Development of the Street
Present-day Stepan Bandera Street, known as Sapieha Street until 1992, became one of Lviv’s principal development corridors in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Following the construction of this major avenue, prestigious apartment houses in the Art Nouveau style were erected along its length. House No. 6 was built in 1908–1909 as part of a unified residential ensemble at the corner of the former Sapieha and Shashkevych streets, designed by the architectural bureau of Ivan Levynskyi.
Who Were the Owners?
The building was commissioned by entrepreneurs Alfred and Juliusz Elster as a rental apartment house. It was designed by architect Ivan Levynskyi, one of the leading figures of Lviv Art Nouveau, whose work shaped much of the city’s early twentieth-century architectural identity. Today, the building is protected as a local architectural monument (Protection No. 4034-Lv).
What Does the Building Look Like?
The building is a monumental four-storey apartment house designed in the Late Art Nouveau style. Its architecture is distinguished by restrained geometric decoration typical of the final phase of Lviv Art Nouveau. Unlike earlier examples with abundant floral ornamentation, the façade is decorated with stylised garlands, elegant stucco details, and prominent bay windows. The impressive corner composition gives the building a strong presence within the surrounding streetscape.
Interesting Facts
House No. 6 was designed together with the neighbouring buildings at 2 and 4 Stepan Bandera Street and 2 and 4 Shashkevych Square as a unified architectural ensemble. This group of buildings is regarded as one of the finest examples of Late Art Nouveau in Lviv, illustrating the transition from flowing floral ornamentation to a more restrained geometric aesthetic.
What Is It Used for Today?
The building continues to serve primarily as a residential property, while the ground floor accommodates commercial premises. More than a century after its construction, it remains an important component of the historic architectural ensemble of Stepan Bandera Street.
ources:
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Architecture of Lviv: Time and Styles. XIII—XXI Centuries / M. Bevz, Yu. Biriulov, Yu. Bohdanova, et al. — Lviv: Center of Europe, 2008. — 720 pages.
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Encyclopedia of Lviv / Edited by A. Kozytskyi and I. Pidkova. — Lviv: Litopys, 2007–2010. — Volumes 1–3.
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Ilko Lemko, V. Mykhalyk, H. Behljarov. “Bandera Street” // 1243 Streets of Lviv (1939–2009). — Lviv: Apriori, 2009. — Pages 78–80.
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Ulyana Shchevyova. “Artistic Paintings in the Decoration Program of Entrance Spaces of Residential Buildings in Eastern Galicia at the End of the 19th – First Third of the 20th Century” // Bulletin of the Lviv National Academy of Arts. — 2019. — No. 42. — Pages 79–87.