Five buildings on Alberta Street near the Museum and constructed from 1903 until 1906 are unique showpieces for the ornamental decorative trend of Art Nouveau. All five of them stand out for their particularly extravagant use in the finishes of the façade fronting the street, displaying rich, stylized floral motifs, masks, figural representation of sphinxes, lions, snakes, flowers and various fantastic creatures and gargoyles, curved and rectangular profiling, circles, other geometric shapes and so on. All the buildings: in Alberta ielā 8, Alberta ielā 4, 6 Alberta ielā 2 and 2a, have analogous “footprint” in the shape of a “U”. Staircases and apartments also have comparatively abundant decorative finish. Bigger rooms in all apartments boast reliefs in the cove ceilings and ornamental vignettes that frame the ceiling plafond’s. The vignettes for the most part incorporate the typical Art Nouveau sinuous curving lines and stylized floral and mask motifs.
Leo Pole’s Apartment House in Alberta iela 8, designed by civil engineer Mikhail Eisenstein in 1903 is an expressive example of eclectically decorative Art Nouveau and a wealth of façade design. The most ornate part of the building is the central projection, which is reminiscent of a tree. At the top of the tree is a lion’s head to symbolise strength and power. The façade is rhythmically split up with pilasters, each decorated with expressive mascarons of women’s heads, thus representing beauty. The windows are decorated with decorative reliefs featuring the masks of frightening monsters. These were supposed to protect the peace of those who lived in the building. The façade of the structure is made of blue brick and light plastering.
Text material using Dr.arch Agrita Tipāne, Dr.arch Jānis Krastiņš studies. Photo by Margarita Fedina.
