Riga Art Nouveau IV: The Perpendicular Style

The fourth (and last!) category of Riga "Art Nouveau" is the Perpendicular or Rational Perpendicular style.

The "pronounced vertical composition of the elevations. . . became [by 1908] the most characteristic features of Riga Art Nouveau."  These perpendicular buildings "found an ideal of rationalism in structural expressiveness.  (Krastins)

Galvin's apartment house with shops.  Brivibas  Iela 57, 1909, J. Alksnis

Krastins:  "A typical Riga rational Art Nouveau building featuring a vigorous vertical pattern of the elevation (the 'Perpendicular Art Nouveau')."  There are a few ornamental details, but the predominant features of the building are the bays and windows.

J. Romans's apartment house, Skolas Iela 32 (at corner of Stabu Iela), 1904, J. Peksens

Krastins:  "Rational Art Nouveau features ornamental work characteristic of the early development of the style."  (This is one that reminds me most of Vienna Secession.)

N. Draudzina-Steinberga's building, Gertrudas Iela 32, 1909-1911, E. Lande.

I don't have as many pictures of these "Perpendicular Art Nouveau" buildings because, frankly, they didn't interest me as much.  Also, there were so many of them, and I don't know enough to distinguish what's good and what's mediocre.  It seems to me the verticality and the rationality are reminiscent of Vienna Secession, though I have no idea of how much direct influence there was.  At any rate, for me, they don't sing of Art Nouveau, as I learned to love it first in Romania--in Timisoara, Targu Mires, and Oradea, where I saw their Hungarian legacy--then in Hungary, most particularly Budapest, as well as also Szeged and Kecskamet; later in Subotica (now in Serbia), as well as Vienna, Krakow, and Prague.

The very last building we saw in Riga is a kind of Art Nouveau fantasy, and it sits in the midst of the more austere neighbors.  It is perpendicular, but it is also a kind of Historicist-Art Nouveau extravaganza.

M. Liepins's apartment house with shops, Blaumana Ielsa 28, 1903, K. Felsko.

It is apparently the only one of Felsko's buildings to have Art Nouveau ornamental elements, including masks, lions heads, and dragons.

Next week we will return to Budapest for a month, and I will have lots to blog about including not only architecture, but also food and music.  And we are planning a few side trips to small cities in Hungary we haven't visited before.  Onwards. . . .

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