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House of Aleksandra Radzvickienė

Kaunas, Lithuania
Laisvės al. 2-10 Large.jpeg
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By Monika Pociūtė, 2023

Before the house was built on the plot at Laisvės 2, there were two wooden dwellings and a warehouse. Therefore, what would happen next to these structures triggered a debate before the construction started. Furthermore, the location of the plot, which is next to the park, also added to the subject of the discussion.

The head of the private construction section demanded that the block of apartments should not exceed four storeys and that it should be built in line with the park gates. The City Building Commission, which considered the project, decided that it was acceptable in principle but that the roof must be tiled, and the wooden houses must be demolished when at least a part of the construction has been completed. Furthermore, the axis of the central part must be aligned with the axis of Trakai Street, which is on the right side of the plot. However, there were some complaints regarding the construction of a 4-storey building which would block the park and, in addition, it would contradict the silhouette profiles of the houses on Laisvės Avenue.

The owner of the house did not agree to start building on the right-hand side (because the plot is not hers alone, but also her son's, who owns the right-hand side), nor did she agree to demolish the wooden house because it was in a good enough condition compared to the other houses. However, she agreed to fulfil the commission's requirements by moving the house back from the park by about 18 metres (to the park's gate line), leaving over 270 square metres of unbuildable space.The appeals of the owner were effective on the instructions of the Minister; therefore, the building permit was granted on 23 March 1939. On 21 November, construction was already completed. The one-storey wooden hut remained undemolished.

The block of apartments was designed, and the construction was supervised by the architect Karolis Reisons, who was a famous architect at the time. It has a brick construction with a tiled roof. While there is a ground floor and three floors on the west axis of the building, on the east axis, there is a semi-basement/ground floor and four floors on top. The fourth floor only contains a loft at one end (by the park) which gives an emphasis to the west end of the building. Furthermore, there is a three-story high niche, which contains a vase. It was specifically designed this way by the architect since the building is the last one on the street, and it demonstrates the completion of the row of houses. The building has seven apartments and a caretaker's flat (29 rooms and 8 kitchens).

Today, the building is still used for residential purposes.

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