Ivan Levynskyi

One of the most renowned architects of Habsburg Lviv, entrepreneur, one of the largest employers of his time in the city. His firm was involved in the construction and renovation of countless structures throughout Lviv and the region. Professor at the Higher Technical School, an active public figure associated with the Ukrainian People's Movement.

Ivan Levynskyi (signed: Ukr: Іван Левиньский; Pol: Jan Lewiński; Ger: Johann Lewiński) was born on July 6, 1851, in Dolyna, now a regional center of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. Beginning in the 1860s, he lived and worked in Lviv, where he died on July 4, 1919, and was buried in the Lychakiv Cemetery.

He was born into the family of Ivan Levynskyi (†1858), a Ukrainian, headmaster of a public school, and Josepha Hauser, who came from a family of Bavarian colonists in Galicia. It is thought that his father belonged to the noble family of the Sas coat of arms from Dnipro Ukraine.

Levynskyi graduated from a Real School in Lviv and joined the engineering department of the Technical Academy in 1869. The general faculty was divided into three in 1872: engineering, architecture, and chemical, so he completed engineering in 1874 (Sprawozdanie, 1897, 236). In 1881 he obtained a license for construction activities (Zhuk, 2015, 253). Around 1885, he began collaborating with Julian Zachariewicz on a project for the Kastelivka (Kastelówka) villa district in Lviv and established a building materials factory on present-day Chuprynky Street, 58a, and another on Shevchenka Street, in association with Aleksander Domaszewicz, (Zhuk, 1995, No. 4, 4). His factory produced bricks, roof tiles, majolica and other ceramic products, plaster products, and artificial stone; it had carpentry, locksmith, and other workshops. During the 1880s-1910s, he carried out a vast number of projects in Lviv and Galicia, from the Faculty of Medicine of the University (1893-1894), the Great City Theater (1898-1900), George Hotel (1899-1900), Mikolasch Passage (1899-1901), the new railway station (1901-1904), the Ukrainian student dormitory (1904), numerous city buildings as well as rural churches and National houses (Narodnyi Dim).

In 1876 he became a founding member of the Polytechnic Society, the main task of which was to promote a new social group of educated engineers, as well as the Builders Society (1886), Zorya (Society of Ukrainian Craftsmen, Merchants, and Industrialists), the Pedagogical Society, Prosvita, and others. He supported the Postup Workers' Association, Osnova, a Ukrainian Polytechnic students' association, the Society for the Development of Ruthenian Art, among others. He was close to the nationalist movement (narodovestkyi rukh), collaborating with politicians Julian Romanchuk and Vasyl Nahirnyi, as well as Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi (Noga, 2009, 174-177).

He actively participated in exhibitions: the Industrial Exhibition (1892), the General Regional Exhibition (1894), the Jubilee Exhibition for the 25th Anniversary of the Polytechnic Society (1902), the Hygienic and Medical Exhibition (1907), the Church Exhibition (1909), the Exhibition of Polish Architects (1910) in Lviv. Products of his factory were presented at the World Exhibition in Paris (1900), the all-Russian Exhibition in Kyiv (1913), and others.

In 1898, he was awarded the Golden Cross for his services to the Crown (Goldene Verdienstkreuze mit der Krone), the highest award in Austria-Hungary for civil service in the interests of the state (Dodatek do Kurjera Lwowskiego, 1898, No. 334).

In 1901-1914, he was first an extraordinary professor, then a full professor at the Higher Technical School in Lviv. He taught "utilitarian" and "railroad" construction to architecture students and "encyclopedia" of construction to engineering students and, later, wooden construction. Beginning in 1905, he was a member of the commission for the first and second state exams in the department of "civil construction" (architecture), as well as in the department of engineering; in 1913-1914 he was elected the dean (Program C.K. Szkoły Politechnicznej, 1901-1914).

Ivan Levynskyi was one of the first graduates of the Technical Academy in Lviv at the critical moment of Galicia becoming autonomous within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This period is characterized by administrative and social change and a construction boom. The emergence of technical education and new technologies, as well as the desire to develop the economy in Galicia, was the impetus for the development of the local construction industry. Ivan Levynskyi was engaged not so much in designing as in implementing projects, often of other architects, in the production of building materials from local resources. Taking advantage of all the opportunities offered by Galician autonomy, his technical education, and industrialization, Levynskyi being of simple descent from a poor family, built a successful business,became a self-made man. His biography is thus a story of success.

