DOI article:
Tomaszewicz, Agnieszka: Antiquity in residential architecture of Wrocław in the nineteenth century
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51712#0091
Fig. 7. C. Luedecke: Vil-
la Straat in Breslau,
front view, 1863. Dra-
wings collection, Museum
ofArchitecture, Wroclaw,
Poland.
horizontal, three-fold composition. The risalit of the
staircase included the design of the entrance to the
building and a monumental, two-story window which
illuminated the stairs and, indirectly, the central hall
located on the Crossing point of the symmetry axis of
the building plan [Fig. 6], The middle axis of the
building’s front was underlined by a set of three win-
dow and door openings, which were shaped into an
arch on the first floor [Fig. 7]. The composition de-
limited by pilasters, which supported the triangular
jerkinhead, was superceded by a loggia closed top-
wise by a balcony. This motif, reminded by Schinkel,
was populär among Berlin architects in decorating
residential houses around the middle of the Centu-
ry.25 Although Luedecke did not agréé with the strict
and dogmatic classicism of Boetticher and pointed
out that due to the lack of practical experience26 the
use of medieval structures was unjustified, he still
designed the façades of multi-family houses in
a ‘tectonic’ style.
Luedecke designed three-story or four-story mu-
nicipal buildings whose story height gradually de-
creased top-wards. The ground floors of town houses
were in the form of a plinth which supported a wide
entablature, on which higher Stories ‘rested’. The plinth
of the building was ‘reinforced’ by rustication, in nar-
rower town houses the subséquent stories were sup-
ported by pilasters, between which window and door
apertures were designed. The ground floor and the
piano nobile were divided by an entablature whose
comice usually served as a sill for the Windows on the
first floor. The piano nobile was distinguished by
a richer form of classically framed Windows, and in
four-story buildings it was decorated like the subsé-
quent higher story, which balanced the value of the
two middle stories. The last story was divided from
all other stories by a cornice and usually had simpli-
fied décorative forms — above it there was a strong
''ancien ť cornice that closed the whole composition.
Thus, Luedecke shaped the faces of town houses in
25 HAMMER-SCHENK, H.: Neurenaissance in Berlin. Archi-
tekten nach Schinkel: Friedrich Hitzig, Eduard Knoblauch,
Eduard Titz. In: Neorenaissance. Ansprüche an einen Stil(= Mus-
kauer Schriften}. Bad Muskau 2001, Vol. 4, p. 161. In 1884
Straat’s villa was expanded by its new owner, Max Grund.
The cubic body of the building was at that time diversified by
a turret and numerous outbuildings. Until the end of the 19th
Century the villa had been rebuilt many times and in 1940 it
was planned for démolition. The plan, however, has not been
carried out - today the building houses the main office of the
Higher Drama School.
26 LUEDECKE 1859, p. 215.
85
la Straat in Breslau,
front view, 1863. Dra-
wings collection, Museum
ofArchitecture, Wroclaw,
Poland.
horizontal, three-fold composition. The risalit of the
staircase included the design of the entrance to the
building and a monumental, two-story window which
illuminated the stairs and, indirectly, the central hall
located on the Crossing point of the symmetry axis of
the building plan [Fig. 6], The middle axis of the
building’s front was underlined by a set of three win-
dow and door openings, which were shaped into an
arch on the first floor [Fig. 7]. The composition de-
limited by pilasters, which supported the triangular
jerkinhead, was superceded by a loggia closed top-
wise by a balcony. This motif, reminded by Schinkel,
was populär among Berlin architects in decorating
residential houses around the middle of the Centu-
ry.25 Although Luedecke did not agréé with the strict
and dogmatic classicism of Boetticher and pointed
out that due to the lack of practical experience26 the
use of medieval structures was unjustified, he still
designed the façades of multi-family houses in
a ‘tectonic’ style.
Luedecke designed three-story or four-story mu-
nicipal buildings whose story height gradually de-
creased top-wards. The ground floors of town houses
were in the form of a plinth which supported a wide
entablature, on which higher Stories ‘rested’. The plinth
of the building was ‘reinforced’ by rustication, in nar-
rower town houses the subséquent stories were sup-
ported by pilasters, between which window and door
apertures were designed. The ground floor and the
piano nobile were divided by an entablature whose
comice usually served as a sill for the Windows on the
first floor. The piano nobile was distinguished by
a richer form of classically framed Windows, and in
four-story buildings it was decorated like the subsé-
quent higher story, which balanced the value of the
two middle stories. The last story was divided from
all other stories by a cornice and usually had simpli-
fied décorative forms — above it there was a strong
''ancien ť cornice that closed the whole composition.
Thus, Luedecke shaped the faces of town houses in
25 HAMMER-SCHENK, H.: Neurenaissance in Berlin. Archi-
tekten nach Schinkel: Friedrich Hitzig, Eduard Knoblauch,
Eduard Titz. In: Neorenaissance. Ansprüche an einen Stil(= Mus-
kauer Schriften}. Bad Muskau 2001, Vol. 4, p. 161. In 1884
Straat’s villa was expanded by its new owner, Max Grund.
The cubic body of the building was at that time diversified by
a turret and numerous outbuildings. Until the end of the 19th
Century the villa had been rebuilt many times and in 1940 it
was planned for démolition. The plan, however, has not been
carried out - today the building houses the main office of the
Higher Drama School.
26 LUEDECKE 1859, p. 215.
85