...

Vul. Grunvaldzka, 10 – residential building

ID: 2441

The three-storied house on Hriunvaldska street 10 was built in 1910-1911 under a project designed by architect Edward Skawiński for the couple of Stanisław and Izabela Dobrucki. This is a typical example of an early 20th century residential townhouse. It is, however, notable for its Neo-Gothic style main façade designed using the motifs of the High and Flamboyant French Gothic. Today the building is used as a residential one. It is an architectural monument (protection number 2085).

History

In 1910 Stanisław Dobrucki, a railway commissioner, decided to build a residential townhouse on the parcels number 2789/1 and 2783/1 allocated from the plots under conscription numbers 124 ¼ and 125 ¼. The project was designed by Edward Skawiński, an architect and builder, who worked on Lenartowicza (now Nechuya-Levytskoho) street 11b at that time (DALO 2/1/2787:9). In September of 1910 the Magistrate granted permission to build a three-storied building. In March of the following year it was connected to the sewerage network (DALO 2/1/2787:2). On 3 November 1911 permission for moving into the building was granted (DALO 2/1/2787: 6).

Until now, the building has survived without any significant changes; it is used only as a dwelling.

Architecture

In terms of its layout and structures, this three-storied building is a typical early 20th century residential townhouse. It is built of brick and L-shaped in plan, with plastered façades and stucco details. However, the building deserves attention due to its décor in the bright Neo-Gothic style, distinguishing it not only against the background of the neighbouring late Secession townhouses on Hriunvaldska street, but also, in general, among residential buildings of the whole city. In its plastic design vitually all kinds of elements from the Neo-Gothic arsenal were used: typical profiles, lancet arches, tracery, rose windows, crockets, finials, pinnacles etc. However, unlike the Gothic of the Middle Ages, these elements are purely decorative and have no structural function.

Except for drawings of the building's main façade, no other drawings of the building have survived. By analogy with other townhouses, which were built in Lviv at that time, it is quite likely that reinforced concrete structures were used for the house intermediate floors; pipelines and networks, i.e. electricity, water supply, and drainage, were connected at once as well. Toilets and bathrooms were planned inside the apartments.

Generally, the building is harmoniously inserted in the surrounding housing of Hriunvaldska street; it does not stand out with its size. The five-axis main façade is symmetrical. The symmetry is emphasized by the location of the entrance portal and two lateral protruded wall sections topped with triangular gables and balconies on the second and third floors. This arrangement is typical of the Historicist architecture. The façade's vertical composition is expressly tectonic: the semi-basement level is marked out with massive chamfered rustication having textured surfaces; the ground floor level shows the opus isodomum, i.e. an imitation of stonework consisting of large blocks of the same size. On the second and third floors vertical planes between the windows are decorated with banded rustication. The edges of the protruded wall sections are also marked out with rustication squares having textured surfaces.

Most openings are rectangular in shape, except a pointed transom window of the main portal and attic rose windows on the gables filled with tracery. In the transom window, it is a trefoil composition, while in the rose windows one can see quatrefoils inscribed in a circle.

Only the ground floor windows have typical Gothic profiled trimmings with fascias. The second floor windows are decorated with stylized pediments having a fractured cornice and a pinnacle as well as with a blind lancet arch with a trefoil inscribed. Below the windows, there are insertions with stucco tracery consisting of three circles with two "bladders" inscribed in each of them, characteristic elements of the so-called "flaming" Gothic style. Above the third floor windows, there are rectangular dripstones.

The most interesting design is that of the balconies and the entrance portal, which is unique for Lviv: 1) the doorway with a metal Neo-Gothic door, flanked with two half columns supporting a lancet arch with crockets and finials and topped with pinnacles; 2) the second and third floor balconies leaning on thin profiled consoles and fenced with small columns. Higher columns with typical Neo-Gothic capitals support the delicate structure of tracery with lancet arches, multifoils, quatrefoils, and bladders.

The façade’s central part is crowned with a stucco blind arcade consisting of small trefoil arches and a wide cornice; the lateral protruded wall sections are topped with triangular gables having rose windows and crockets on their upper surfaces. Unlike the original project, there are no gargoyles at the corners of the gables. The gable roof has a wooden structure of rafters and posts and is covered with galvanized tin sheets. It is probable that earlier the roof was covered with tiles and had lucarnes.

The house was built with some differences from the original project. Apart from the absence of gargoyles at the corners of the gables and a blind arcade in the center of the façade under the cornice, the project stipulated that there would be open brickwork on the second and third floor walls; besides, sculptural inserts with rosettes in the center were planned between the third floor windows.

In the interior, the staircase is decorated with a lot of stucco. Above the doors, there are compositions of tracery consisting of trefoils and Neo-Gothic plant ornaments with buds. The ceiling is decorated with a panel covered with floral ornaments.

In general, the building is a valuable monument of Neo-Gothic architecture in Lviv.

Related Places

Description

Vul. Heroyiv Maidanu, 4 – residential building

Show full description

Personalities

Helena Rosochacka – owner of the building in 1935
Edward Skawiński – architect and builder who designed the building. In 1910 he resided at ul. Kadecka, 4 (today vul. Heroyiv Maidanu, 4), where also Karol Skawiński lived. The latter was also a builder, and likely Edward Skawiński's brother
Izabella Dobrucka – co-owner of the real estate
Leopold Rycko – co-owner of the real estate
Stanisław Dobrucki – a railway commissionary, co-owner of the real estate. During the construction he resided at ul. 29 Listopada, 21 (today Konovaltsia street) 

Sources

State Archive of Lviv Oblast (DALO) 2/1/2787


Material compiled by Olha Zarechnyuk