However, his biography is also a story of decline. In the times of heightened ethnic tensions in the first two decades of the 1900s, he took an increasingly pro-Ukrainian stance, which adversely affected the success of his firm. First his arrest by Russian troops (1915) and exile in Kursk then Kyiv, the death of his wife in 1916, the boycott of his business after returning to Lviv in 1918, and then his participation in the November events of 1918 on the side of ZUNR and his refusal to take a loyalty oath to the Second Polish Republic all led to the end of his career. Levynskyi then fell ill and died in July 1919. His two children, Stepan (1897-1946) and Maria, received a higher education in chemistry but did not continue their father's business, and it gradually disintegrated during the interwar period (Жук, 2005; Мудрак, 1929).

Ivan Levynskyi's son, who left Lviv in 1922, became a scholar of Oriental studies, participated in diplomatic missions in the Far East, China, and Japan, wrote novels, lived in France. The daughter's fate remains unknown. His older brother Lev (1845-1912) and nephew, also Lev (1876-1940?), engaged in work related to that of Ivan Levynskyi's. His brother was a member of the Polish January Uprising of 1863-1864 and worked at a factory in Demnia Vyzhnia (now part of Skole) and then headed the ceramics department of Ivan Levynskyi's factory in Lviv. His son became an architect who collaborated with Ivan Levynskyi and who in the interwar period had his own architectural and construction firm and built many churches in the towns and villages of former Galicia (Слободян, 2005, 14-16).

Ivan Levynskyi is a unique and multifaceted figure. Two monographs and many academic and popular articles are devoted to his life and work. His fame as the most successful Ukrainian entrepreneur and creator of a national style in Habsburg Galicia often takes precedence in the coverage of his multifaceted activities, while many unexplored or unknown aspects remain in his biographies. In this article, I summarize just a few points in his biography, above all, highlighting the contexts in which he lived and the technical education that played a crucial role in his life.

Architecture Is Collective Work: Ivan Levynskyi and His Colleagues

Ivan Levynskyi built a vast number of buildings in Lviv and beyond. These include both minor modifications of ordinary buildings as well as the construction of large monumental structures, such as the new train station. Each building is the result of the work of a whole team from the chief architect to the masters, is dependant on each of the participants. Does the presence of Levynskyi's signature on the drawing of a building mean that he is its  sole designer?

Having obtained a construction license in the Galician governorate in 1881, Ivan Levynskyi opened an architectural firm, and soon a factory for the production of building materials. His first major project was the Kastelówka villa district in Lviv, in collaboration with Julian Zachariewicz, the head of the Lviv Architecture School, his former teacher. The professor's preoccupation in teaching, social and political activities left little time for organizing and conducting his own projects. Kastelówka's ambitious and innovative project needed more than what Lviv's existing construction firms could offer. And with the support of an influential colleague, Ivan Levynskyi was able to fully demonstrate his organizational skills and technical knowledge. From then on, most, if not all, of Zachariewicz's projects, whether the reconstruction of the Church of John the Baptist or the Galician Savings Bank, were inevitably implemented by Levynskyi. The advantage of Levynskyi's firm over others was that it was able to carry out the entire cycle of work from the design to the realization of the smallest details of a building. In addition, his firm was continually growing and developing, while other firms had much more limited capabilities.

To fulfill numerous orders, Ivan Levynskyi employed a large number of architects. "One can say that Lviv does not have a young architect who has not worked at Professor Levynskyi's architectural firm," Krakow architect Franciszek Mączyński wrote in 1908 in the Krakow professional magazine Architekt (z. 9, p. 95). However, often their names are not known because their signatures do not always appear on the drawings, which was and is common practice today. Still, this is one of the reasons why his firm's projects are so diverse.

Among the well-known employees of Levynskyi are: Jan Tomasz Kudelski, architect of neo-Baroque buildings, including the reconstruction of the Siemieński-Lewicki Palace on Pekarska Street and the city residence of the Potulicki Counts on the current Mateyka Street; after a conflict with his previous employers Ulam and Kiędzierski, Tadeusz Obmiński also went to Levynskyi's firm and designed Secession-style buildings, such as the Dnister Insurance Company building and the Ukrainian Academic House on Kotsiubynskoho Street, 21 as well as a number of residential buildings on Asnyka (today, Bohomoltsia) Street and others. Collaboration with his students (from 1901 Levynskyi taught at the Polytechnic), in particular with Władysław Derdacki and Witold Minkiewicz, resulted, for example, in the buildings at 2-4-6 Bandery Street, 2-4-6 and Kotliarevskoho Street, 67, in the design of which is visible the search for a new architectural language that meets the requirements of modern times and embodies Levynskyi's own principles that architecture should be utilitarian. Oleksandr Lushpynsky worked, in particular, on Solecki's Clinic, and Kazimierz Mokłowski worked on the Jewish hospital.

