Vul. Lystopadovoho Chynu, 6 – Lviv House of the Scientists ID: 300

The structure known today as the House of the Scientists on vul. Lystopadovoho Chynu was built in 1898 for the National Casino. The Neobaroque design of the building was executed by the Viennese architectural firm of F. Fellner and H. Helmer. Construction works proceeded under the supervision of Lviv builders Napoleon Luszczkiewicz and Zygmunt Pszorn. The sculptural ornamentation of the façades was designed by the famous Viennese Neobaroque sculptor Rudolf Weyr, who developed the models, and was executed by Austrian sculptors Teodor Friedl and Reinhold Völkel. By Resolution No. 130 of the Lviv Regional Executive Committee dated February 26, 1980, the building was added to the List of Local Monuments under protection No. 181-M.

Story

Eighteenth century –– a palace structure arose on the urban site.
1840s –– a two-story tenement house was built on the plot.
1879 –– a three-story tenement house was remodeled, or rather, completely rebuilt.
1897–1898 –– erection of the National Casino building.
1902 –– a ground-floor wing was constructed and the sewerage system was reconstructed.
1939 –– the premises were handed over to the Regional Scientists' House.
1948 –– The Lviv Scientists' House and the Lviv Branch of the Union of Architects of Ukraine begin operating in the building (the latter occupying four rooms on the ground floor).
1953 –– the building suffered damage due to a fire.
1954 –– repair and restoration works were carried out following the fire.
1976–1995 –– restoration works were conducted.
1999 –– repair and restoration works were undertaken to adapt the premises for the press center of the Summit of Presidents of Central and Eastern European Countries, which took place that same year.
1980 –– the building was added to the list of Architectural monuments of local significance.
2008 –– the House of the Scientists was included in the registry of cultural heritage monuments that are not subject to privatization.
2014 –– restoration of the coat of arms of the Volhynian Voivodeship in the tympanum of the loggia.

Architecture

The building is constructed of brick and plastered, varying between two, three, and four stories with a semi-basement floor, and is covered by roofs featuring roof lanterns over the foyer, assembly hall, and library room. In layout, the two-story section approximates a rectangle with a large semicircular projection at the rear, flanked by four-story administrative premises and a ground-floor wing in the form of an elongated arm running along the northern boundary of the plot.

The Casino building commands attention with its stately façade, adorned with exquisite Neobaroque architectural and sculptural ornamentation including putti, vases, festoons, and masquerons. The expressive forms lend a plastic clarity and dynamism to the architecture.

The composition of the principal elevation is symmetrical and seven-axial, featuring curved avant-corps on the lateral axes that are accented from bottom to top with lavish sculptural decoration. Monumental, expressive sculptures of atlases flank the portals of the two carriage gates, supporting curved balconies flanked by vases; the large arched windows are adorned with portals featuring sitting putti, cartouches, and female masquerons. The five central axes of the façade's second tier are occupied by a spacious loggia designed as a tall arcade of semicircular arches, unified by a Baroque balustrade supported on consoles. The loggia is covered by five bays of sail vaults on transverse arches, decorated with Baroque plasterwork featuring plant motifs and the coats of arms of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and four voivodeships (Galician, Podolian, Volhynian, and Belz), placed in richly ornamented cartouches above the window opening keystones. Crowning the façade is an attic with trapezoidal small windows set in festoons and adorned with six vases, rising above a highly developed cornice. The lateral avant-corps terminate in high sheet-metal roofs decorated with metal masquerons, featuring oval dormers adorned with male masquerons, panoplies, and putti situated on the parapet on both sides of the dormers.

The dynamic form of the façade is sustained by the interior finishes. The refined elegance of the interiors is combined with the unique, daring structure of a masterfully carved staircase gallery in the foyer, which is covered by a roof lantern. The focal point of the foyer is a mirror in an arched trimming with an overdoor decorated with a cartouche and crowned by a female masqueron. The halls are adorned with plasterwork and styled with numerous carved details executed from various wood species. The interior scheme is completed by marble and alabaster fireplaces, light fixtures, and partially preserved period furniture.

The highly professional Neobaroque plasterwork decoration, the lion, female, and male masquerons, the festoons and palm branches, the high-relief panoplies, and the walls decorated with pilasters are crowned by cartouches featuring zecchins and female masquerons; above the doors are overdoors, the panels of which are filled with painted murals.

People

Georg Brandes — the Danish writer who visited Lviv in 1898.
Stanisław Dembicki — Lviv artist, co-author of the painted overdoor canvases in the foyer.
Ferdinand Fellner — architect, co-owner of the Viennese architectural firm Atelier Fellner & Helmer.
Teodor Friedl — Austrian sculptor who executed the sculptural decoration of the Casino building’s façades.
Wojciech Haar — architect, author of the 1879 house that previously stood on the site of the Casino building.
Heinrich Helmer — architect, co-owner of the Viennese architectural firm Atelier Fellner & Helmer.
Julian Hura — master stonemason.
Sándor Járay — carver who executed the wooden interior of the Casino building.
Alfred Kamienobrodzki — architect, author of the ground-floor wing of the Casino building and designer of the sewerage system reconstruction.
Yevhen Kozymka — restoration architect, co-author of the restoration of the House of the Scientists.
Jakób Kroch — Lviv builder.
Napoleon Luszczkiewicz — Lviv architect-builder who supervised the construction works of the Casino building.
Gabryel Müller — builder who remodeled the eastern wing into residential spaces in 1867.
Gabryela Nahlik — co-owner of the plot at vul. Lystopadovoho Chynu, 6, who built a three-story tenement house in 1879.
Juliusz Nahlik — co-owner of the plot at vul. Lystopadovoho Chynu, 6, who remodeled, or rather completely rebuilt, a new three-story tenement house in 1879.
Edmund Pliszewski — sculptor, creator of the alabaster fireplace in the foyer.
Mykola Prokopovych — restoration architect, co-author of the restoration of the House of the Scientists.
Kost Prysiazhnyi — restoration architect, co-author of the restoration of the House of the Scientists.
Zygmunt Pszorn — Lviv builder who directed the construction works of the Casino building.
Stanisław Rejchan — Lviv artist, co-author of the painted overdoor canvases.
Tadeusz Rybkowski — Lviv artist, co-author of the painted overdoor canvases in the foyer.
Oleksandr Shpolianskyi — restoration architect, co-author of the restoration of the House of the Scientists.
Shyrman — Soviet engineer who conducted architectural measurements of the building in March 1941.
Maurycy Silberstein — Lviv builder, author of the 1891 houses on a portion of the plot (No. 624 2/4).
Yevhen Sobolevskyi — restoration architect, co-author of the restoration of the House of the Scientists.
Michał Sozański — Lviv artist, co-author of the painted overdoor canvases in the foyer.
Ihor Starosolskyi — restoration architect who began developing the design documentation for the restoration of the House of the Scientists in 1974.
Yurii Vasylenko — structural engineer and co-author of the restoration of the House of the Scientists.
Reinhold Völkel — Austrian sculptor who executed the sculptural decoration of the Casino building’s façades.
Wczelak brothers — owners of the Lviv factory.
Rudolf Weyr — Viennese Neobaroque sculptor, author of the models for the sculptural decoration of the Casino building.
Zilberman — Soviet engineer who carried out architectural measurements of the Casino building in March 1941.

Sources