Vul. Akademika Bohomoltsia, 11 – residential building ID: 48

This three-storied residential building was constructed in 1905 for Izrael and Salomon Elster as well as for Leon Topf. It was designed in the ornamental Secession (Art Nouveau) style. The building is an architectural monument of local significance (protection number 10). Behind the houses number 9 and 11 the building of the former factory "Elster and Topf" is located. Today the building is occupied by offices.

Story

The building’s plot was formed in 1904, when Bohomoltsia (then Adama Asnyka) street was laid and the area, where an old villa and gardens had been located (its old address was Pańska street 5 or conscription number 508 4/4), was parcelled for housing development. The plot was owned by Klementyna Witosławska, née Bochdan.

The plots of the houses number 9 and 11 were bought by the company "Elster and Topf"; later two residential townhouses were built there, with a paper factory building adjoining them from behind. The project was designed at the architectural bureau of Ivan Levynskyi (Jan Lewiński) and endorsed by the Lviv Magistrate in November of 1904. The construction was completed the following year, and permission to use the factory premises was granted by the Magistrate in January of 1906.

In 1931 the house was owned by Samuel Fränkel. It was in that year that the ceiling in Wiktoria Romanowicz’s apartment became wet repeatedly due to the damage of the roof, which, incidentally, destroyed the painting and was dangerous since it could cause the decay of the attic floor beams.

In the second half of the 1930s the house was owned by Elsa Hahn and later by Elsa Fränkel. It was on the initiative of the former that in 1935 the old galleries of the building were replaced by new concrete ones. A door in a room of the wing was also arranged under a project designed by A. F. Zarański, a licensed constructor. In 1938 the Magistrate repeatedly reminded of the need to repair the house and, especially, its shabby façades. The letters were addressed to lawyer Lejb Hahn, who lived and had his office in the townhouse. He answered, however, that it was not he who owned the house and referred the Magistrate clerks to Elsa Fränkel.

The house has been preserved with some alterations; the façade decor has generally survived. According to the decision of the Lviv Region executive committee dated 5 July 1985, the house is an architectural monument of local significance (protection number 10). It is occupied by offices today.

Architecture

The townhouse is located in the row housing of Bohomoltsia street, its main façade overlooking the green square in the center of the street. It is designed in conjunction with the house number 9 and the factory building located behind it. Due to their architectural solution the two townhouses look as a whole. Generally speaking, these houses are typical examples of the residential townhouses of the first decade of the 20^th century. They are built with the use of modern materials and constructions and with the connection to pipelines and networks. Stylized elements of the Historicism and Secession are combined in their decorative solution.

The building has three stories; it is built of brick and plastered. The basements are covered with Klein vaults; the bridgings between the floors are flat and supported by metal I-beams. The attic floor is wooden. The roof’s wooden structure of rafters and posts was first covered with tin painted dark red; now it is covered with slate plates. Forged metal elements (balcony railing) and stucco are used in the façades décor.

The building is L-shaped in plan and has a small lateral wing.  An entryway leading to the staircase is located on the edge of the main façade. According to the original project, each floor of the house was occupied by one five-room apartment where two rooms overlooked the square and three rooms faced the courtyard. Each apartment contained utility rooms: a kitchen, toilets and a bathroom.

The façade is divided in a manner typical of the Historicism: the ground floor, covered with French rustication, is separated from the upper floors by a bar. The upper floors façades are divided by lesenes. The windows are decorated with stylized trimmings and pediments; there is a stylized Neo-Baroque attic above the wide cornice. Some details have a clearly Secession-style nature: moulded flowers in window trimmings, in the frieze under the crowning cornice, and on the attic, as well as textured surfaces made of plaster on the attics. The gate’s woodwork belongs to the Neoclassicist style.

Today the house is redesigned and adapted for the offices of public prosecutors and the Planning Institute. The reconstructed attic is used; the roof, where some dormers were arranged, has been replaced. The façades have been restored and are in good condition. An authentic staircase with forged metal railing in the Secession style has survived. 

People

A. Kołodziej – a physician who had an office in the building in 1932
A. F. Zarański – a licensed building constructor
Wiktorya Romanowicz – a resident of a 3^rd floor apartment of the house in 1935
E. M. Perelman – a resident of the house in 1940
Elza Fränkel néeHahn –anowner of the house in the 1930s
Zdzisław Bastgen – an owner of the house in 1916 
Izrael Elster – a co-owner of Elster&Topf enterprise
Karol Scheider – лікар, який мав у будинку приймальню (Wiczkowski, 1907, 619).
Klementyna Witosławska née Bochdan – an owner of the building plot
Leib Hahn – a lawyer, resident of the house and of an office here in the 1930s
Leon Topf – a co-owner of Elster&Topf enterprise
M. B. Sapozhnikov – a resident of the house in 1946
Samuel Fränkel – owner of the house in 1931 
Salomon Elster – a co-owner of Elster&Topf enterprise
Tadeusz Höflinger – an owner of the house in the 1930s, a councillor of the  Commerce and Industry Chamber (Informator, 1932; Spis, 1937).
Józef Sztorc – a carpenter, resident of the house in 1910 
Józefa Goldblatt-Kamerling – a director of a private school for girls, who rented some of the house's premises in 1913 for the school's classes
Jakób Bernfeld – a retired trams inspector, resident of the house in 1913
Jan Höflinger – a co-owner of Rucker& Höflinger canned food and chocolade factory in 1932
Jan Kossowicz – a gymnasium (high school) professor, resident of the house in 1913 

Sources