Архитектура Одессы: заметки с тегом Neorenaissance

12, Bunina Street. Building of Joint-Stock Company of Odessa private pawnshop

Архитектура Одессы — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 12:41:26 +0200

A huge monumental structure, built in 1905 for Odessa private pawnshop, can be called one of the most striking constructions in Odessa citing Italian Renaissance. An architect Vikentiy Ivanovich Prohaska, raising largely exquisite apartment buildings and mansions, however, coped perfectly with an unconventional challenge— the design of the building of administrative and public function.

Type of building: administrative
Style: modernized Neo-Renaissance

Architects
A. A. Digbi (building, the 1820-s)
A. N. Kolovich (rebuilding, 1851)
V. I. Prohaska (rebuilding, reconstruction, replanning, raising of the second storey, new design of facades and interiors)

Date of construction: 1904—1905
Status: local architectural monument
Second address: 12, Lecha Kaczynskogo Street (former Polskaya Street)
Previous building of the site: house of Sikard, old building of Joint-Stock Company of Odessa private pawnshop

Facades

House of Sikard, later the pawnshop, before the rebuilding
Odessa from the first years of its existence was, first of all, a city of trade and usury. Loaning was started in 1800, as, however, and pawn operations, when the city was sent 25,000 rubles at the supreme injunction for construction work that took place in the port. The use of money occurred under the percentage that was usually charged from the total amount taken, and the expense was on parts. If a money lender became aware of the unreliability of the merchant, he could at any time request a refund the amount back. However, the owners of pawnshops did not abuse such right: they valued their reputation, and for a termination of the contract a suspicion of bankruptcy had to be significant.

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At the beginning of the XIX century Committee for the fulfillment of works in the port was formed. The president of Commerce College was actually a prince Gagarin, who later gave permission for the issuance of money in a pledge of valuables and goods. It is known that the first loan was given an Italian whose name did not come up to our days, but following loans were issued Odessa businessmen of that time: bills, showing the issuance of a number of loans for 1000 rubles in a pledge of 1000 pounds of fuel sulfur several loans of 1000 rubles and 500 rubles in a pledge of 80 and 40 pounds of wax, oil drums, fur goods, houses were preserved in the archives. For paying majority of debts deferments were widely practiced.

Life in debt, it can be said, was perhaps the custom, quite well-known people took loans as well. Among them there are two obligations from December 17, 1800 from Felix Deribas, who took 1,000 rubles in a pledge of silver jewels, and his wife, Octavia, taken 1,200 rubles in a pledge of ladies’ powder set, a large silver tub, two trays, spoons and more.

At the end of 1886 in Odessa the first private pawnshop was opened (chairman and manager— V. Kirchner), it was not even partially owned by the state, and had a capital of 500 thousand rubles. Later, with the growth of the firm prosperity, the capital was increased to 700,000. Being a very respectable office, the pawnshop had as many as seven offices throughout the city, the most important of which was located on 12, Policeiskaya Street, in a large two-storey house of Sicard, probably erected as early as the 1820’s (architect A. Digbi). Originally, this house was built as a grain warehouse («magazeyn») with habitable rooms, in 1851, the building was subjected to reconstruction (architect — A. N. Kolovich) significantly modified its look and layout. Since its foundation, the pawnshop rented this house, and in 1891 finally bought it.

Advertisement of Joint-Stock Company of Odessa private pawnshop

As already mentioned, the pawnshop departments were scattered throughout the city. In addition to the head office of the pawnshop situated on Policeiskaya Street, there were seven more of its branches, four of them — of general purpose (in 26, Tiraspolskaya Street, 62, Richelievskaya Street, 16, Preobrazhenskaya Street, 44, Stepovaya Street,) and three specialized ones— on 22, Uspenskaya with large warehouses for furniture storage; on 29, Mikhailovskaya Street, where it was possible to pawn a car, a carriage, a bicycle, a foot sewing machine and other bulky items, and on 14,Deribasovskaya Street, they took as a pledge gold, silver, precious stones and watches, and, right up to nine pm, as a person could always urgently need money. A loan is usually issued for a period of up to three months, after which one could still ask for a two-month delay its return, but then all unredeemed things, were sold by auction at the main office of the pawnshop on certain days of the week: jewelry — Mondays, furniture — Wednesdays, fur and clothing — Thursdays, bicycles — on Fridays. Besides, the pawnshop without issuing a loan, but for a certain fee, took different things in storage for one year, and some housewives preferred to leave fur coats and other expensive furs for the summer without any risk of damage by the moth, which was quite possibly in the home conditions. Very thrifty or staying in reduced circumstances citizens, before moving to the country even refused from the apartment and the furniture and other property gave to the pawnshop, where it was safely stored until the autumn return of their hosts in the city and rent them new or old accommodation.

By the end of the XIX century, the firm started to experience a strong lack of storage space for unredeemed and stored property, among which, of course, there were many very bulky items that required a large exhibition space. Besides, for implementation of auctions and bank operations required specially equipped rooms. The old building on Policeiskaya Street no longer met the needs of the company in the first place owing to the lack of space. In 1904, a construction work on the «adaptation» of the house to the needs of the pawnshop started. The project was made by a well-known by that time architect V. I. Prohaska, who, beginning with the reconstruction of the original building, raised in fact a new one.

Pawnshop building before the end of construction works, still without a wing on Polskaya Street

By 1905, all construction work had been completed, but an interior finishing still took a while. At the corner of Policeiskaya (Bunina) Street and the Polskaya Street a magnificent building arose, the style of which was made in the best traditions of the Italian Renaissance with some elements borrowed from Art Nouveau. The new building of the pawnshop was carrying out in two stages: firstly a wing on Policeiskaya Street was raised, as evidenced by the photo of the end of 1904, and the following year a wing on Polskaya Street appeared. In fact, the previous building was entered in the volume of currently existing one, the first and second storeys kept the shape of windows and the width of piers. A passage arch location to the courtyard also had no changes. The third storey and a mezzanine were already overbuilt by Prohaska. The second floor housed the auction and operating rooms, and from Policeiskaya Street side, on the first floor, extensive areas for the storage of the pawnshop clients’ property were equipped.

