Lviv Secession

Part Two: Secessionist Complex on Bohomoltsya Street

 

The ensemble of buildings on Akademika Bohomoltsya Street is among the most representative examples of Secessionist architecture in Lviv. This street was developed in 1903-1908 on the site of the gardens and vegetable patches of one or several suburban villas. It was the first street in Lviv to be designed as a holistic project. The buildings are centered around a small open area in the middle of the street. This area is filled with lawns and trees, which makes the urban space more inhabitable.

The buildings were designed by the architectural firm of Ivan Levynskyi, in most cases arguably by Levynskyi himself. These are generally three- or four-storey apartment buildings with a central staircase and a courtyard on the back. Their façades follow the contemporary architectural trends, i.e. Vienna Secession, while also borrowing from the historical styles.

Below I will introduce the most outstanding buildings on this beautiful street.

 

6. Papée Apartments

Bohomoltsya St. 3
Ivan Levynskyi & Co., 1905-1906

This is, in my opinion, the most outstanding building on Bohomoltsya Street. It stands closest to the spirit of Art Nouveau and can be compared to the best works of Otto Wagner in Vienna. It has a rounded corner with beautiful Secessionist decorations around the second-floor and attic windows. Similar ornaments can be found on the same height at the both ends of the façades. Horizontal emphasis is provided by the ground-floor rustication, the band of purple majolica tiles between the second-floor windows, and the strongly protruding eaves with an egg-and-dart frieze under them. Forged-iron balcony supports are in the form of stylised plants.

 

7. Bastgen Apartments

Bohomoltsya St. 5
Ivan Levynskyi, 1905-1906

This façade has a number of attractive features: the ironwork of the main entrance, the alternation of stucco decorations and majolica tiles above the entrance and the ground-floor windows, the floral elements of the first-floor balcony, the striped frieze between the first-floor windows, the stylised pilasters between the second- and third-floor windows, the panels made of blue and green majolica tiles above the third-floor windows, the wooden frames of the windows of all the floors, and the stucco decoration in the attic. The building was originally owned by Levynskyi himself, but once it was completed he sold it to captain Stanisław Bastgen.

 

8. Haszlakiewicz Apartments

Bohomoltsya St. 7
Ivan Levynskyi, 1905-1906

This corner building is unusual for the loggia connecting its two perpendicular wings. Its façade was originally planned in the Gothic Revival style, but the eventual design shows the influence of the Romanesque Revival architecture. Some Secessionist features can also be seen, such as the metalwork of the main portal, the flower ornament on the capitals of the bifora columns, the forged railings of the balconies, and the mascaron keystone above the loggia.

 

9. Elster & Topf Apartments

Bohomoltsya St. 4
Ivan Levynskyi & Co., 1905-1906

This building, like the others on this side of Bohomoltsya Street, combines a classical façade division with an Art Nouveau design. Secessionist features include mascarons, stylised floral patterns, Wagner’s wreaths, majolica panels, and forged balcony railings.

 

10. Stauber Apartments

Bohomoltsya St. 6
Tadeusz Obmiński & Kazimierz Teodorowicz, 1906

This is, after the Pappé Apartments, the most notable structure on Bohomoltsya Street. It is a U-shaped building with a closed courtyard. The façade division of the main wing is classical, while the decoration is Secessionist: stylized leaves and flowers, mascarons, wreaths, geometric ornaments, and majolica tiles.

Some original decorative elements survive in the vestibule and the staircase, such as Secessionist doors and stained-glass windows.

The building is currently occupied by the Center for Urban History of East Central Europe.

 

11. Elster & Topf Apartments

Bohomoltsya St. 8
Ivan Levynskyi, 1905-1907

This façade is symmetrical if one does not count the positions of the entrance door and the awning of the first-floor balcony. The decorative scheme is less floral and more geometrical than on the other façades on this side of the Bohomoltsya Street: circles around the windows, simpler Wagner’s wreaths, rows of individually placed majolica tiles, a majolica frieze in a checkerboard pattern, and so on. In the staircase hall there are stained-glass windows (designed by Leon Appel).