Vul. Bandery, 47a – residential building ID: 2581

This apartment building was constructed in 1911-1912 on the site of the former Dominican monastery under a project designed by Artur Schleyen. It features an exquisite interior, a staircase ceiling with a triptych painting "Spring" by A. Rozen and H. Feller. The building is an architectural monument of local significance.

Story

What is now Bandery street appeared first on the site of the road which connected Sokilnytska or Sokolnicka road, today Kopernika street, with the road to Przemyśl, today Horodotska street. In the 1840s, it was called Nowy Świat (Polish for "New World") and later became the main artery of the eponymous neighborhood. In 1886 the street was named in honor of Prince Leon Sapieha, an honorary citizen of Lviv and Marshal of the Galician Diet (Sejm). Repeatedly renamed later, it was called Komsomolska in 1940-1941, Fürstenstrasse in 1941-1944, again Sapiehy in 1944, Stalina in 1944-1961, Myru in 1961-1992, and Bandery since 1992.

The old neighborhood between present-day streets Kyivska and Yefremova had been swampy with multiple lakes, and was traditionally called Bajki. One could access it only via the road where the present-day vul. Hlyboka is — other nearby streets like Yefremova and Konovaltsia were laid only later on a large estate owned by a Dominican monastery. There was a farmstead, fields, and ponds. Some of the latter were used as fish ponds (Melnyk, 2009, 92-94). One can see this on Lviv's plans from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century: on the 1783 plan; 1802 plan; 1872 plan and others. The plot had a conscription number 81 ¼. Once it was parcelled in the early twentieth century, the house at vul. Bandery 47 was one of the multiple apartment houses built there. The old garden got divided into two halves by Yefremova street then; the garden was partially preserved for a while on a square which was named plac Zgody (see the 1905 map).

According to the 1910 map, the monastery building was gone by that time.

In March 1911, a project for the present-day townhouse at vul. Sapiehy 47 was approved, signed by the architect Artur Schleyen and the owner Anna Schwieger (DALO 2/2/4794:21-29). In September 1911, a project to connect the house to the sewerage system was approved. Around this time, the plot was assigned a new conscription number 2071¼. In June 1913, the magistrate received a request for the reconstruction of a window into a door to enter the candy shop (DALO 2/2/4794:3-4). In 1926, there is an announcement in press that the candy shop workshop was being rented out (Wiek Nowy, 1926). Mikołaj Śnihur’s candy shop is mentioned in the 1928 list of Lviv candy shops (Księga adresowa Polski, 1928).

In July 1928, the owner of the building, Samuel Ecker had the sewerage system reconstructed and the façade gutters modernized. The project was designed by Piotr Gilewicz, and magistrate approved it (DALO 2/2/4794:5).

In spring 1937, the municipal Building department requested the owners to repair the façades, the staircase, the courtyard paving, and the fence between the courtyards (DALO 2/2/4794:6-9). The owners, Samson Hirsch Brück and Maier Grünner, argued that the façade was, on the contrary, in such a good condition that it "adorned ul. Sapiehy with its respectable appearance", and therefore requested that the requirement to repair the façade be cancelled. The department ignored this statement i and continued to demand that all repairs be carried out, threatening the owners with a fine or even arrest (DALO 2/2/4794:12-14).

During the Soviet period, the building housed a dairy shop, then the café Akademiya and a grocery store (Lemko, 2009, 80).

Architecture

The house was originally built as an apartment house, whose premises were rented out to tenants. Later, a candy shop was set up on the first floor. Till today, the house has retained its residential function. In 2016, a three-window room on the fisrt floor and the basement to the left of the entrance was occupied by a café, while a two-window room to the right of the entrance was used as a shop.

The building is a row building surrounded by other similar houses erected in the late Secession style. Together with the neighboring houses at vul. Bandery 47 and at vul. Yefremova 4, it shares a large internal courtyard. The four-story and two-tract building is covered with a gable roof. Located on a sloping plot, the courtyard is 2.2 m lower than the street level, which made it possible to make the wing five stories high. The main façade is 15.05 m wide. According to the architect's drawings (1911), the first floor height (between the floors) is 4.7 m, the second floor height is 3.6 m, the third floor height is 3.5 m, the fourth floor height is 3.4 m, and the basements height is 2.2 m and 3 m.

The six-window façade is symmetrical, with a four-window central avant-corps in the centre. It is designed in the Rational (late) Secession style with elements of Neo-Classicism. The ground floor is lined with plank rustication and separated by a cornice; the planes of the second and third floors are united by stylized pilasters. The fourth floor is separated by a cornice and is resembles an attic; this visually lowers the height of the building, which is topped with a wide cornice and a polygonal shaped attic.

People

Stanisław Abl — merchant, tenant of the house in 1913
Apolinary Bendych — assistant at the Lviv Polytechnic, tenant of the hosue in 1913
Emanuel Eck — tenant of the house in 1932 who had phone connection
Samuel Ecker — owner of the building around 1928
H. Feller — artist who co-authored ceiling murals here and in the neighboring house at vul. Yefremova 4
Piotr Gіlewicz — master mason
Samuel Glaser — tenant of the house in 1932
Markus Gottrech — tenant of the house in 1935–1936
Maier Grünner — co-owner of the building around 1937
Samson Hirsch Brück — co-owner of the building around 1937
Paulina Hoffmanowa — tenant of the house in 1932
Maurycy Kroch — an artist; art historian Yuriy Biryulov has mistakingly called him the author of the ceiling murals in this building
Julian Madejewski — an employee, tenant of the house in 1913
WawrzyniecMatyszkiewicz — co-owner of real estate at ul. Sapiehy 47 around 1889–1909 (editor's note from 2025: this information relates to a different plot than that of the monastery)
Wikt. Matyszkiewicz — co-owner of real estate at ul. Sapiehy 47 around 1889–1909 (editor's note from 2025: this information relates to a different plot than that of the monastery)
Salomea Neustein — tenant of the house in 1932
Jakób Ridkes — a 15-year old resident of the house who ran away from home
A. Rozen — artist who co-authored ceiling murals here and in the neighboring house at vul. Yefremova 4
Mik. Śnihur — owner of a candy shop in the building around 1928-1939
Władysław Szaynowski — medical doctor, tenant of the house in 1932
Anna Schwieger — house owner in 1911 who commissioned its construction
Artur Schleyen — architect who designed numerous Secession-style buildings in Lviv including the one at vul. Bandery 47a
S. Varyvoda (Варивода С. Ф.) — tenant of the house in 1949 who had a phone connection

Sources