Levynskyi's firm served a wide variety of customers, often middle-class representatives of different communities of the city. Due to the capacity of its factory and effective management, it was also entrusted with state and municipal orders for the construction of major buildings. In 1894, Levynskyi completed the first medical building of Franz Joseph I University, designed in the governorship. In the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph I, he took part in the Inauguration ceremony as the construction manager. In 1898-1904 he led the construction of the Industrial Museum according to the project of fellow teachers Józef Kajetan Janowski and Leonard Marconi. In 1898-1901, he worked on the project of the modernist Mikolasch Passage together with the young architects Józef Sosnowski and Alfred Zachariewicz; in 1897-1900 he led the construction of the Great City Theater, in fact a Polish national institution designed by architect Zygmunt Gorgolewski and engineer Jan Bogucki; in 1899-1910 George Hotel designed by the Viennese architecture studio Fellner&Helmer; in 1901-1904 a new train station with Tadeusz Obmiński, Władysław Sadłowski, Alfred Zachariewicz, and others. In 1899 he began collaborating with Edgar Kováts, first working with him during the organization of the Galician Pavilion for the World Exhibition in Paris (1900), and from 1901, when Kováts was Professor of Architecture at the Polytechnic, implementing his reconstruction projects of the Basilian Churches (St. Onuphrius) in Lviv and Zhovkva, as well as the Jesuit College in Khyriv (Borowik, 2012, 19). In 1895, his firm built a monastery and a church for the Discalced Carmelites according to the design of Cologne architect Franz Statz. This Roman Catholic order moved to Lviv from the Poznan region, and their church became the parish for Kastelówka (Krasny, 2004, 135-137).

What to Build From? From Local Resources to  Local Aesthetics: Ivan Levynskyi and His Building Materials

For centuries architecture was considered a craft, one that in European cities until the end of the eighteenth century was passed from master to student in builders' guilds. After being transferred to polytechnic schools, architecture became recognized an engineering science. No more relying on tradition in the era of steam engines, railways, and artificial building materials —  applying the latest knowledge of physics and chemistry, construction statics was in order. Centuries-verified architectural orders no longer dictated architecture — technology and calculation came to the fore, and new materials determined aesthetics.

With the abolition of the guilds in Lviv, the entire construction field became subordinate to a commission in the Court Chancellery in Vienna. A century later, in 1870, Galicia gained autonomy and many issues could now be resolved independently. Therefore, the local authorities thought not only about how to lower the status of the state German language, but also how to oust "foreign" (non-Galician) products from the market and how to develop the local economy. Yet, it was difficult to compete with the products of Viennese or Silesian factories. "Most often, the builder himself has to research the material on his own, and not having the tools or necessary routine, he follows tradition, the advice of a friend, or uses the material by trial and error, and so repeatedly experiences disappointments ... because he has a responsibility he must take material from abroad, which has been tested and expertly researched," wrote architect Franciszek Skowron, critically analyzing the construction situation in Galicia (Gazeta Lwowska, 1892, No. 200, p. 3). However, the value of imported materials and the risks involved in transporting them increasingly pushed engineers and industrialists to produce local materials and constructions. Specialists who could implement this were provided by the Polytechnic.

To set up local production, one needs to know in detail local resources and the existing market. Specialists knew that the reserves of clay, gypsum, sandstone, alabaster, and other materials in Galicia were significant and of high quality, as was the case with timber. How to use them, especially in view of the economy, remained unanswered. This was the focus of the 1892 Lviv Industrial Exhibition organized by the Polytechnic Society. It became the first major exhibition in the city and was a waz to test the waters ahead of the General Regional Exhibition of 1894. It was attended by more than 300 participants from all over Austria-Hungary, who presented 325 expositions in 5 categories: materials and products, appliances for buildings, designs, school and literature, and products by students of industrial schools. More than half of the participants were from Galicia, and to encourage them, they were given an unofficial advantage in the awarding of prizes (Kurjer Lwowski, 1893, No. 4, p. 1).

