Formation of the Street
Stepana Bandery Street is one of Lviv’s most important thoroughfares, connecting the central part of the city with its western districts. The street began to take shape in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, during a period of rapid expansion beyond Lviv’s historic core.
Originally, the street was named 3 Maja (Third of May) in honor of the Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791, and kept this name until 1939. During the interwar period, it was one of the most prestigious streets in Lviv. Educational institutions — including the Polytechnic School (now Lviv Polytechnic National University) — administrative offices, and representative residential buildings were located here.
During the Soviet era, the street was first renamed Dzerzhynskoho Street, and in 1991 it received its current name, in honor of Stepan Bandera, the leader of the Ukrainian nationalist movement.
The street’s route followed key transportation lines, including a railway connecting the Main Train Station with the city center and newly developing neighborhoods such as Klepariv and Zamarstyniv. From the outset, it was designed as a wide urban boulevard with a tram line and a tree-lined median.
Builders and Style
This residential building (1908) is part of the perimeter development along the street. It was built at the expense of the owner Bronisław Lonszam de Bérier. The design was created by the builder Stanisław Dec.
What Does the Building Look Like?
Built in the Secession style, the building is three stories tall with a basement level. It has an L-shaped layout, constructed of brick and plastered. The internal layout is sectional. The symmetrical composition of the main façade is disrupted by an entrance portal offset to the right. The ground and basement floors are emphasized by linear rustication. On the second and third floors, balconies protrude from the center, supported by sculpted brackets and enclosed with wrought-iron railings in the Secession style. Between the first and second, as well as between the second and third floors, there are profiled string courses. Beneath the string course above the second floor, a frieze with a meander pattern is located. The building is topped with a profiled cornice featuring stylized corbels and an attic with two dormers, adorned with stucco garlands. The upper parts of the cornice corbels are separated by a row of Ionic elements, while their lower parts extend downward to the level of the third-floor windows, above which floral Secession-style ornamentation forms an arched pattern.
What’s Here Now?
Today, the building remains a residential property.
Sources:
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Architecture of Lviv: Time and Styles. 13th–21st Centuries / M. Bevz, Yu. Biryulov, 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. — Vols. 1–3.
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Ilko Lemko, V. Mykhalyk, H. Behliarov. “Bandery Street” // 1243 Streets of Lviv (1939–2009). — Lviv: Apriori, 2009. — Pp. 78–80.
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Ulyana Shcheviova. “Artistic Wall Paintings in Entrance Halls of Residential Buildings in Eastern Galicia from the Late 19th to the First Third of the 20th Century” // Bulletin of the Lviv National Academy of Arts. — 2019. — No. 42. — Pp. 79–87.