One of Riga's best-known attractions is its Art Nouveau townhouses. The greatest concentration of them can be found along Strēlnieku and Alberta Streets, northeast of the old town. Just a block away (at Pulkveža Brieža 2), there is an equally ornate, but very different building. Its shimmering brick façade is one of the most interesting Polish features in the Latvian capital.

History of the building

Florian Wyganowski bought the plot of land at what was then known as 2 Wygonowa Street (German: Weidendamm, Russian: Выгонная дамба) from Baroness von Manteuffel between 1892 and 1893. It is not known whether any buildings had been located there before . The new owner could therefore have continued with the construction already started, or possibly incorporated the existing buildings into a completely new project. There is no clear answer to this question, as the file with the documentation of the property (kept in the Latvian Historical Archives) has not yet been found. A metal flag with the date 1893 above the central risalit of the façade indicates when the work was completed . The family coat of arms, inscribed in the gable of the right-hand risalit, also testifies to the noble origin of the owner.

From 1893 onwards, the building served Florian Wyganowski , who was born in 1854 in Kotra near Skidlo (now Belarus). In 1872, he took up engineering studies at the Riga Polytechnic, and after graduating, he became active in the field of architecture. One of the engineer's earlier major projects was the Roman Catholic church in Viļaka. The owner of the house at 2 Vygonova Street used the building both as a flat and a place of work. Indeed, in the following years Wyganowski's technical office operated here; some of the premises were also rented out. Looking through the press of the time, we come across, for example, an advertisement for the Wein-Lager Jaeger & Co. shop, which in 1898 was located at this very address.

The architect's thriving office ceased operations quite suddenly. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact date here, but it disappeared from official records around 1909 . This fact is probably linked to the death of Wyganowski's father and the engineer's return to the family estate, which he probably managed until the end of his life. Between 1911 and 1912, the Wygonowa tenement house was eventually sold to the Pohle family of factory owners. Wyganowski himself was found in Kotra by the war, and the last mention of him dates from around 1915. On the other hand, from the obituary of his daughter Zofia published in 1921, we learn that Florian was already dead by this time.

The company's headquarters and showcase

Florian Vyganovsky erected several townhouses in Riga , e.g. in the current streets: Emīlijas Benjamiņas 7A, Timoteja 1, Jeruzalemes 5 or Brīvības 206. Against their background, his own house definitely stands out for the richness of the forms used. Attention is drawn to the composition of the façade : dissected by densely positioned windows, dynamised by the introduction of slightly protruding risalits of varying widths, with striking balconies supported by massive profiled crocuses (supporting elements). This asymmetry and the variation in the degree of protrusion of the individual parts of the building determine its distinct spatial character. This composition is perfectly matched by the material used for the facade and the details. A characteristic feature of Wyganowski's designs is the use of unplastered brick in at least two colour variants. These colour combinations served the architect, among other things, to emphasise divisions or to develop friezes and window frames.

The similarity of the forms described above to those found in Wyganowski's other (especially sacral) projects was not accidental. This is because the tenement was a showcase for the company and a presentation of the office's capabilities in designing architecture with similar aesthetics. Florian Wyganowski offered his clients comprehensive services. From designs and cost estimates, to the execution and supervision of the works, to the supply of all materials. In this context, it is worth noting the preserved floor in the staircase of the building. An identical one can be found in the Church of St Francis in Riga (also designed by Vyganovsky). It is likely that floors of this type were one of the many products offered by the architect's technical office.

In the workshop of Eng. Wyganowski

A source of information on the realities of working in the workshop in question is the memoirs of Jan Szczepkowski (1878-1964) . The young Cracovian artist accepted a position as artistic manager at Wyganowski's company in 1900. He described his first impressions of taking up the post as follows: "an engineer appeared [...] tall, slim, with a short-shorn beard. A dry, bony face, small, wandering eyes [...]. A downstairs workshop with a large kitchen cooker, on which glue was brewing in a huge boiler, and plaster and glue moulds lay on the floor. In a second large room, workers were beating concrete into plaster negatives. I was taken aback. "In what material do you make architectural parts and sculptures?" - I asked. "As you can see, in concrete ; a mixture of cement and gravel, which gives these prefabricated pieces a noble texture." My legs bent under me. "You don't re-cast sculptures in stone?" - I asked. "Very rarely [...] we avoid these materials. They are too expensive for our clients'."

The above question was the reason for the quick dissolution of the collaboration. Szczepkowski spoke disdainfully of Wyganowski's work. He wrote: "the banality of the conventionalism of the long-vanished forms demanded by the scabby studio bosses, the acquisitive ones who live by exploiting the working people, bosses who stink of the filth of trash, cheapness, and tributes devoid of creative endeavour". It is easy to understand why working in an office on Wygonowa Street was such a disappointment for the young graduate of Krakow's Academy of Fine Arts. Nevertheless, from today's perspective, it is worth looking at the achievements of the firm with a more favourable eye. For Wyganowski ran an extremely modern company. It offered its clients buildings adapted to their financial possibilities, comprehensively designed and executed, and at the same time fitting in with the tastes that were common at the turn of the century. The building located today at Pulkveža Brieža 2 is a material testimony to the forging of such methods of architectural "production".