the late-18th century. T.CCXLI (Lviv, 2001), pp113-125.
  8. M. Kapral, Native Communities of Lviv, XVI-XVIII centuries.  (Lviv: Pyramida, 2003).
  9. Urban Construction and Architectural Landmarks, Book 3.  (Kyiv: Budyvelnyk, 1985), p.40.
  10. T. Tregubova, Research on the Planning, Development, and Construction of Lviv’s Medieval Quarter (Kyiv, 1970)
By Oksana Boyko and Vasyl Slobodyan