Formation of the Street
Ivana Bohuna Street (known as Mickiewicza Street until 1946, and also referred to as Skladowa Street during the interwar period) was formed in the late 19th – early 20th century on the northern outskirts of the historic Zamarstyniv suburb. It emerged as part of the planned development on former manor lands that separated urban buildings from rural fields. The street’s layout was part of a broader expansion toward the present-day Levandivskyi Bridge and the area of the former military hospital.
After World War II, with these territories incorporated into the city of Lviv, the street was renamed in honor of Ivan Bohun — a Cossack military leader of the mid-17th century. This renaming was part of the city’s postwar process of de-Russification and decolonization of place names.
Due to its location — between Zamarsynivska and Khmelnytskoho Streets — the street quickly integrated into the residential and industrial fabric of northern Lviv. It became a transportation route for small factories, warehouses, and residential buildings constructed mainly in the 1950s–1980s.
Builders and Style
The apartment building was constructed in 1906–1907. The design was developed at the architectural bureau of Ivan Levynskyi, likely by Lev Levynskyi. This three-story building has an L-shaped footprint: a main street-facing wing with a perpendicular rear wing (oficyna). Together with the neighboring building at No. 7, it forms a paired group in a T-shaped configuration. The façade is highlighted by a horseshoe-shaped attic gable that defines its presence in the streetscape. The style is Secession (Art Nouveau). The building was significantly altered in later years.
What Does the Building Look Like?
The building stands on a rectangular plot and follows an L-shaped layout, with a front wing and a rear wing set at a right angle. The façade is aligned with the street’s regulation line and faces west. It is a three-story building with a gable roof.
The neighboring building (No. 7) mirrors the layout, forming a symmetrical pair. Together, Nos. 5 and 7 make up a T-shaped block with a shared ventilation shaft inserted between their firewalls. The courtyard of building No. 5 opens into a large communal yard enclosed by Bohuna, Chuprynky, Nechuya-Levytskoho, and Kotliarevskoho Streets.
The façade is accented by a central projection (risalit) topped with a horseshoe-shaped attic gable and an oval attic window. The composition features pilaster strips (lesenes), balconies, small roof cornices with brackets, and rusticated bands. Windows are rectangular and symmetrically arranged. The entrance is placed at the center of the façade, near the right edge of the risalit, with a vestibule and staircase aligned perpendicularly to the street.
Each floor contains two apartments. The layout reflects a sectional floor plan, typical of early 20th-century apartment buildings.
Interesting Facts
The façade includes majolica friezes between the third-floor windows. The design incorporates grapevine motifs, as well as smaller ceramic inserts under the cornice and on the attic gable. Additional reliefs on the façade include garlands, wreaths, and abstract-geometric ornamental forms. Decorative elements also feature wrought-iron balcony railings and brackets. The stairwell includes ceramic floor tiling and decorative iron stair railings.
What’s There Now?
As of April 2025, the building remains residential and continues to serve both housing and commercial purposes.
Sources
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State Archive of the Lviv Region (DALO) 2/2/698
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Yuriy Biryulov, “The Villas of Architects”, Halytska Brama, 2007, No. 3–4, p. 22
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J. Sosnowski & A. Zachariewicz, [publication], Kraków, 1913, p. 16 (listed as item IV)
