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Vul. Lystopadovoho Chynu, 26 – residential building

ID: 2465

This is the former townhouse of the renowned entrepreneur Juliusz Mikolasz. It is a building built by Ludwik Radwański in 1877 and reconstructed by Jan Schulz in 1896. It is a an architectural monument of local significance (no. 645).

History

1839 — an elongated single-storied wing building was constructed.
1877 — a Neo-Renaissance style two-storied house was attached to the old single-storied wing.
1883 — the single-storied wing was adapted for utilities.
1896 — the third floor was added, the façade reconstructed in Neo-Renaissance style.
1905 — two four-storied wings were attached.

 
This street emerged from a road leading from what is now the city's central part to the St. George's Cathedral and was consequently called the. St. George's road (pl. Św. Jura, ge. St. Georg Gasse, uk. Svyatoyurska) road. In the late 18th c., under new Austrian administration, it became known as the Cesarska (Emperor's) road, but the original name was restored around 1825. In 1871 the street was named ul. Mickiewicza. During the German occupation (1941-1944) it was called Parkstrasse, as it was laid along what is now the Ivana Franka park; in the Soviet times (1944-1993) the former name of Mickiewicza was restored. In 1993 the street was called Lystopadovoho Chynu street in memory of the events which took place in Lviv on the night of 31 October to 1 November 1918 and went down in history as the November Uprising.

In the 1830s the still unused grounds at the foot of the eastern slope of the St. George's Hill were gradually parcelled for construction, and the first buildings were erected there. It was then that a street connecting the St. George and Gródecka (now vul. Horodotska) roads was laid (now vul. Mykoly Hoholia). In 1839 Mariana Ciechuńska, the owner the building plot (conscription no. 653 2/4; present-day no. 26), planned to build a two-storied house with a wing there; a relevant project has survived. For unknown reasons, the house was never built; instead, only the wing was constructed, which was an elongated single-storied building in the depth of the plot, close to the boundary with the neighboring plot under conscription no. 641 2/4 (present-day no. 24). In the 1840s townhouses were built on adjacent parcels on Mickiewicza street. In 1859 a residential room was added to the single-storied house no. 26 under a project designed by architect Wincenty Rawski.

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In 1877 the new owner of the plot (conscription no. 653 2/4), Zofia Szydłowska née Wędrychowska, had a two-storied house with basements built in the Neo-Renaissance style there, adding it to the front of the old single-storied wing. The project was designed by architect Ludwik Radwański. According to the instruction of the Magistrate's building administration issued on 10 May 1877, the roof of this building had to be fire-resistant, that is covered with tin. On 31 October 1877 Zofia Szydłowska, the owner, asked permission for moving into the new house, which consisted of an entryway, two kitchens and nine rooms on the ground floor and 2 kitchens and 10 rooms on the second floor. The façade is clearly symmetrical, it has a wide arched gate in the center. The staircase is located on the side of the passageway. The façade design featured the use of an order system: the ground floor was emphasized by rustication, the developed cornice decorated with dentils, the windows had profiled trimmings with triangular or linear pediments. The façade was flanked by protruded wall sections emphasized with paired windows. In 1883 the single-storied wing was adapted for a cart shed, a caretaker's room, a bathroom and a laundry under a separate project designed by architect Mauss.

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In the late 19th c. the real estate became owned by Juliusz Mikolasz, an entrepreneur who came from a famous family of Lviv pharmacists of Czech origin, the owners of the famous Mikolasz Passage and the Zolota Korona (Golden Crown) pharmacy on vul. Kopernika, 1. In 1900 Juliusz Mikolasz, together with his elder brother Henryk and his brother-in-law, banker Andrzej Romaszkan, opened a new company called Piotr Mikolasz i Spółka.

In 1892 the Mikolaszes built the Neo-Renaissance Zolota Korona (Golden Crown) pharmacy building on Kopernika street 1. The project of the building was designed by architect Jan Schulz, known as one of the founders of the Lviv Secession, author of many Lviv residential houses, palaces, and villas in the styles of Art Nouveau, Neo-Renaissance, Neo-Gothic and Neo-Baroque. The architect worked together with his brother Karol Schulz.

