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House of Kazimieras Škėma

Kaunas, Lithuania
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L. Mykolaicio nuotrauka, 2018 m.

The first design for the plot on V.Putvinskio 60 was prepared by Klaudijus Duš-Dušauskas on 28th September 1932. However, the owner changed his mind regarding working with this architect and asked for a new design from Bronius Elsbergas. According to the statement by the first architect of the house, in the new design, the walls were completely changed and extended the design by adding one more storey. Under these conditions, the structure was built in 1933.

In the design of the building, the architect Elsbergas highlighted the modernist tendencies that dominated the Lithuanian architecture of the 1930s. The building consists of five floors (the ground floor and four floors on top), a basement and a half-floor at the roof. The plan of the building is an inverted T-shape spread over half the plot. Like in the other examples of Kaunas modernism, the building also consists of two staircases: The main staircases and the ones the servants use. In every floor, there are two luxurious apartments.

When the front façade of the building is analysed, the first element which catches the attention is the massive four-storey bay window, which connects to curved balconies on one side, and curves to the building on the other side with a corner window. The three vertical gradual sections achieve the transition between the bay window and the balconies, which turns into a cornice at the eave. On the bay windows' top floor, there are also circle elements. Therefore, all these different details create an asymmetrical impression on the façade. The main entrance and the entrance to the courtyard are highlighted on the ground floor by three horizontal lintels. The rear façade is inexpressive and straightforward, with the main elements being the balconies. The house connects to the Antanas Gylis Hospital building on the west side. The neighbour plot, which is on the eastern side of the building, had a wooden house when it was first built. However, the house was demolished in the Soviet era and replaced by a square.

In the interwar period, the Swedish and Czechoslovak embassies were also located in this apartment block. Today, it is used for residential purposes.

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