Skolas Rīgas bulvāru lokā 19. gadsimta otrajā pusē
Schools on Riga's Ring of Boulevards During the 2nd Half of the 20th Century

Summary/Abstract: A significant number of educational institutions was built on the newly created ring of boulevards in Riga after the demolition of the historical fortifications in the 2nd half of the 19th century. This article provides a systematic review and analysis of the buildings of this period based on their construction history, façade description and planning with references to analogies and sources of inspiration from European architectural history. The first buildings were those of the Riga Polytechnic Institute and Realgymnasium. Both featured the round arch style (Rundbogenstil) that was considered appropriate for educational institutions at the time. Buildings erected in the 1860s were derived from the architecture of Hanover and a school project was designed especially for Riga (1859) by the architect Ludwig Debo, the long-standing lecturer at the Hanover Polytechnic School. Although the Riga Polytechnic Institute and Realgymnasium were designed and built simultaneously, the arrangement of their façades and planning show different solutions, used concurrently during the following decades. Riga Polytechnic Institute was designed by G.F.A. Hilbig and initially built with the longitudinal façade facing the boulevard; its façades were of yellow brick combined with red-brown terracotta décor and bands of violet-glazed bricks. The Realgymnasium designed by the City Chief Architect Johann Daniel Felsko was intended as a cubic block with four inner yards and façades with plastered rustication. The planning principle with inner yards devised for educational institutions was used for the Realschule (arch. J. D. Felsko) and Orthodox Priests’ Seminary building (arch. Heinrich Scheel) in the late 1870s. Riga school projects demonstrate that architectonic solutions were often conditioned by several circumstances (available financing, the building plot, the number of classrooms intended, etc.). Buildings designed by Johann Baumann in the 1860s – 1870s, like the Lomonosov Gymnasium and the Alexander Gymnasium differ both with regard to façade solutions and planning configuration. In the 1880s Reinhold Schmaeling was the Chief Architect of Riga. He combined raw brick with Neo-Renaissance architectonic elements and decorative motifs in his school façades. Schmaeling planned the City Elementary School and City Girls’ Gymnasium with classrooms and cabinets facing the boulevard and a long corridor on the yard side. Since the late 1880s, educational institutions were of large dimensions consisting of several blocks (such as the Kaiser Peter I Realschule) that used the building plot to its maximum effect. This construction principle survived also into the early 20th century. Schools in the ring of boulevards were designed and built by local architects. Although each of them had their own professional style, they followed the change of neo-styles and technological innovations brought by the epoch.

• Details
• Contents