Vul. Patriarkha Dymytriya Yaremy, 28 – residential building ID: 2554

The apartment house was designed by Andrzej Gołąb and built in 1892–1893, commissioned by Jędrzej Dybuś. It features multiple authentic materials and details in its interior, including a stained-glass window with an All-Seeing Eye, and murals.

Story

Before 2022, the street was named Antona Chekhova. It is unclear when it was laid out initially: historians have named either 1885 or 1895 (Melnyk, 2011).

The area looks undeveloped on a 1890 map which is otherwise rather detailed; the street is already present on a 1895 map. Obviously, city maps never reflect the most up-to-date state. On the other hand, the construction records for the building no. 28 include a situation plan from 1892 (DALO 2/3/777). The street is already laid out there, but has no name. So one can assume that the street appeared then. In 1895, the Lviv city council named it in honor of Jan Nepomucen Hoffman, a priest and educator who served as rector of the Jagiellonian University of Krakow and of the Lviv Lyceum in the early nineteenth century, and who was among the founders of a nearby school for the deaf in Lviv. In 1943–1944, the street was renamed Hoffmangasse, in 1944 it briefly returned its previous name before being renamed vul. Antona Chekhova. In 2022, it was renamed Patriarkha Dymytriya Yaremy, in honor of the former head of Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

Older city maps show that there was another house there prior to 1892. It is visible on: 1802 map, 1828 map, 1849 cadastral plan, 1890 map and others. Moreover, some of these maps show that there was also a lake very close. A resident of this house (in 2016) mentioned it had existed — according to him, it was drained and filled in the postwar period, i.e. after 1945. He had not seen it himself, but knew about it from his mother.

 

The house no. 28 was built in 1892–1893. The owner Jędrzej Dybuś submitted the design drawings for approval in September 1892. In August 1893, he reported to the municipal authorities that the contruction was completed and asked for permission to move in (DALO 2/3/777: 2–3). The real estate was marked with the conscription number 367 4/4, and later this building was assigned a separate conscription number 721 4/4. Shortly thereafter, Dybuś decided to built a small one-story gatehouse in the courtyard. Its designs were approved in September 1893 — but it was not built for a while.

As of January 1900, the house owner was Emilia Wczelak. The municipal authorities pushed her to move the caretaker — who resided in a humid basement room with insufficient light and ceiling height — to the gatehouse. Similar appeals were made later to Maria Jasinicka who purchased the house around 1908 (DALO 2/3/777: 9,12,18,38).

In July 1900, Andzej Gołąb asked the magistrate to allow him to divide the plot no. 367 4/4 for further construction of apartment houses (DALO 2/3/777:28). In February 1902, he asked permission to demolish old houses there (DALO 2/3/777:27).

On 24 April 1901, the house no. 28 was connected to the water supply system. The installation was supervised by the engineer Władysław Niemeksza (DALO 2/3/777:10). The document shows that the building had 7 rooms, 6 bathrooms, and 6 kitchens at that time.

In 1904, the building housed the editorial office of the magazine Dzwinok (Дзвôнокъ), a Ukrainian illustrated fortnightly for children and youth. It was published in Lviv in 1890–1914 on the initiative of the Ruthenian Pedagogical Society (Przewodnik po Lwowie, 1904).

The aforementioned Maria Jasinicka owned the house until about 1935. The later owners, according to an address book, were Władysław and Maria Jasieniecki.

Architecture

The house was originally built as an apartment house, where the upper floors were rented out exclusively for residential use. It has retained its residential function till today.

The building is located in the middle of the row housing on the even-numbered side of vul. Patriarkha Dymytriya Yaremy, with its façades designed in the style of Historicism. The house is adjacent to houses 26 and 30, and it borders the plot of the house on vul. Dontsova, 23 from the rear.

The three-story and two-tract square U-shaped building is covered with a gable roof. The main façade is 19 m wide, its wings are 20.08 m deep, the courtyard between the wings is 10.80 m wide. The building’s courtyard is limited on the sides by the side wings of houses 26 and 30 on vul. Patriarkha Dymytriya Yaremy and is shared with the buildings at vul. Dontsova 21-25. The technique of forming a large common courtyard is typical of the development of the area around vul. Kravchuka, vul. Sevastopolska, vul. Patriarkha Dymytriya Yaremy, and vul. Verkhratskoho at the turn of the 20th century.

The building's six-window and three-story façade is almost symmetrical — the entrance is located slightly off the center. To its right, a date is inserted "1893". The façade is designed in a restrained Historicist style which combines Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Baroque motives, typical in Lviv of the time. Its layout has a characteristic rhythm of 1+4+1 window openings, but without pronounced avant-corpses. The façade plane is clean, not overloaded with sculptural and architectural decor.

The interiors, accessible to visitors, are also designed in a Historicist style. Namely, authentic al secco murals survived on the ceilings in the vestibule and the staircase. According to the residents, the walls had been covered with floral motives completely before being whitewashed during the Soviet period.  In the vestibule, there are two identically painted ceilings. The style is close to Mannerism and Baroque; the color palette is based on golden and pink tones, and has some blue inserts against a white background. The ceiling above the staircase has a classic Baroque subject: blue sky with light clouds and flying swallows.

A round staircase window is decorated uniquely, at least for Lviv. It resembles stained glass, but is in fact painted. Inside a circle there is a triangle with a radiant All-Seeing Eye — which is either a symbol for the Holy Trinity, or a principal Masonic symbol.

(Editor's note: this architectural description is a shortened translation. For the full text, see the Ukrainian original).

People

Władysław Dębowski — railway employee (dyurnista kolej.), a resident in 1910.
Jerzy Dunin-Wąsowicz — a resident in 1928.
Jędrzej Dybuś — the house owner around 1892–1900 рр. He owned other real estate around Lviv, e.g. on ul. Kalecza, 10а (conscription. 295а ¼) in 1889.
Stefan Gajewski — doctor, a resident in 1913.
Andrzej Gołąb (1837–1903) — architect and construction entrepreneur. He built numerous apartment houses in the late nineteenth century Lviv, especially in the Lychakiv district.
Emilia Hillich — co-owner of a neigboring house on ul. Piekarska, 25 in 1892.
Marcin Hillich — co-owner of a neigboring house on ul. Piekarska, 25 in 1892.
Marya Hołodyńska — widow of a court councilor, a resident in 1916.
Maria Jasiniсka — doctor, house owner around 1908–1935.
Włodzimierz Jasinicki — lawyer, husband of the house owner .
Antoni Kallus — senior lieutenant  (nadporucznik), a resident in 1910.
Władysław Niemieksza — engineer who oversaw the installation of water supply in the building.  
Marya Nowosiadłowska — obstetrician, a resident in 1913.
Eugeniusz Nowotny — assistant at the Galician Regional Department, a resident in 1913.
Eugeniusz Oborski — architect whose office was located in this building in 1910.
Adolf Rudner — military captain, a resident in 1913.
Seweryn Ryszkowski — engineer, a resident in 1900.
Alojzy Ruszar — priest, a resident in 1910.
Karol Słoński — post office employee (oficyał poczt.), a resident in 1910.
Stefan Słoński — office assistant, a resident in 1910.
Józef Słoński — railway employee, a resident in 1910.
Kazimierz Strzelbicki — senior councilor at the Lviv magistrate, a resident in 1900.
Walerya Tatomir — teacher, a resident in 1910.
Leon Warmski — law student, a resident in 1910.
Emilia Wczelak — house owner around 1900.
August Wilkosz — retired auditor at the court of law (em. rewid. sąd.), a resident in 1916.

Sources