Street Formation
Pekarska Street was established along the route of a road built near the city’s 17th-century fortifications. By 1618, the street had 44 houses, mostly owned by Poles and Ruthenians. In the 18th century, the street was gradually built up, and by the early 20th century, it had become an industrial center of Lviv.
In 1844, a public bathhouse opened on the street, and in 1914, the Krakivskyi Hotel was built. In the mid-1930s, the street became a site of protests against Polish authorities. In the 1960s, an asphalt road was laid, and in 2013 and 2020–2021, reconstructions were carried out, upgrading the infrastructure with bike lanes and new sidewalks.
Builders and Styles
The building at 69 Pekarska Street, constructed between 1912 and 1914 on the initiative of Professor Volodymyr Lukasevych, is one of the earliest examples of modernist architecture in the classicist style.
Who Owns It?
The building was originally constructed as a dermatological clinical hospital.
What Does the Building Look Like?
Built between 1912 and 1914 at the initiative of Professor Volodymyr Lukasevych, the building at 69 Pekarska Street is an early example of modernist architecture executed in a classicist style. Its design reflects a return to Palladian motifs, marking a reaction against the Art Nouveau (Secession) style. Along with other landmark buildings in Lviv from the 1910s, it illustrates the development of Neoclassicism as part of broader European cultural trends.
Located across from the main building of the Medical University, the structure is slightly offset to the east and set back from the building line. It is a three-story plastered brick building with a basement and an attic level. The floor plan is a long rectangle with three projecting wings on the main façade, creating a symmetrical composition. The central entrance is located in the middle wing. Staircases with two flights are placed in the side wings. The building has a corridor layout with rooms on both sides.
Key compositional elements include risalit wings capped with mansard roofs. The side wings have three axes, while the smaller central risalit is topped with a triangular pediment and a dormer window. The entrance is highlighted by a portico with Ionic columns and a pediment. Columned loggias are located in the inner parts of the side wings. The windows are rectangular: on the basement level with segmental arches, and on the attic level arched, decorated with profiled surrounds and keystones. The vertical rhythm is emphasized by rusticated lesenes on the upper floors. The lower level features linear rustication and is separated from the upper floors by a profiled molding.
A postwar extension on the west side at the height of the upper floors disrupts the original symmetry. On the south side, there is an entrance with stairs, marked by a projecting segmental pediment. The rear façade has an asymmetrical composition, with an eastern risalit topped by a triangular pediment. The decoration of the walls and windows on the back façade matches the style of the main façade.
Original elements that have survived include the entrance door leaf and the staircase railings. The interiors have been modified. In front of the main façade is a landscaped courtyard with a metal fence separating it from the street. The rear yard is paved with cobblestones, and a new modern building has been added on the west side.
Interesting Facts
The building at 69 Pekarska Street first appeared on Lviv city maps in 1917. By 1936, the building’s layout had reached its current form, including the western extension, while a small utility structure stood in the rear courtyard. A 1937 photograph shows that the western wing was originally a one-story structure; the upper floors were added during the Soviet era.
The dermatological clinic was initiated by Professor Volodymyr Lukasevych in 1912 and was completed in the summer of 1914. During the Russian occupation, it was used as an epidemic hospital, and after the Austro-Hungarian forces returned, it became a venereal hospital. In 1920, thanks to Lukasevych’s efforts, the clinic officially opened and became one of the most modern in Poland.
After World War II, the clinic relocated, and the building was taken over by the administration of the Medical Institute. Today, it houses administrative and academic offices of the Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University.
What Is It Now?
Today, the building serves as the main administrative building of the Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University.
Sources and Literature
The History of Lviv. A Brief Outline. — Lviv: Lviv University Publishing House, 1956.
Grzybowski A., Jabłońska S. Lwów School of Dermatology at the time of the Austro-Hungary monarchy, Clinics in Dermatology, 2011.
Medycyna, przyroda i technika we Lwowie. Krótki zarys, Polska Gazeta Lekarska, 1937.
Volodymyr Lukasevych, Wiki.Ormianie – Free Encyclopedia of Armenians in Poland.
Maps of Lviv, “City Maps” project by the Center for Urban History of East Central Europe.
Lviv. A Guidebook — Lviv: Book and Magazine Publishing House, 1955.
Melnyk Ihor, Lviv’s Streets and Buildings, Walls, Hidden Corners, Suburbs and Other Features of the Royal Capital of Galicia — Lviv: Center of Europe, 2008.