Vul. Lemkivska, 10 – residential building

ID: 2594

This three-storied residential building was erected in 1907-1908 under a project designed by Michał Fechter for the Tobiasz Aszkenazy Vocational Seminary of Jewish pupils run by the Jakób Herman Foundation. This is a typical example of the architecture of residential townhouses of the late 19^th - early 20^th centuries, in whose décor motifs of the styles of Historicism and Secession are combined.

History

In the early 19^th c. there were two plots with conscription numbers 175 and 176 ¾, as well as part of the plot number 177 in the place of the contemporary block between Lemkivska, Teslenka, and Zamarstynivska streets. Lemkivska street existed as early as the 18^th c. under the name of Lower Castle street (Untere Schloss Gasse). Back then, both wooden and masonry buildings stood there, and in the 19^th c., due to the mills belonging to Robert Doms and located along its western side, it was for a long time called ul. Młynarska (Mill street).

In the second half of the 19^th c. there were only two built-up areas on the even side of the street, namely, number 2 (or 175 ¾) and number 4 (173 ¾). In 1871 the building number 4 was owned by Abraham Briefer, and in 1889 by his heirs. Subsequently, the owners changed again: a 1895 document records that after the death of the owner of the plot number 4, Ksawera Adamowska, the real estate was to be passed to her sons; however, since the latter were still under age, the court appointed her husband, Tomasz Adamowski (who lived in Sambor), a temporary administrator of this property until their sons reached maturity (DALO 2/2/494:5).

The contemporary house numbering was introduced in the late 19^th - early 20^th centuries, when the aforementioned plots were divided into several smaller ones. The plot with contemporary number 6 retained its old conscription number 173¾, the plot number 4 was assigned 513¾, the plot number 8 – 174¾, the plot number 10 – 296¾, the plot number 12 – 285¾, the plot number 14 – 275¾; through the plot number 177 a newly formed Wybranowskiego (now Teslenka) street was laid.

Some plots, namely numbers 4-12, were purchased by Jakób Herman, a Lviv entrepreneur and philanthropist; in 1907-1908 he had a building for a vocational (craft) seminary built there. The projects of the buildings were designed by Michał Fechter. Herman had already dealt with this architect earlier, when constructing a passage on what is now Kulisha street. Designed together, these buildings on Lemkivska street are a holistic complex. Their architecture is modest and typical, in the spirit of the Historicist style with some Secession decorative details.

Already in 1908 Herman planned to increase the living space adding a new wing to the rear of the buildings number 10 and 12. Two project proposals of 1909 have been preserved: the one designed by architect Henryk Salver and the one designed by architects of the bureau of Stanisław Borkowski. Salver designed an L-shaped wing with three apartments: a single-room one and two two-room ones (all with their own kitchens), as well as common toilets (DALO 2/2/494:78-84). In January 1909 at the technical bureau of Stanisław Borkowski a project of a similar capacity was designed, which was finally approved on 16 May 1909 (DALO 2/2/494:85-92). A long correspondence between the owner and the Magistrate’s building department indicates non-conformity of the projects to the current construction norms (for example, the lack of lighting in the proposed wing premises).

After the death of Jakób Herman in 1928, the building number 10 became the property of the Jewish Craftsmen Society "Yad Haruzim", whose member he was, and the rest of the buildings became owned by other private persons; as of 1935, these were Franciszek Hoffman, Maria Krasnopolska, Janina Dolinka.

During the Holocaust, the building was on the territory of the Lviv ghetto.

Today this is a residential building.

Architecture

The building is a typical example of the residential townhouse of the late 19^th - early 20^th centuries in Lviv. In its décor the motifs of Historicism and Secession are combined.

The three-storied building has a basement and an attic. It has brick walls and cylindrical vaults in the basement. The ceilings between the floors, the attic floor, and the stairs are wooden. The façades are plastered, with stucco décor and with a balcony having an artificial stone slab on metal I-shaped consoles decorated with cast brackets. The double-pitch roof was originally covered with sheets of painted tin, which were later replaced with slate.

The building is L-shaped in plan and has an elongated lateral wing. At the edge of the front façade, there is an entrance to the passage, from where one can get to the main staircase, as well as to the courtyard. According to the original project, in 1907 there were three apartments on the ground floor and four apartments on each of the other floors. On the ground floor, there were two two-room apartments, located in the townhouse's "front building" (near the street). The entrance to them was arranged through a staircase and a common vestibule, and they also had a common kitchen. The wing had a single-room apartment with a kitchen and a small pantry; the toilets were common to all residents. On the second and third floors there were four apartments: another single-room one with a kitchen was located above the passage.

The seven-window-axis façade is asymmetrical, with a narrow avant-corps on the right. The façade composition is tectonic: the basement with broken stone texture, the ground floor plane is rusticated and separated with a cornice. All openings are rectangular, windows have simplified stylized trimmings and pediments. At the extreme right axis, there is an entrance gate; the third floor window has stylized capitals with cartouches, wreaths, and ribbons on both sides. The façade is topped with a simple cornice. Neobaroque motifs can be seen in the metal lattices of the basement windows and in the fencing of the balconies.

Personalities

Zygmunt Edel –
A construction engineer, born on 4 April 1909 in Lviv, in the family of Mendel Edel, a clerk, and Fania Spiegel.

Ksawera Domicela 1-Underka, 2-Adamowska — the owner of the previous plot number 173 ¾ on Lemkivska street.
Tomasz Adamowski — the husband of Ksawera Adamowska, a resident of Sambir, a court-appointed administrator of the real estate after the death of his wife until their sons reached the age of majority.
Stanisław Borkowski — an architect, who owned a technical construction bureau, where the project of the wing was designed in 1909.
Abraham Briefer — the owner of the previous plot number 173¾ on Lemkivska street.
Jakób Herman — a Lviv Jewish entrepreneur and philanthropist, a co-owner of the Hermans passage on what is now Kulisha street 23-25 and of the theater Nowosti.
Abraham Luft — the owner of the house number 12 in 1916.
Rohatyn — the owner of the house number 14 in 1909.
Henryk Salver — an architect and builder, author of the proposed wing project in 1909.
Michał Fechter — an architect, who designed the projects of buildings on Lemkivska street.

Sources

1. State Archive of Lviv Oblast (DALO) 2/2/494
2. "Yad Harutzim" in Lviv
3. Księga adresowa królewskiego stołecznego miasta Lwowa (Lemberg, 1913).
4. Księga adresowa Małopołski, Wykaz domów na obszarze miasta Lwowa (Lwów. Stanisławów. Tarnopól, 1935–1936).
5. Skorowidz krolewskiego stolecznego miasta Lwowa (Lemberg, 1872).
6. Skorowidz krolewskiego stolecznego miasta Lwowa (Lemberg, 1889).
7. Skorowidz królewskiego stołecznego miasta Lwowa (Lemberg, 1910).
8. Skorowidz królewskiego stołecznego miasta Lwowa (Lemberg, 1916).

By Olha Zarechnyuk