Vul. Lystopadovoho Chynu, 05 – residential building

ID: 2437

This residential townhouse was built in 1896-1897 under a project designed by architect Julian Cybulski; later it was transformed into a university building. It is an integral component in the housing of the Galician Sejm (Diet) block. The building is an architectural monument of late Historicism; Baroque and Mannerist motifs were stylized in its décor. Now it is used as an academic building of the Lviv National Ivan Franko University.

History

The large residential house on Mickiewicza (now Lystopadovoho Chynu) street 5, which formerly belonged to Karol Zenowicz, was built on the parcel under conscription number 1320 2/4 in 1896-1897. This parcel was separated from the old plot number 586 2/4, located on the north side of the block, whose architectural core is formed by the monumental building of the Galician Sejm (Diet), now the main building of the Lviv National Ivan Franko University (1877-1881). In the 1850s-1860s there was an old L-shaped house there, while the western part of the territory where the townhouse of Zenowicz would be built eventually, was occupied by a garden. In about 1862 the real estate number 586 2/4 belonged to Josef Kolischer; in 1872 it became owned by Mieczysław Przeździecki and in 1873 by Stanisław Brykczyński (DALO 2/2/1219: 25 29, 42).

In the 1860s-1870s numerous reconstructions and additions were made there (DALO 2/2/1219: 45 47 2/2/1220: 64, 77). In the second half of the 1890s, however, all the old buildings went under demolition on the initiative of the new owners, Karol Zenowicz and Tadeusz Sołowij, who divided the parcel number 586 2/4 in two. Zenowicz became the owner of the western half of the plot while Sołowij owned the eastern half.

In 1896 Sołowij and Zenowicz commissioned projects of their future townhouses number 3 and 5 on Mickiewicza street. The projects were designed by architect Julian Cybulski. The corresponding plans were approved by the Magistrate resolution dated 10 June 1896 (DALO 2/2/1219: 46; 02.02.1222: 13). On 28 September 1897 the Magistrate commission certified the completion of the construction works (DALO 2/2/1220: 43). It was at that time that the townhouse of Zenowicz (Mickiewicza street 5) was assigned a new conscription number, 1320 2/4 (DALO 2/2/1220: 44, 55).

As early as 1901 Zenowicz had a reconstruction in his new building’s wing made under a project designed by architect Zygmunt Kędzierski: the stable was turned into a laundry while the cart shed became an apartment for the caretaker (DALO 2/2/1220: 53; 02.02.1222: 19).

In 1902, after the death of Karol Zenowicz, the townhouse was inherited by his widow and children (DALO 2/2/1220: 52). In 1908 the heirs sold the house to Maria Krygowska (DALO 2/2/1220: 49-50) who, in her turn, resold it to the couple of Herman and Joanna Dattner (DALO 2/2 / 1220: 47).

In the interwar period the former townhouse of Zenowicz becomes the property of the Jan Kazimierz University; however, it was still used as a residential house. Some letters, dated 1926, from the University quartermaster Aleksander Zajdler concerning the technical condition of the building have been preserved (DALO 02/02/1222: 7, 10-11).

Now the house number 5 on Lystopadovoho Chynu street functions as one of the academic buildings of the Lviv National Ivan Franko University.

Architecture

The house on Lystopadovoho Chynu street 5, the former townhouse of Karol Zenowicz, occupies a rectangular plot in the perimeter of the university block’s continuous housing and forms an integral unit with the neighbouring house number 3 on the same street. The two buildings are "twins": they were designed by the same architect (Julian Cybulski) and built at the same time; their façades and interior layouts are reproduced in mirror image. The symmetrical main façade is common to both the houses. Its right half (7 windows) belongs to the house number 5.

The façade is built along the regulatory line of Lystopadovoho Chynu street. On the right side, there is a three-window wide slightly protruded wall section; on its projection at the second floor level, a wide balcony is arranged, with a more narrow third floor balcony above it. On the edge, at the western boundary wall, three more balconies are located. On the left side, there is a portal and a passageway leading to the courtyard. A varied design of window openings was used in the façade composition: the third floor windows are supplemented with triangular pediments and cornices while the top parts of the second floor window openings are segmental. The entrance gate and all the windows have trimmings.

The lower part of the façade wall, which is divided horizontally by a narrow cornice, is decorated with banded rustication. The upper tier is laid with unplastered facing bricks. The top cornice is decorated with modillions, denticles, and egg-and-dart ornament. Balcony consoles with chimera masks on the second floor and a lion mascaron with a cartouche, where the date of the construction completion, "1897", can be seen (between the third and the fourth floors), are worthy of special attention. The house number 5 has preserved a hip construction of the high "French" roof, arranged over the slightly protruded wall section, and lucarnes. The house is an architectural monument of late Historicism; Baroque and Mannerist motifs have been stylized in its décor.

The building consists of a front part containing two tracts of premises connected by corridors (the enfilade principle also used) and an L-shaped wing going round the courtyard. The front staircase can be entered from a passage leading from the street to the courtyard. Another staircase is arranged in the corner between the wing’s tracts. The courtyard façades have no decoration; they are encircled by a balcony gallery at the upper floor level.

Today, the former townhouse of Zenowicz has been transformed into a university building, its residential quarters being adapted for educational functions. The house number 5 on Lystopadovoho Chynu street is connected by passages with the adjacent northern wing of the main building of the Lviv National Ivan Franko University (Universytetska street 1).

Personalities

Aleksander Zajdler — intendant of Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv in 1926
Hermann Dattner — co-owner of the building starting from 1910
Joanna Dattner — co-owner of the building starting from 1910
Zygmunt Kędzierski — architect who designed a project of a lateral wing's
Joseph Kolischer — owner of the real estate 586 2/4 around 1862
Karol Zenowicz — co-owner of the building plot 586 2/4 who acquired its western part; and in 1896 commissioned a new townhouse, and later a reconstruction of a wing
Marya Krygowska — owner of Zenowicz townhouse in 1908-1910
Mieczysław Przeździecki — count, owner of the real estate 586 2/4 in 1872
Stanisław Brykczyński — owner of the real estate 586 2/4 in 1873
Tadeusz Sołowij — co-owner of the building plot 586 2/4 who acquired its western part; and in 1896 commissioned a new townhouse, and later a reconstruction of a wing
Julian Cybulski — architect who designed the twin building on vul. Lystopadovoho Chynu, 3 and 5

Sources

1.     State Archive of Lviv Oblast (DALO) 2/2/1219.
2.     DALO 2/2/1220.
3.     DALO 2/2/1222.

Material compiled by Ihor Zhuk