Ivan Levynskyi was one of eight participants who received the highest award of this exhibition — a silver medal. His achievements were recognized in both the Lviv and Viennese presses (e.g., Der Bautechniker, 1892, No. 42, pp. 790-792). In particular, Levynskyi proved himself to be a skilled ceramics manufacturer: roof tiles, bricks, masonry heaters, as well as majolica, despite the fact that its production in Galicia began only two years earlier. Thanks to the ceramics research laboratory that was operating at the Polytechnic since 1886, it was possible to develop the technology and production. It was founded by the Collegium of Professors, maintained by the Galician Regional Department (Wydział Krajowy), and headed by mechanical engineer Edmund Krzen (Zajączkowski, 1894, 108). The development of ceramic products saw great potential, in particular, because of the rich and numerous clay deposits around Lviv. The roof tiles were not only durable and fireproof — an element required by fire regulations — but also potentially the cheapest material compared to, for example, imported metal roof material. There was no question about the demand for masonry stoves, but here the aesthetic appeal was considered. As of 1892, two types of stoves were manufactured locally — brown and dark green — while colorful ones decorated with majolica were only beginning to be produced. Majolica for facades, like the facing bricks also produced by Levynskyi, architect Skowron rated, above all, as a durable material that best met the climatic conditions in Galicia and prophesied a whole "aesthetic reform." Noting that "for the last five years our craft has evolved under the slogan of ceramics," he concluded his review of the ceramics section of the exhibition by saying "let us remember with pride that today Lviv has more majolica-decorated buildings than Vienna" (Gazeta Lwowska, 1892, No. 200, p. 3). If you look at the structures built in Lviv by the Levynskyi factory designed by Zachariewicz, and then by some other architects (such as Tadeusz Münnich), a common feature is noticeable: colored brick facades, small plastered surfaces, use of stone (artificial), majolica inserts, ceramic roof tile. One can assume that this was the first attempt on Lviv soil to produce a local "style," as stated by the most influential architectural theorist of the nineteenth century, Gottfried Semper in his work Der Stil (1860) (Hvattum, 2004). His influence is evident in the texts of almost all Lviv full or associate professors of architecture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Zachariewicz, 1877; Skowron, 1881; Bisanz, 1898; Lewiński, 1901; Talowski, 1902).

"Utilitarian" Architecture: Ivan Levynskyi and His University Department

"Work is not fencing with phrases in the Sejm," an engineer aptly exclaimed at the end of the nineteenth century (Pawłowski, 1893). It seems that Ivan Levynskyi held a similar belief because he is known for his realized projects, not for words. As a co-founder of the Polytechnic Society (1876), in almost forty years, he only once presented a report on the parceling of development sites (Czasopismo Techniczne, 1909, 95-96). Many of his colleagues presented many more and actively contributed articles or reviews to Czasopismo Techniczne or to other technical publications, Polish-languages ones and not only. Also indicative is Levynskyi's proposal published in 1907 to change the Building Charter of the City of Lviv from 1885. This became his contribution to the longstanding discussion of experts on the need for its change (Lewiński, 1907). Purely technical in nature, without judgment, this work demonstrates Levynskyi's detailed knowledge of the latest global construction practices.

Ivan Levynskyi's professional views are most clearly illustrated by his lectures for the students of the Polytechnic, which were later published. In 1901, he became a professor — he was approved by the emperor and elected by the Collegium of Professors, among which were his colleagues, the newly elected Edgar Kováts and long-time professor Gustaw Bisanz. Kováts, Levynskyi, and Teodor Talowski, elected in 1901, were to replace professors Julian Zachariewicz (†1898) and Leonard Marconi (†1899), who had maintained the architecture faculty for about thirty years.

The department of "utilitarian" construction, which Levynskyi headed, was undoubtedly created in order to best match his own views and experiences. Unlike colleagues for whom architecture was first and foremost a sphere of high art and aesthetics, the word "art" does not appear in Levynskyi's lectures. The architect of modernity does not need to be skilled in drawing, but a "construction technician" who calculates with precision. According to him, large monumental public buildings play a symbolic role, reflecting the "soul of a living people"; yet, most buildings serve specific human needs. Thus, their main task is to be conveniently planned and technically equipped, so that a person feels comfortable in it. For the sake of human health, the buildings should have enough sunlight and fresh air. According to Levynskyi, the technician is a specialist who can calculate the building plan for a specific function, who is aware of global technical achievements and discoveries, and who can use building materials and structures rationally/effectively. The pursuit of efficiency, not the flamboyancy of the building, is a matter of savings for him — if one customer saves money then the whole region saves money, which contributes to the local economy and well-being of all inhabitants of the region, which in his time meant autonomous Galicia.

In 1901-1914, Levynskyi taught four subjects: the "encyclopedia of construction" — the technical basis for engineers, applied knowledge of building materials and structures. For architecture students, he taught "utilitarian" and "railroad" construction: the former concerned buildings of various purposes, from residential buildings to governmental and industrial ones, and the later related to railway infrastructure, above all, railway stations and workers' housing. He paid the most attention to the function of the building, planning, budgeting, and construction. Later, he also taught wooden construction.

In the time of Levynskyi, the department usually consisted of one professor, who could have had an assistant, a graduate with a diploma having passed the second state exam, who replaced the professor at lectures when needed, and at the same time engaged in scientific work — prepared a habilitation thesis. His assistants, as well as the employees in his firm, were Witold Minkiewicz, Władysław Derdacki, Eugeniusz Czerwiński — later well-known architects of the interwar period. Minkiewicz and Derdacki were among the first modernists in Lviv, and no doubt the training and experience of working with Levynskyi played a vital role in their professional views.