Photograph of the building of the Soviet times

The building is located on a corner site and is L-shaped in plan. The wing on Policeiskaya Street is more extensive than the wing on Polskaya Street (17 to 13 window axes, respectively), and occupies most of the block. A large scale structure is emphasizes not only by chiaroscuro of large forms with refined profiles and moldings, but by a general proportional order as well.

An extreme window axis, adjacent to the neighboring hotel «Bristol», is singled out by a massive risalit. The corner part of the building is accentuated by wide risalit of three window axes on every street side.

Risalits

Having met, they form a volume similar to the square in plan tower. Similarly the corner part of a later house Von-Desh at the corner of Gogolya Street and Sabaneyev bridge is accentuated. «The Tower» and the extreme risalit have a mezzanine, through which the level of the roof here is much higher. Between risalits on Policeiskaya Street rhythmic series of identically decorated third-storey windows stretch. The composition formed by the decoration details of each of them is remarkable for harmony and well found proportions. Under the window there is a balustrade, serving as a basis for two pilasters with Corinthian capitals, flanking window openings and supporting a triangular fascia. Each pilaster is decorated with moulded wreath of a modernized style at the base. A window of the third storey in the risalit, that adjacent to the neighboring hotel, is decorated in a similar manner.

Decoration of the second floor windows

Decoration of one of the windows in the courtyard of Doges Palace in Venice — the most likely source of inspiration for the architect V.I. Prohaska.

At the level of the first and second storeys risalits have a trapezoidal shape, with a pronounced inclination of the edges, and at the third storey level the edges are perpendicular to the horizon line. Such a move significantly strengthened the monumentality of the building and weighted its lower part, in contrast to which the upper looks much lighter and refined. The central part of the facade plane on Policeiskaya Street is marked by another risalit, less deep, but having the same shape as the others. Its width is two window axes, on the second floor there is a balcony with a stone balustrade, and on the ground — two-column portal in the vein of classicism.

Central risalit on Bunina Street

Another portal is closer to Polskaya Street. Compared with the previous one, it is put forward much further as regards the plane of the facade and is treated as a small porch. Here there is an entrance to the staircase, and from the ground floor landing a passageway into the courtyard is made.

Portico of the main entrance

The corner part of the building is decorated with the greatest magnificence. A second-floor window is flanked by pilasters, and a massive fascia, the central, is based on two columns that, like the pilasters, are crowned with Corinthian capitals. From the side of each street there are balconies with balustrades. Balconies of the corner part and the central risalit on Policeiskaya Street are supported by large consoles made in Art Nouveau style. Over extreme windows of the corner risalit from Polskaya Street side there are preserved dates of the pawnshop foundation and the building construction (1886, 1905 respectively). Over similar windows from Policeiskaya Street side, originally an inscription: «Odessa pawnshop» was placed, eventually destroyed. A strip of meander, framing windows from Policeiskaya Street side as well, is stretched along the piers of the corner part.
The similar meander adorns under windows cornices of the first floor. On the corner part of the building there is a marble advertising plate of the architect: «Built by architect. V. I. Prohaska. 1905». A similar one can be seen on the facade of Prokudin’s house.

Decoration of the corner part of the building

Gap for the flag holder

Rustic stone of the corner

Advertising plate of the architect

The facade from Polskaya Street side is compositionally different. For example, second-floor windows are grouped in threes and the central one is devoid of any kind of framing.

Console (from Lecha Kaczynskogo Street)

A semicircular passage arch is enclosed in the volume of trapezoid portal of two-storey height.

Portal

Building facades are processed with rustic stone that on the ground and first floors is rather deep and expressive, and on the second — conditional.

Finishing of the ground and first floors

The facade plane of the second floor is separated from the two lower floors by a cornice. Much more massive cornice crowns the building itself and rests upon large dentils traditional for Prohaska.

Dentil

Between them (outside risalits) there are small gaps, designed to illuminate the garret. Mezzanine windows are much larger and decorated by Art Nouveau wreaths.

Mezzanine windows

The facade from Polskaya Street has three storeys, and from Policeiskaya Street goes from three to two that is associated with the descent of the street in the direction of Karantinnaya gully. Hence, to identify number of storeys is quite difficult.

The pawnshop had safely existed within the walls of the building until the revolution, in Soviet times the building housed a clothing factory named after Vorovskiy, which subsequently moved into a new building on Ilfa and Petrova Street. However, much of the interior decoration was irretrievably lost. The staircase (entrance from Policeiskaya Street) has preserved the original railings of unique pattern, which, however, similar to the gate of a merchant Blizhenskiy’s house (authorship of V.I. Prohaska as well). Walls of the staircase are completely devoid of decoration, but on the second floor it can be seen conditional arcades from shallow arch niches. Entrances to operating and auction rooms, which interiors have not been spared by time and lodgers, are located here as well.

Staircase

Through the passage arch (not used now) and the passage from the landing of the ground floor one can get into the courtyard of the building. The rear facade is decorated modestly, but the second-floor windows as windows of the exterior facade, have a semicircular shape in order to comply with the symmetry of the halls with two-sided lighting.

Courtyard facade

The concisely decorated passage arch is probably remained untouched during the rebuilding of the old building; the details of the house view can be read on the front facades.

Passage arch

In general, despite the highly dilapidated state (with the loss of major details of the decor), the facades of the building survived to the present day in virtually unchanged shape. The building of Joint-Stock Company of Odessa private pawnshop can be called one of the key in early works of V. I. Prochaska, equally with houses of Ksid and Blizhenskiy. These exquisite building, undoubtedly, have one thing in common — a masterly mix of Renaissance and Art Nouveau, which became, later, a real «calling card» of the architect and a detail of his unique style.

References and Archives

«Architects of Odessa». V. Pilyavsky
«Architecture of Odessa. Style and time». V. Pilyavsky
«Buildings, structures, monuments of Odessa and architects». V. Pilyavsky
*about the building in Antique blog
Article about Odessa pawnshops history Alexander Uriev
«Odessa: Architectural and historical essay». 2-d edition, 1984. V. I. Timofeenko

Authors

Dmitry Shamatazhi, photographer and compiler
Alexander Levitsky, art director, photographer and colorist
Marina Tomenko, translator

91, Bolshaya Arnautskaya. M. Sapozhnik’s house with apartments for rent

Архитектура Одессы — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 12:30:59 +0200

The small house, occupying half of the standard size site in the facade width on the building line, has characteristic features that are inherent in creative work of Leonid Chernigov. Above the gate there is a janitor‘s room, and the ground floor was intended to accommodate trading space. However, the identification of the actual author of the project is still problematic.

