Vul. Hlibova, 2 – residential building ID: 715

Residential building at the corner of Hlibova and Drahomanova streets. Built for H. Brich according to the design of architect Tadeusz Obmiński in 1906. The famous physicist Marian Smoluchowski (1872–1917) lived in the building. The house is a characteristic example of Lviv residential architecture from the early twentieth century in the Secession style.

Architecture

Erected in the Secession style, a three-story, brick, plastered tenement house, its wider principal elevation faces vul. Hlibova, while its narrower façade faces vul. Drahomanova. In plan, it is nearly rectangular, with an enfilade arrangement of rooms.

The southeastern corner of the building is chamfered and topped with a pediment. The composition of the elevations is traditional for the early twentieth century: two asymmetrically placed protrusions appear on the principal elevation along vul. Hlibova, with an avant-corps also present on the narrower façade. In the northwestern part of the longer façade and the northeastern part of the shorter one, balconies are situated one above the other on the second and third floors. The ground floor façades and the avant-corps are rusticated throughout their full height. Secession-style plasterwork framing the windows are integrated into the recessed relief bands and the decoration of the portal. The supraporte decoration features plasterwork images of large sunflowers and festoons, with symmetrical floral profiled patterns placed between the rectangular windows.

The avant-corps are adorned with Secession-style pilasters with lion mascarons and are topped by complex pediments with keyhole-shaped attic windows. The avant-corps on the vul. Drahomanova side is finished with a tripartite attic. The building is crowned by a modern frieze consisting of triglyphs and metopes, and a deep-projecting cornice.

In the entrance gate, the original wall treatment, a ceiling rosette, and polychrome tiles on the floor have been preserved.

The building is a characteristic example of Lviv residential architecture from the early twentieth century in the Secession style.

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