Vul. Halytska, 21 – office building

ID: 402

The rental house that was constructed under a project drawn up by architects Józef Sosnowski and Alfred Zachariewicz in 1910 is one of the best monuments of Art Nouveau architecture in Lviv. According to the resolution of the Lviv regional executive committee number 130 dated 26 February 1980, the house was entered in the local register of monuments under protection number 66-M. As for today, it is used as a residential and office building; Svit Publishing House, a lawyer’s office and the City Administration of Social Protection of Population are housed there.

History

2^nd half of the 18^th c. – stone houses are built in place of the Halytska gate’s dismantled walls.
Late 18^th c. – a new house is built by Johann Gimpel.
1908 – houses number 21 and 23 on Halytska street are dismantled.
1910 – a new building is constructed under a project drawn up by architects Józef Sosnowski and Alfred Zachariewicz.
1931 – the ground floor is rearranged under a project drawn up by Wawrzyniec Dayczak to function as the City communal savings bank office.

The house (old conscription numbers 324 and 325, new conscription numbers 295 and 296) was built in place of the dismantled walls of the Halytska gate. Initially it was owned by Marianna Sadowska (Komarnicka). In 1786 she sold it to Johann Gimpel for 5,000 guldens. Gimpel seems to have constructed a new house since it was assessed as a newly built one in 1798. It was a three-story stone house with the 22-ell-long façade facing the street. In 1802 the house was reassessed by architects Maksymilian von Krus and Klemens Fesinger who estimated its cost at 13,722 rhenish guldens and 30 kreuzers.

In the nineteenth century the houses (new conscription numbers 295 and 296) belonged to different owners who changed frequently. The first house was owned by Bonifatius Stiller in 1876 and later by Edmund Stromenger; the second, corner house was the property of Karl Bałaban in 1887. In 1907 both houses were owned by Dr. Theodor Bałaban. The owner decided to construct a new bigger house in place of those two, but since the latter were built in the late eighteenth century the replacement was to be approved by the Grono Konserwatorskie. In 1908 the Grono agreed that the houses number 295 and 296 (reference numbers 21 and 23) could be dismantled, and the same year Bałaban got the permission of the Magistrate to construct a five-story building. A project was drawn up by architects Józef Sosnowski and Alfred Zachariewicz and approved on 9 July 1908. A second project was approved on 30 January 1909; on 12 December 1909 the owner of the house submitted a request for the permission to use commercial premises of the newly built house. An official consent for moving into the house was given Bałaban on 24 October 1910.

In 1931 the ground floor shops were rearranged under a project drawn up by Wawrzyniec Dayczak in the constructivist style to function as the premises of the City communal savings bank.

Architecture

The house has five stories and two equivalent façades; it closes Halytska street and at the same time serves as a forming architectural element of Halytska square. The house is distinguished for its impressiveness and refined architectural forms of the Art Nouveau style. The whole building is accentuated with a rounded bay window crowned with a two-tier cupola. The façade attracts attention not only because of the laconic brevity of details, which is conditioned by the dominating style requirements, but also due to the sculptural décor that merges organically with the general mass of the house. Full-length relief allegoric figures fill the spaces between the second floor windows facing the street and the square. They are placed on the pilaster axis and serve as a support for their foundations. The author of these sculptural reliefs was Zygmunt Kurczyński who cooperated fruitfully with architect Alfred Zachariewicz also in constructing other buildings in Lviv. The façades are dominated by horizontal elements. The fifth story is crowned with a wavy pediment and accentuated with an entablement that has a developed cornice. This is one of the best architecture monuments of the late (geometric) Art Nouveau style in the city.

Personalities

Alfred Władysław Zachariewicz – a known Lviv architect and a construction firm owner.
Bonifatius Stiller – the house owner in the 19^th c.
Wawrzyniec Dajczak – architect
Edmund Strömenger – the house owner in the 19^th c.
Zygmunt Kurczyński – a sculptor, graphic artist, art critic.
Johann Gimpel – the house owner in the late 18^th c. who constructed a new building.
Karl Bałłaban – the house owner in the 19^th c.
Klemens Fessinger – an architect who assessed the house in 1802.
Maksymilian von Krus – an architect who assessed the house in 1802.
Marianna Sadovska (Komarnytska) – the house owner in the 2^nd half of the 18^th c.
Theodor Bałłaban – a doctor, the house owner at the turn of the 20^th c. who ordered the construction of a new building.
Józef Sosnowski – an architect, professor of Lviv Polytechnic.