Type of building: residential house with apartment for rent
Style: ornamental Art Nouveau, modernized eclecticism
Architect: unknown (most probably, L. M. Chernigov or M. G. Reinhertz)
Date of construction: after 1900
Status: local architectural monument

Main facade

In the second half of the 19th century this site belonged to I. T. Grigoriev. Address books of 1890s mention that Ivan Timofeevich Grigoriev, merchant of the 2nd guild, arranged an oil storage in his own house. In 1890s another merchant of the 2nd guild, Ivan Ermilovich (or Ermolaevich) Grigoriev at the same address kept a shop selling oils and Russian goods (type of these goods wasn’t mentioned in the advertising). Except this, in Grigoriev’s house Haim Benyaminov Komberg, merchant of the 2nd guild, had a grocery trade. On the turn of 19th and 20th centuries someone Haia Mordkovna Porter opened a bookstore here, and in 1900s Zeylik Shmaryev Kofman, merchant of the 2nd guild, used to sell grocery and colonial goods here. Later D. Zinkovetsky and T. Elfant traded oils here and merchant of the 2nd guild I. P. Rosenblatt rented one of the apartments for living.

In 1904 Grigoriev’s site goes to Motel-Abram Mendelevich Sapozhnik, odessian merchant of the 2nd guild, who made his fortune by selling grocery and ironmongery. Considering stylistic features of the house, we can assume, that it was M.-A. M. Sapozhnik, who ordered its construction. The Cultural heritage register of Odessa claims that this house was built in the end of the 19th century. However, Art Nouveau practically did not occur in Odessa until 1900 (“Tea-packing factory of Vysotsky” represents a rare exception).

In 1910s a vegetable oil storage of the trading house “G. and B. Scheinberg” from Chisinau (its owners were hereditary honorary citizens Gersh and Baruch Scheinberg), plumbing trade of S. B. Shnayden and artificial flower trade of Rukhlya Motelevna Drexels were located in the new Sapozhnik’s house.

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Undoubtedly, the house dates from the early Art Nouveau, as evidenced by layout, fascia of the top floor, window apertures, railings of eclecticism style and an abundance of floral decor.

Balconies fencing made in an unusual technique for Odessa with the addition of a metal sheet profiles attract attention as well. Similar railings adorn one of the balconies in the courtyard of Koriman house, which is located on the same side of the street, via three numbers at the corner of Preobrazhenskaya Street.
On the second floor there is a standard width balcony, on the first — twice as much.

Balconies

Between the first and second floors the vertical axes are underlined by panels, very typical for Chernigov’s style.

Panel between the first and second floors

The two last left window axes are located on the passage arch and singled out by a risalit, which culminates in a portico in a decorative Art Nouveau vein.

Passage arch risalit

Passage arch

The original gate was half preserved and now is hidden behind the new — from monolithic metal sheet.

Gate

Old gate leaves are somewhat similar to those that can be found in the homes of Chernigov.

The risalit decoration is rather eclectic. For example, the windows on the first floor have a Renaissance form casing, and just below the pediment there are two slabs, vaguely stylized as rocaille. Such slabs single out the rest of window axes.

Various decoration details of the main facade

From the part of the courtyard it is obvious that the house is not great really, one or two apartments could be located on each floor.

Courtyard facade

A passage arch here is also marked out by a risalit, which houses the entrance hall staircase. An entrance doorway is located directly in the arch. A pattern of original stair railings is like those in the house of Skarzhinskaya (architect M. Reinhertz), which construction was started in 1906 and completed in 1910.

Entrance hall

Returning to the design of the facade of the courtyard, it is worth to mention a rather unusual panel, decorating the risalit between the windows of the second and third floors. From the courtyard side and overbuilt floor is in sight, it probably appeared in the Soviet years. In the wing, located perpendicular to the exterior facade there is a backstairs door.

References and Archives

«The architects of Odessa». V. Pilyavsky
«The Architecture of Odessa. Style and time». V. Pilyavsky
«The buildings, structures, monuments of Odessa and architects». V. Pilyavsky
An article on building in a blog Antique

Authors

Alexander Levitsky, art director, photographer and colorist
Dmitry Shamatazhi, photographer and compiler
Oleg Kreposnyak, compiler
Marina Tomenko, translator

16, Marazlievskaya Street. J. Morton’s mansion with apartments for rent

Архитектура Одессы — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 18:29:29 +0200

Julia Morton’s mansion is not considered as one of the most impressive buildings on Marazlievskaya Street, but its refinement and subtle blend of styles always attract attention. Moreover, it is one of the oldest buildings in the street

Type of building: mansion, apartment house
Style: eclecticism, blending of Baroque and Renaissance motifs
Architect: D. E. Mazirov
Date of construction: 1886
Status: local architectural monument

Main facade

In 1886 Marazlievskaya Street replenished another mansion. The building was constructed by an architect of Armenian origin D. E. Mazirov for Julia Stepanovna Morton (1858 -?), who was probably the daughter of Odessa wealthy entrepreneur and noble Stepan Ivanovich Rally.
S. I. Rally owned a plot nearby the Sabanskiy barracks on Kanatnaya Street. Julia Morton was 28 years old when she came into possession of the mansion in which, most likely, lived her entire family. Unlike S. I. Rally that had some apartment houses Morton owned only one house on Marazlievskaya Street. The architect Demosthenes Mazirov, at the time of the construction of the mansion, had to his credit, besides a number of reconstructed buildings , a small number of refined buildings designed for Vurgavt, Mavrokordato, Lipman-Wolf and Richter. The buildings were characterized by vivid performance, the use of Neo-Baroque elements and a good spatial composition. On the contrary, the mansion of Morton was executed in more restrained Renaissance motifs that, however, was compensated by a careful approach to the tectonics of the building.