Becoming the owner of this house, Mikolasz decided to reconstruct it and invited Jan Schulz for this purpose. In 1893 Jan Schulz adapted a part of the wing for a kitchen with a bathroom. In 1896 he designed a reconstruction of the front building. As a result, a third floor was added, the façade reconstructed in the Neo-Renaissance style, two symmetrical three-storied residential wings were attached. In September 1896 permission was issued for the use of the completed house. The three-storied building was built with changes from the approved project. In November 1897, after the approval of an additional project, permission was given for the use of the newly built house.

Under a project designed by Jan Schulz, two four-storied wings were added to the building in 1905, with stables, a cart shed and a laundry on the ground floor. In 1932 a sewerage was arranged in the house and connected to the city sewerage system (architect Tadeusz Sroczyński).

There was a garden in the depth of the plot, rather elongated in plan; in the Soviet times the garden was separated from the courtyard by a masonry wall with a passage, today it is used as a playground by the municipal day nursery number 25 located in the building.

According to the Lviv Region Executive Committee's resolution number 44 dated 28 January 1986, the building was entered on the List of monuments of local significance under protection no. 645.

Architecture

The three-storied building with a semibasement floor is built of brick and plastered; it is U-shaped in plan (with two elongated wings) and has a courtyard. It consists of three blocks: the main three-storied townhouse on a high semibasement, with a gable roof and a gate leading into the courtyard, and two four-storied residential wings covered with pent roofs. Each of the building's three volumes has its own separate staircase.

The townhouse's main façade composition is symmetrical, the central axis is emphasized by the high and wide semicircular arch of the main entrance gate. The façade is flanked by protruded wall sections topped with Neo-Baroque attics accentuated by three-part windows separated by pilasters; there are balconies of equal width with balustrades on the second floor and narrow rounded, supported bowls and lattice railings on the third floor. The ground floor and protruded wall sections are decorated with banded rustication. The windows of the façade's middle part have profiled portals with triangular pediments on the second floor and linear ones on the third floor. The façade is topped with a cornice and a frieze decorated with stucco ornamentation with oval attic windows. The semibasements have rectangular windows (right side) and are decorated with sledged limestone blocks. The smooth rear façade is plastered. The building has an enfilade layout, the cellars and semibasements are covered with brick sail vaults. The gate leading to the courtyard (it also has two entrances into the house) is covered with semicircular and cross vaults supported by arch walls. The gate's paned double door is wooden, with Neo-Baroque round and arched windows. The façades of the two symmetrically located wings have a simple design: rectangular windows, with balcony galleries at different levels, connected by stairs, on older parts. The ground floor windows are barred. The wings' roofs are covered with tin and have large wooden projections.

The building is an example of the late 19th century townhouse in the style of Historicism with elements of the Neo-Baroque.

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Personalities

Mauss — builder who adapted the wing in 1883 for utility premises.
Henryk Mikolasz (1872–1931) — a renowned Lviv photographer.
Juliusz Mikolasz — an enterprenuer, owner of the building.
Wincenty Rawski — architect.
Ludwik Radwański — architect who designed a two-storied building here.
Andrzej Romaszkan — a banker and co-owner of the Piotr Mikolasz i Spółka firm. 
Tadeusz Sroczyński — architect. 
Marianna Ciechuńska — owner of the building plot around 1839-1877.
Zofia Szydłowska née Wędrychowsk(z Wędrychowskich Szydłowska) — owner of the building plot who commissioned the construction of a two-storied building.
Karol Schulz — architect.
Jan Schulz — architect.

Sources

1. State Archive of Lviv Oblast (DALO) 2/2/1240
2. Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in Lviv (CDIAL)  186/8/629
3. Map of Lviv (1829)

4. Map of Lviv (1836)

5. Map of Lviv (1936)

6. Костюк С. Каталог гравюр XVII–XX ст. з фондів Львівської наукової бібліотеки ім. В. Стефаника АН УРСР, (Київ: Наукова думка, 1989)
7. Львів. Туристичний путівник, (Львів: Центр Європи, 2007)
8. Архітектура Львова. Час і стилі,  (Львів: Видавництво "Центр Європи", 2008)
9. Мельник Б. В., Довідник перейменувань вулиць і площ Львова,  (Львів: Світ, 2001)
10. Jakub Lewicki, Między tradycją a nowoczesnością. Architektura Lwowa lat 1893–1918  (Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Neriton, 2005)


By Oksana Boyko