Alfred Zachariewicz's architecture beyond the contemporary borders of Poland

Lviv is a magical city in which one can easily become enchanted. This is thanks to its leading, extremely talented architects, including Alfred Zachariewicz - with his designs for the first Art Nouveau buildings in Lviv, he defined the direction in which the architecture of the Galician capital at the beginning of the 20th century "followed". What is worth knowing about this artist and his achievements? We answer.

Alfred Zachariewicz (1871-1937) was a Polish architect and son of Julian Zachariewicz (also a well-known architect), who decided to associate his life with the Galician metropolis. He studied at the Faculty of Building at the Lviv Polytechnic School and at the Vienna Polytechnic. When he obtained his building licence, he and Jozef Sosnkowski founded their own enterprise, which popularised the use of reinforced concrete , an innovative building material at the time, in Galician architecture.

The architect created designs for both residential buildings and public buildings . Which architectural styles were particularly close to Zachariewicz's heart? As it turns out, he most often worked in the aforementioned Art Nouveau style , good examples of which include the building at 15 Nechuya-Levytskoho Street and the now defunct Mikolasch Passage . Inspired by the ideas of Otto Wagner, the well-known Austrian town planner and an important representative of Art Nouveau, he also incorporated the design of the Maria Szczepańska House .

Some of the buildings designed by Zachariewicz, are also in the spirit of Neoclassicism , such as the building of the Lviv Regional Prosecutor's Office . Later, the architect was also interested in modernism - this style is represented by the building designed by him, Teodor Bałaban , located on the corner of 7 Walowa St. and 21 Halytska St. In the meantime, he was also inspired by the Zakopane and Hutsul aesthetics and combined them with Art Nouveau - the best evidence of this is the house on 2 Metrologiczna St.

Speaking of Zachariewicz's achievements, we cannot forget the Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the PKO building in Lviv . His plans were used as the basis for the waiting rooms of the city's Main Railway Station, as well as the Lviv Bank on Wałowa Street.