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The house is distinguished by pronounced asymmetry in the plan and design. The mansion built with a space from an adjacent area that might have been empty at the time of its construction. However, between the buildings there was an insert with a passage arch at the ground floor level and with rooms on the first floor. An emphasis is made on a corner rounded part of the building and, owing to the fact, the decoration manner of the main facade is changing in the horizontal direction. There are two shallow risalits from the main facade side. Left one, with two window axis width is narrower, and creates stress on the left side edge of the facade plane. Along the edges of the risalit on the first floor there are Doric order pilasters. On the same floor, but in the center, in a window pier, there is a sculpture of a caryatid, which reproduces exactly the sculpture in a building designed by the architect V. Kabiolskiy on 36, Marazlievskaya Street and 16, Sadovaya Street. This sculpture is somewhat balances the facade, contrasting the left side, overloaded by elements, with the right side of the facade. Close to the round corner of the building there is a wider risalit, in width of three window axis. In piers between the windows of the first floor Corinthian order pilasters are located.

Decoration of the first floor facade

The main entrance is located asymmetrically in the risalit at its left edge. Decoration of the main entrance is fully preserved, including the original door (a simpler version of it can be seen in the house of M. Katsnelson on 26, Marazlievskaya Street) and ornate metal canopy on the thin cast columns.

Main entrance

The risalit is also emphasized by an arched attic ledge that runs around the perimeter of all facades facing the street, and is solid in the areas of risalits, in other parts it represents a balustrade. The storeys of the building contrasted with each other, only the second floor is richly decorated, where there is a large number of small stucco mouldings and ornaments, as well as mentioned above caryatid, pilasters and half-columns. The ground floor is decorated with only rusticated pilaster strips and balustrades in the panels of the windows.

Pilaster strips of the ground floor windows

Basement floor is also residential and decorated simply with linear rustic stone. Basement floor windows have bow-shaped apertures and are decorated by locks.

The facade of the building is equipped with a balcony only, which, however, is of considerable size. It begins at the edge of a large risalit, passes through it, the corner part and the insert to the firewall of the neighboring building. The fence is a patterned metal grate on stone props, but the authenticity of the existing balcony railings is questionable. To the right of the rounded corner at the end of XX — beginning of XXI century the terrace on the base with metal trusses that support part of the balcony was attached. Passage arch is adorned with decorative frame in Baroque style, on a compositional level its principle of indentation from the building line of the street has something in common with passage arches of the other two houses on Marazlievskaya Street — E. Petrova’s (1901) house at number 36 and the neighboring apartment building Vassal (1902-1912), which occupies plot number 38.

Passage arch

A courtyard facade has an expressed play of volumes and asymmetry: approximately in the center there is a trapezoidal risalit, hiding a service metal spiral staircase, perfectly preserved, and having access to both floors and the attic.

Courtyard facade

Bay window of the courtyard facade

Service staircase

A service staircase is lit by narrow windows located on all faces of the risalit, at the top these windows are arched. At the right from the mentioned risalit there is a less deep but wider trapezoidal bay window which has wide windows and corners decorated with Tuscan order columns. At the left on the roof of the building there is an authentic semi mansard, which is only accessible with the service staircase. The service staircase leads to the basement apartments as well.

The main entrance was gaily decorated originally, corresponding to the external appearance of the building, but the supposed building paintings were painted over, also two Ionic columns capitals flanking the aperture between the lobby and staircase were damaged — volutes at the outer sides of them were broken off. A lobby ceiling is shaped cross vaults; above the entrance to the staircase the ceiling is flat and decorated with panels. Between the walls and vaults there is a moulded cornice, supported by the mentioned columns and decorative consoles.

Staircase lobby

Ceiling of the ground floor landing

On the landing of the ground floor on both sides there are living quarters doors, most likely for rent, here is the entrance to the mansion lobby. Stairs leading to the first floor has in plan refined horseshoe bend and, despite the relatively small size, looks very impressive.

Main staircase and a lobby

Railings are artsy interlacement of simple geometric figures: the primary motif is a circle and a composition of circles and scrolls. Railings variety is very rare, and if reproduced anywhere, is not known.

Railings

A ceiling beam rests on two columns, crowned with Corinthian order capitals, made in free plastic interpretation.

Lobby columns

The first floor landing once represented a large gala room, part of which had to be sacrificed in the redevelopment of the mansion during the Soviet era and division into communal apartments. Hence, through a small narrow corridor, one can get on the service staircase, described earlier.

References and Archives

«Rally». An article in the newspaper Odessa World News number 74 (3.11.2009). S. G. Rechetov
*Directory and reference book «All Odessa», 1908, L. А. Lisyanskiy
«Architects of Odessa». V. Pilyavsky
«Architecture of Odessa. Style and time». V. Pilyavsky
«Buildings, structures, monuments of Odessa and architects». V. Pilyavsky
Статья о доме в блоге Antique

Authors

Alexander Levitsky, art director, photographer and colorist
Dmitry Shamatazhi, photographer and compiler
Oleg Kreposnyak, compiler
Marina Tomenko, translator

28, Marazlievskaya. Mansion of I. I. Mendelevich

Архитектура Одессы — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 18:28:59 +0200

The mansion of Mendelevich, masterly combining features of Art Nouveau and Renaissance, strikes with its decoration and design for over 100 years and remains one of the peaks of the creative work of V. I. Prohaska.

Type of building: mansion
Style: modernized Neo—Renaissance
Architect: V. I. Prohaska
Date of construction: 1909
Status: local architectural monument

General view of the facade

The land on Marazlievskaya Street was owned mostly by the aristocracy, that is why the major part of the street’s buildings is performed at the corresponding level and with highly refined interiors. Marazlievskaya Street started being lined with buildings at the turn of ХХ century, but buildings at several lots were erected quite late — this statement also concerns the area of 28.

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In 1890s the lot was obtained by M. Asvadurov, and in the period of 1902-1907 years was purchased by a corn trader, Iefim Iakovlevich Mendelevich, «a merchant of the first guild, delegate of the merchants, a member of the bread-controlling commission of Odessa exchange; the guardian of industrial students’ school, founded by I. M. Mendelevich and etc». It is also well known, that he was related to the owner of Passage at Deribasovskaya Street, — Moisei Iakovich Mendelevich (the patronymics of both Mendelevichs coinside and there is a great chance that they were brothers).

