Vul. Pohulianka, 34 – residential building ID: 2690

The villa was originally built in 1923. In 1938, it was thoroughly reconstructed and looks vividly Functionalist in style thereafter. Its pre-WW2 owner, Jan Kolbuszewski, had a metalwork workshop located in the building's semi-basement. The villa is recognized as an architectural monument of local significance.

Story

The villa is located in a zone where private houses prevail; the area is historically called Pohulianka (Pohulanka). Its plot is the last one on the odd side of the street — and it borders on the park and recreational fabric of the urban landscape. The house is detached, and located 6.0 m away from the street's frontage line.

The house is a result of a 1938 reconstruction; an older building was originally erected by Jan  

The existing building at vul. Pohulianka 43 dates back to 1938; however, it is the result of the reconstruction of an older house built in 1923 by Jan and Bronisława Kolbuszewski. The designer of that original house is unknown. The building — and the way it looked — is featured on the 1936 design drawings. It was a single story house with a high semi-basement, it had and two entrances — one leading to the semi-basement, and another one leading the first floor via an external staircase. The house was covered with a hipped tin roof, illuminated and ventilated by rectangular dormer windows located on the northern façade window axes (facing vul. Vakhnianyna).

In 1934, architect Albert Kornblüth performed some reconstruction works: residential semi-basement was turned into Jan Kolbuszewski's metalwork workshop and warehouse.

In 1938, the Kolbuszewskis had a thorough reconstruction of the entire house. It was carried out according to the designs by an architect Korolczuk (1936), an employee of Stefan Makowski's bureau. The single-family house was expanded: a staircase volume and a second floor were added on the northern side, the open staircase was dismantled, and a wide terrace supported by a pillar was built over the semi-basement. After this reconstruction, the Kolbuszewskis' villa acquired the distinctive stylistic features of the Functionalist style prevailing at the time: a combination of volumes of different heights, an open terrace on pillars, smooth façades surfaced with noble plaster, corrugated surfacing of the semi-basement floor, cornices and differently shaped window openings, which enliven the façades, and a characteristic round lunette window.

In 1938, an outbuilding measuring 4.0m x 6.5m was built on the Kolbuszewskis' plot, northwest of the villa, with two rooms: a wood store and a tool store. This building was designed by an architect Leon Karczewski.

After the Second World War, the villa was nationalized and transferred to communal ownership; three apartments were arranged in it.

In 1984, the lower western part of the house was extended to the level of the cornice of the upper part. This addition distorted the original architectural design. In the second half of the twentieth century, the outbuilding was also rebuilt, with an increase in its area and the addition of a gate.

By the resolution of the Lviv Regional Council's Executive Committee No. 671 dated 13 December 1991, the house at vul. Pohulianka, 43 was included in the Register of monuments of architecture and urban planning of local significance as a "villa" under the protection number 2180-M. According to the order of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine No. 14 dated 18 January 2021, the property was included in the State register of immovable monuments of Ukraine under the protection number 5135-Lv as an architectural monument.

In 2019, a part of the villa's land plot with the outbuilding was separated from the property and assigned a new cadastral number. Today, the villa functions as a three-apartment residential building.

Architecture

According to the functional typology, this is a single-family residential building. Its overall dimensions are 9.35 x 15.40 m; the height of the house up to the roof ridge is 10.35 m; the building area is 144.0 m²; the total area is 283.9 m²; the construction volume is 1595 m³.

This Functionalist-style house has two floors, the ground floor turning into the semi-basement; it is built of brick and plastered with cement noble mortar, interspersed with mica. The building is covered with a low hipped tin roof. The façades are smooth, with a protruding semi-basement and a simple cornice, decorated with corrugations typical of Functionalism; the façades are painted with horizontal lines along the bottom and top of the windows. The entrances to the building are located on the east and west façades.

The layout of the façades is asymmetrical, with rectangular window openings of various sizes — one-pane, two-pane, and three-pane ones; the northern façade facing vul. Vakhnianyna has a projecting staircase accentuated by a wide terrace, while the façade facing vul. Pohulianka is emphasised by a narrow balcony above the projecting part and a four-pane window opening.

The fine division of the wooden window carpentry, the door carpentry and the balcony and terrace parapets made of simple forged metal belts emphasise the villa's functionalist architectural design.

The house has a sectional layout, with three apartments, one on each floor. The staircase is located in a separate volume in the middle of the house's northern (rear) façade. The concrete staircase has simple railings made of forged metal belts; the landings are paved with ceramic tiles in a checkerboard pattern. The semi-basement ceilings have brick segmental vaults, while the floors have flat ceilings.

The building retains the stylistic elements of the 1938 decoration: wooden doors faced with veneer, windows with stylish brass fittings.

People

Jan Kolbuszewski — the original owner of the villa before 1939; he owned a business called Armametal and produced armature and tubes for water-, gas-, and steamworks.
Bronisława Kolbuszewska — Jan Kolbuszowski's wife, owner of the villa.
Albert/Aba Kornblüth — architect who designed a metal workshop in the semi-basement here in 1934.
Korolczuk — architect employed by Stefan Makowski, he designed the major reconstruction of the villa.
Leon Karczewski— architect who designed an outhouse here.
Stefan Makowski — engineer and founder of the technical bureau which reconstructed the villa in 1938.

Sources