Facade from the side of the yard

In 1909 a mansion in simple, but monumental shapes of Florentine Renaissance was built after the project of architect Vikentiy Prohaska. This architect had constructed only several buildings after his projects by that moment, but from the very beginning of his creative activity his houses had been among the finest ones. He was well advertised by a competitive project of the New Exchange and the building of the main department of Odessa private pawnshop society. For the mansion of Mendelevich, the choice of Neo—Renaissance style was not accidental, — majority of own projects by Prohaska were carried out in this very style, with the help of which the architect reached unusual refinement and monumentality. At the same time, the architect approached each project with creativity, though, as it would seem, the houses should be very similar.

A ledge above the pediment of the main facade
The mansion of Mendelevich has two floors and a habitable semi-basement, according to the plan the mansion is almost rectangular, without marked yard wings. V. I. Prohaska didn’t adhere strictly to the canons of Florentine Renaissance, but boldly mixed it with other styles, particularly with Art Nouveau that reigned at that time. The fence of light pockets of the semi-basement, entrance doors, carved wooden banisters of the main staircase were done exactly in this style. The bas-reliefs above the windows of the first floor got the interpretation peculiar to Art Nouveau. The house is crowned with a classical three-cornered pediment with a mascoron of Athena in a tympanum.

Sculpture decoration of the facade

Fragments of the facade of the building at a photo by Vladimir G. Nikitenko, 70s.

The architect almost fully covered the building with rustic stone, although thanks to the skillful usage of projecting key stones, Art Nouveau panels and bas-reliefs, the facade looks rather diverse. The bas-reliefs with images of separate scenes, united by the common theme of upbringing of children are arranged above the windows of the second floor. The stylized images of trees on the edges of the facade surface, amplifying the sculpture scenes, also grab attention.

Fragment of a cornice

Cornices under the ground floor windows

Fencing of the semi-basement

Instead of traditional bas-reliefs that were arranged in panels, Prohaska placed the figures directly on the facade surface, not separating them from the house that appeals to the idea of synthesis of arts, which was one of the aims of Art Nouveau. In other words, bas-reliefs weren’t isolated from other decoration, and interacted with it (something similar was implemented in the building of Kosagonovskaya at Nezhinskaya Street, 66).

In present time, three balconies are disposed at the mansion of Mendelevich. They were installed in the soviet times instead of the removed because of the decrepitude stone ones (unfortunately there is too little documental evidence left about their external appearance). The railing of the central balcony wasn’t preserved, but, taking into account the character of the facade and taking into account other rusticated buildings of Prohaska, the fencing of the balcony represented a stone balustrade.

Arch of the passage

Communal flats were formed out of the rooms of Mendelevich’s flat, which occupied the whole first floor. Separate flats with semi-basement rooms were situated on the ground floor in the left and right wings.

Arch of the passage

The ceilings of the arch of the yard passage are decorated with moulded mascarons that are identical to the mascarons placed on the facade of Gavsevich house (arch. S. S. Galperson, 1903). Possibly, Mendelevich had liked the mascarons of Gavsevich mansion, situated on Lidserovskiy boulevard on the way to Langeron beach.

One of the original entrance doors in the arch

Monumentality isn’t inherent in the staircase and the corridor of the first floor. On the contrary, the decoration became fanciful and pretentious because of the fulfillment, synthesizing in itself Baroque and Art nouveau.
Art nouveau stairs made entirely of wood draws special attention. Its peculiarity is the fulfillment of railings not as separate balusters but as profiled planes, covered at the same time with deep but simple by composition carving.

Stairs

A view of the stairs and the window of the ground floor.

Railings

A view of the second flight of stairs from below.

Another interesting element is a diminutive wooden tambour that preserved an original door, badly damaged by times and alternations.

Ground floor

The space near the entrance is decorated with two caryatids that hold the landing of the first floor. Compositionally they are symmetrical to each other, but with a closer look the difference is revealed — the arm of the caryatid which is free from the holding, is relaxed, lowered and holds the cloth on the waist level; another caryatid’s arm is lifted, and the same cloth is thrown over it, hiding the nudity. With the lost wrist it, possibly, held a lantern or a candlestick. Both sculptures have naked breasts, which emphasizes their antique eroticism.

Also there, by the stairs, next to the right-side (if you look from downstairs) caryatid, a richly decorated niche is located, where a lamp, a vase with flowers or a sculpture could have been placed.

Two arch apertures lead to the first floor landing, and the space between them is decorated with two columns with slightly modernized capitals.

First floor

General view of the lobby from the first floor landing

Staircase

Capitals of pilasters between the staircase and the landing of the first floor

A pair of putti is located in sopraportas of the doors, like the sculptures on the facade

The ceiling of the staircase also strikes; it was performed in the form of an oval plafond of plastic shapes. It naturally repeats the planning shape of the staircase part. Its walls, therewith, are decorated with Art Nouveau flute and double pilasters.

General view of the cupola-shaped vault above the staircase

First floor landing, general view

Returning to the first floor landing, it’s worth mentioning the semicircular ledge overhanging directly above the caryatid. It reminds of a small balcony and is decorated with a spectacular asymmetrical sculpture.

At present the original fencing of the first floor is lost completely and substituted, for safety, with a simple wooden construction. Time and men’s negligence relentlessly destroy the decoration of the unique building, and this is seen by the condition of the preserved elements of decor and lobby design (the only one of its kind in the city, by the way).
A huge Art Nouveau staircase window, preserved the unique sash, lost, however, stained glasses.

A sad destiny reached the painting of a plafond and decoration of the walls with Venetian putty.

The parquet of the landing remained as a whole, but is in a very decrepit condition.

In the soviet times the former lobby of a luxurious mansion, which became the entrance hall of a dwelling house, was painted with an ordinary blue paint. Today it came off from the walls here and there and revealed the original decoration.

The door of the lobby was dismantled in 2011 and replaced with a simple metal monolithic door without decor; other doors of the arch were more or less preserved. However, none of the inner doors, unfortunately, has lived till the present days.

Among the historic episodes, connected with the building and worthy of a memorial plaque, it should be mentioned that the elder son of the founder of national literary school, writer Itshock (Isaac) Ioel Linetskiy, lived here in one of rented apartments, in 1910s. It was an outstanding architect, Moisei Isakovitch Liteskiy, and a lot of wonderful buildings were made after his projects (mostly in Art Nouveau style) in Odessa, including the ones at Marazlievskaya, № 2 and № 14a.

References and archives

«Architects of Odessa». V. Pilyavskiy
«Houses, buildings, monuments of Odessa and their Architects». V. Pilyavskiy
An article about the building from the blog Antique
The gallery of old photos of Odessa
The article «Along Marazlievskaya Street», T. Zayarnaya, Odessa literary miscellany, № 42 (1998)

Authors

Alexander Levitsky, art director, photographer and colourist
Dmitriy Shamatazhi, photographer and writer
Juriy Pavlov, photographer
Oleg Kreposniak, writer and editor
Maria Mandrikova, translator
Marina Tomenko, editor

14а, Marazlievskaya Street. Apartment house of М. О. Mendelevich

Архитектура Одессы — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 18:28:35 +0200

Marzalievskaya Street is one of architectural conservation areas of Odessa center. Variety of styles here is plethoric and fantasy of an architect creates a real spectacular sight in stone. A big apartment house of М. О. Mendelevich is not an exception and demonstrates creative genius of its author in real.

Type of building: mansion, apartment house
Style: Art Nouveau, Neo-Renaissance, «Egyptian Revival»
Architect: M. I. Linetskiy
Date of construction: 1905
Status: local historical and architectural monument

General view of the facade
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Magnificent two storied house, number 14a, is maybe the most ornate and imposing one among the creations of talented architect M. I. Linetskiy, whose creativity brightly and distinctively completed the list of Art Nouveau period houses. Moreover Linetskiy side by side with another great architect of those times — L. M. Chernigov boldly combined such styles like Art Nouveau (mainly decorative and ornamental ones) and Egyptian Revival (general stylization), having created truly expressive and recognizable idiom. From style point of view, house on 14a, Marazlievskaya Street is not an exception, though it is singled out among other buildings of the master.

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=215238173253828275344.0004c8cca2daec29fa023&&t=h&ll=46.481614,30.750224&spn=0,0&output=embed

If we refer to archives sources and publications of those years, in a reference book All Odessa, year 1903 this place is marked as «vacant» and in the reference book, year 1910 the plot number 14 (present-day number 14a and 14b)had already belonged to M. O. Mendelevich. According to the reference book, year 1914 Mendelevich didn’t possess the plot, by that time divided into two parts and passed to two different proprietors. In the same reference book former house of Menedelevich belonged to Vinokurov, and on the plot 14b, a big apartment house of Z. Naum had appeared a year earlier. However, decisive role in defining of historical belonging played only name of the first proprietor of the house, building developer. That is why in the list of local architectural monuments the building is registered as apartment house of N. A. Mendelevich. The date of construction is known for sure — 1905.

After a number of buildings designed in a more or less «academic» Art Nouveau, the architect again refers to eclecticism and stylization, not forgetting however the stylistic fashion. A number of earlier houses of Linetskiy are known as built in eclectic style. Therefore he had already had experience in this direction before the construction of Mendelevich’s house. As for the style the building combines renaissance, Art Nouveau and Egyptian stylizations. However obvious mix of the styles is observed only on the front facade. As for the facade from yard side and decoration of the interior — they are much closer to pure Art Nouveau. Coming back to the front facade, it is worth mentioning, that trace of Egyptian Revival is visible there quite obviously, and not only in ornament, but in some sculptures themes as well. In general, Egyptian architecture motifs were rarely applied in Russian Empire; however a considerable amount of such buildings were quite successful. The buildings implemented in Egyptian reminiscences are characterized by expressive wide mass of central part, which as a rule dominates in height, and applying of trapezoid forms. Stucco mouldings and rustication have straight clear lines and are cut out of monolithic stone. They also have cut edges which are not expressed clearly. Last wave of interest to Egyptian Revival appeared during epoch of Art Nouveau and was developing together side by side, mixing sometimes. Strict canons of this style never existed so the final result always depended on the architect’s vision. Concerning Odessa, this style was expressed most of all in the works of Linetskiy. In the case of the describable house, the architect managed to combine naturally the monumentality of Egyptian Revival and the Renaissance. In addition to this, one can notice cold Scandinavian motifs in male mascarons and chimeras.

The house consists of the main wing and two side ones; the plan of the building is nearly symmetrical and represents by itself cyrillic «П» (Р). Probability that the main wing was planned as the mansion is very high. On its first floor there was only one apartment for the owner. Similar design decision is observed in the mansion of another Mendelevich (initials Е. Y.) on Маrazalievskaya, 28. The rooms of the ground floor could make the most splendid apartments in the house. A bit cheaper apartments could be found in three — storey yard wings.

The main facade has nine window axes on its width, seven of which are occupied by a wide, a bit prominent risalit. The ground floor of two storied house is decorated by rustication, which imitates the laying of sandstone and limestone (materials typical for Egypt).

Rustication finishing of the main facade on the ground floor
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Fragment of wall finishing of the ground floor
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The sections of balcony fences and semi-basement windows are different in measures, but made in the same compositional vein, and present a magnificent example of decorative Art Nouveau.

The fence of the balcony
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The fence of semi-basement window
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The axes of the passway arch is not marked with traditional risalit, but in order to add a shade of solemnity, a big sculptural composition is placed in the vaulted niche above the arch. It is symmetrical, consists of shield and male mascaron and two sphinxes on each side. Such order of the elements associates with heraldry incarnated in the sculpture.

The passway arch, general view
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Sculptural composition above the passway arch
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Fragments of facade
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Solemn rhythm of big windows with large fascia occupies the first floor. The window of central axes is a bit wider than the others and framed on each side with splendid Art Nouveau medallions.

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Medallion

The fascia lies on two columns (fascia of the other windows is supported by corbels), and lucarnes are decorated with grotesque lion heads in Egyptian style.

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Image of the lion’s head decorating the lucarne of the central window

On the rest of the windows the lions’ heads are replaced by the images of the rolled snakes.

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Image of the snake

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Mascaron above the window on the first floor

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General view of decoration composition of the first floor window.

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Small bass-reliefs between the first floor windows.

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In the motifs of the bass-reliefs two symmetrically located sphinxes are used that resonates with the compositional sculpture above the arch.

The strongest impact of Art Nouveau both on the ground and the first floors has the framing of the window aperture of two end window axes.

Windows of end axes
marazlievskaya-14a-49.jpg Window of the ground floor
marazlievskaya-14a-50.jpg Window of the first floor

Above each of risalit windows the small triplex windows of entresol are located, and their rhythm additionally underlines the central part of the building.

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Decorative filling of the space between entresol windows

A massive balcony, circled by the balustrade on the first floor, completes the compositional wholeness of the facade. The balcony occupies three window axes edgewise and is located in the center just above the passway arch. The stony balustrade balusters are decorated simply, but plastically and made in pure Art Nouveau vein.

Balcony of the first floor
marazlievskaya-14a-48.jpg General view
marazlievskaya-14a-31.jpg Fragment of the balustrade
marazlievskaya-14a-33.jpg Corbels

Cornice
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Unfortunately no documental witness about the gates of the house was found, however the remaining fanlight restrained geometrical composition tells about their probable strictness in general. Afterwards, due to their dilapidation the leaves of the gates were disassembled and replaced by simple monolithic ones.

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Fanlight of the gates

The inside space of the arch consists of two bulks.

Passway arches
marazlievskaya-14a-16.jpg General view
marazlievskaya-14a-15.jpg General view

Directly attached to the street bulk is correspondingly main. It is gorgeously decorated and has a floor laid with small pieces of tile. (The floor was almost completely preserved and after restoring was cleaned from remains of the soviet time asphalt covering.)

Tilework of the arch floor
marazlievskaya-14a-111.jpg General composition of the pattern
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marazlievskaya-14a-116.jpg Fragment

Opposite the gates there is a window which was used for watching people arriving or leaving the house or the yard.

Window in the arch
marazlievskaya-14a-43.jpg General view
marazlievskaya-14a-21.jpg Keystone

The entrance is located on the left, in a small distance from the gates just enough for the opened leaf not to block the front door. Decoration is concentrated on the window and the walls on its level. Among the interesting elements it’s worth to highlight the keystone of the window which is the same as the medallions on facade and not very high doubled half-columns, that are also taken from the ancient Egyptian architecture, where such half-columns symbolized bundles of reed. With the difference, of course, that the half-column measures are brought to the strongest miniaturization in comparison with the prototype.

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Fake pillars

Fragments of the arch decoration
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General view of the arch from the window
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On the vaulting the decoration is represented by simple floral ornament. There is a probability that their big, free from decoration surfaces could be originally painted.

The vaulting of the arch
marazlievskaya-14a-14.jpg General view
marazlievskaya-14a-23.jpg Ornamental decoration
marazlievskaya-14a-22.jpg Ornamental decoration

The second arch leads down to the yard, decorative finish is almost absent. Here the doors to semi-basements are located.

The arch leading to the yard
marazlievskaya-14a-63.jpg View from the street side
marazlievskaya-14a-117.jpg View from the yard side
marazlievskaya-14a-113.jpg Door to the semi-basement. Its authenticity is doubtful, however it is made in balance with the whole house decoration.

The door which leads to the entrance is the exact copy of the original one, which was in absolutely catastrophic condition before the last restoration. As the restoration or making the same door would be expensive, the repair organizers preferred just to replace the door with the simplest one instead of restoring it. It resulted in loosing of one more authentic element. And nevertheless from the compositional point of view it can be related to the best examples of carpenter furniture of the Art Nouveau epoch houses.

The entrance door
marazlievskaya-14a-107.jpg General view
marazlievskaya-14a-106.jpg Upper part of leaf
marazlievskaya-14a-105.jpg Lower part of leaf

Inside the entrance hall there is the following order of space: stair sluices, the landing of the ground floor (here located a watching window for observing the gates), staircase. The decoration changes depending on the space.

Sluice
marazlievskaya-14a-10.jpg General view from the ground floor landing
marazlievskaya-14a-69.jpg Decorative niche
marazlievskaya-14a-70.jpg Keystone of the niche
marazlievskaya-14a-12.jpg General view of one of the walls decoration
marazlievskaya-14a-73.jpg Decoration of pilaster, ornament and Druid
marazlievskaya-14a-101.jpg Fragment of pilaster ornament
marazlievskaya-14a-67.jpg Fake balustrade
marazlievskaya-14a-72.jpg Fake balustrade
marazlievskaya-14a-68.jpg Detail
marazlievskaya-14a-71.jpg Detail

Under the lightening window of sluice there is a high decorative niche; walls are processed in relief with applying of pilasters and fake balustrade in between. In the space of each pilaster a “Druid” mascaron, which is located above the simple vertical floral ornament, is added,. The vaultings continue logically the compositional rhythm of walls decoration but in more strict geometrical style.

Vaulting of sluice
marazlievskaya-14a-11.jpg General view

Panels under the vaulting of sluice were originally painted. Painting presents picturesque paysages and even till the middle of 2000-s years it was in good condition, but in the second half of 2000-s years or later was completely destroyed (probably during the last repair).

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Lost picturesque panels (as of 2008)

The landing of the ground floor strongly contrasts with the sluice, the ceilings are simplified and look more schematic. From the sculpture one can find only doubled corbels, which support the girder. The corbels are decorated with floral ornament (similar can be found in other buildings of Linetskiy).

Corbels
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The last door from the original ones on the ground floor was demounted (supposedly in 2011) during the restoration and replaced by the new one with decorative metallic plates, which style can be named free mix of Secession and Jugendstil, however the door doesn’t fit with the stylistic of interiors.

Doors
marazlievskaya-14a-127.jpg Lost door
marazlievskaya-14a-65.jpg Door remake

The landing of the ground floor leads to the splendid vestibule staircase. Unlike the sluice, the vestibule is located along the central axes if the house and is a real culmination of architectural idea. Splendid wooden stairs with Art Nouveau handrails with simple geometrical pattern and ornamental panels used to lead to the owner’s room.

Staircase
marazlievskaya-14a-9.jpg Entrance stair flight
marazlievskaya-14a-76.jpg Ornamental panel
marazlievskaya-14a-100.jpg Ornamental panel
marazlievskaya-14a-75.jpg View of the staircase and entrance vestibule

Handrails
marazlievskaya-14a-97.jpg A variant of the stair flight
marazlievskaya-14a-91.jpg Horizontal variant

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Finishing of the vestibule walls on the ground floor at the places free from wooden panels.

On staircase landing a small glazed bulk facing the yard as the bay window ledge on the corbels is located. The window apertures of free plastic forms saved the original sashes in decorative Art Nouveau spirit. In the center of this small room a bass relief with another one «Druid» is located which used to be part of decorative fountain, which basin has not been saved till now. The balk of the aperture leading to the bay window area is supported by three half-column on each side with complicated in terms of configuration column caps, made on the meeting point of Art Nouveau and Egyptian Revival.

Interior of the bay window
marazlievskaya-14a-95.jpg General view
marazlievskaya-14a-4.jpg General view
marazlievskaya-14a-92.jpg Remains of decorative fountain
marazlievskaya-14a-94.jpg Windows
marazlievskaya-14a-93.jpg Element of window decoration
marazlievskaya-14a-87.jpg Column top
marazlievskaya-14a-88.jpg Column top
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marazlievskaya-14a-5.jpg A view from the bay window to the vestibule

Vestibule in the process of restoration
marazlievskaya-14a-17.jpg General view before the restoring
marazlievskaya-14a-56.jpg General view from the first floor platform in the process of restoring
marazlievskaya-14a-62.jpg General view from stairwell platform in the process of restoring

Vestibule after restoration (current condition)
marazlievskaya-14a-2.jpg General view from staircase landing
marazlievskaya-14a-3.jpg General view from staircase landing
marazlievskaya-14a-8.jpg General view from staircase landing
marazlievskaya-14a-7.jpg General view from staircase landing

Finishing of the walls in vestibule is much more splendid than the sluice’s one. Here panels with symmetrical floral compositions appear and doubled pilasters crowned with cameo medallions with women’s profile images. The turns of the profiles alternate, each cameo is put into the crown of stylized moulded «tree». The walls are separated from the vaulting by textured panels with floral ornament.

Floral ornament in vestibule
marazlievskaya-14a-60.jpg Floral ornament, wide variant
marazlievskaya-14a-59.jpg Floral ornament, narrow variant
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marazlievskaya-14a-85.jpg Floral ornament in the curve of the corner.

Pilasters
marazlievskaya-14a-98.jpg Pilasters and the wall surface in between
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marazlievskaya-14a-81.jpg Decoration of the lower part of pilaster
marazlievskaya-14a-55.jpg Decoration of the lower part of pilaster
marazlievskaya-14a-86.jpg Decoration of the lower part of pilaster, detail

Cameos
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Vaulting
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General view

The vaulting is alike the vaulting of sluice and arch in terms of composition. In the long axis of vestibule, in front of each other a big window with original sash is located (it is above the room described above in the bay window), and also there is a pompous richly decorated arch which marks the entrance to the apartment of Mendelevych, following a niche with three doors (one of the window aperture, central one, is closed).

Arch of the entrance in the first floor apartment
marazlievskaya-14a-6.jpg General view
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marazlievskaya-14a-80.jpg Cupola of the encased door aperture
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marazlievskaya-14a-19.jpg Floral ornament in the niche behind the arch
marazlievskaya-14a-102.jpg Door in the niche (some probability of authenticity exists)

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The window of the vestibule

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Parquet on the landing of the first floor

In vestibule original parquet is preserved, the walls of the ground floor are covered with wooden panels; the decoration of the walls and handrails were well preserved, and sculptural finishing was cleared from a big amount of paint from different times due to restoring. However on the background of it, the fact of losing the mentioned above doors and the paintings supposedly completed the decoration in the entrance hall as well as picturesque panels remains quite sad.

In comparison with interior decoration of the main wing, the ones inside the yard are decorated with restraint. During the examination of the entrance hall of the left side wing simple eclectic handrails with ordinary ornament were found.

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Handrails of left side wing

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Left side wing, fragment of facade

From the side of yard the wall finishing of a main wing is quite restrained too, however richer than in side ones. Moreover the main wing is more complicated than the others the central part is singularized by risalit, and on the level of the first floor the mentioned above bay window is located, its corbels are decorated with the floral ornament.

Yard facade
marazlievskaya-14a-34.jpg General view
marazlievskaya-14a-42.jpg A view from the wing window

Bay window
marazlievskaya-14a-36.jpg General view
marazlievskaya-14a-37.jpg General view
marazlievskaya-14a-40.jpg Corbels

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Authentic balcony handrails from the yard side

The bay window overhangs just above the arch of the passway, in front of which in the yard a small sculpture is located. It shows a boy who hugs the pike. Probably it used to be a fountain or a spring.

Fountain-sculpture
marazlievskaya-14a-39.jpg General view
marazlievskaya-14a-1.jpg
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Like in several previous buildings of Linetskiy, the corners between the wings are marked by the rounded risalit that makes impact on the shape of the rooms inside them. Both risalits are decorated on the level of the second floor with the classic streaming ornament, known as «Cyclamen» (Russian «Lash of the whip») Based on the well-known namesake embroidery of G. Obrist, this motif became in fact a calling card of Art Nouveau.

marazlievskaya-14a-119.jpg «Lash of the whip» between the windows of risalit

References and archives

«Architects of Odessa». V. Pilyavskiy
«Architecture of Odessa. Style and time». V. Pilyavskiy
«Buildings, construction, monuments of Odessa and their architects». V. Pilyavskiy
Article about the house in the blog Antique

Authors

Alexandr Levitsky, art director, photograph and colourist
Dmitriy Shamatazhy, photographer and editor
Oleg Krepostniak, editor
Valeriia Arnaud, translator
Marina Tomenko, editor

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