Guide through Alberta street

Jugendstil is the German name for modernism.

Modernism spread out around the globe quite fast between the 19th and 20th centuries. Another name for it was “Art-Nouveau” or the new taste. It’s a combination of various art schools and directions, united by the desire of abandoning the previous era and forming a new vision and language in architecture and art.

In architecture, jugendstil is distinguished by extravagance, complicated decorative elements and ornaments. That is the main reason why Alberta street stands out among others. Most of the houses here are designed by Mikhail Eisenstein – one of the most important architects when it comes to jugendstil in Riga. Worth mentioning that he’s also the father of director – Sergei Eisenstein.

House Nr. 1

House Nr. 1 is located on the crossroads of Alberta and Antonijas streets. It was designed by architects Friedrich Scheffel and Heinrich Schell in 1901. This house represents the transferring of styles and holds characteristics of both – modernism and classicism. It was also quite recently restored in 2009. 

In different times, this house has been the home of famous personalities like latvian writer Zenta Mauriņa and father of Jelena Bulgakova – Sergei Markovich Nurenberg.

Today it holds 20 exclusive flats with 6-7 rooms and an area of 130 to 210 square meters each. If you’re lucky enough, it’s possible to rent them.

House Nr. 2a

Built in 1906 and designed by the project of Mikhail Eisenstein, house nr. 2a became also the last work of this famous architect. Interestingly enough, this house has a dummy floor and it was created in order to make more space for decorative facade. This also made it possible to maintain the principle of parity between facades on the same street.

From 1909 to 1915 Isiah Berlin – the famous philosopher lived here. For a while there was also a school for obstetricians and a maternity clinic located here.

House Nr. 3

Interestingly enough, nobody really knows in what year and by whom this house was constructed. Regardless, currently this is where the Russian embassy in Latvia is located at.

House Nr. 4

Mikhail Eisenstein finished designing this house in 1904 and it was for a good friend of his – Andrey Lebedinsky who was a very wealthy man, serving as deputy chairman of the provincial court. Facade of the house is what represents the extremes of his fortunes the best. Symmetrical and with a serpentine balcony as well as beautiful bas-relief in the center of the building. It has three medusas portrayed on, hinting at the well-known heroic story from ancient mythology.

Over the years this house has hosted important personas like latvian opera singer – Victor Scott and the very first president of Latvian Academy of science – Paulis Lejiņš.

House Nr. 5

The oldest house on Alberta street. It was built in 1900 by the project of architect Friedrich Scheffel. After the Eastern front war, the widow of famous journalist and public figure – Sergey Markovich Nurenberg was living here, often accompanied by her younger daughter – Elena Bulgakova.

House Nr. 6

Another house on this street that’s owned by Andrey Pavlovich Lebedinsky (He also owned house Nr. 4). It was finished in 1904 by the design of none other than architect Eisenstein. A bright feature distinguishing this house from others is an unusual combination of red bricks and bright green balconies.

House Nr. 7

Designed by architect Hermann Otto Hilbig, this house differs from all the other houses on this street quite a lot. It’s built in the style of neo baroque, which is a mixture of neo gothic, neo rokoko and even a little bit of neo renaissance.

House Nr. 8

Construction of the eighth house on Alberta street was finished in 1903. This was in fact the first house Eisenstein designed in this fashionable neighborhood of Riga. 

Locals started to call this house by the name of coffin. Obviously that’s just because of the Egyptian themed facade.

During his time, Rihards Bērziņš – the first director of Latvian informative agency “LETA” was living here.

House Nr. 9

By the project of latvian architect Konstantīns Pēkšēns, this house was finished in the year of 1901. Until the early 1930s this was home of the jewish kindergarten by the name of Alla Levis. 

Composition of this facade has been done in a very restrained and conservative style. On the very top of the building there’re heads of women sculpted right next to heads of the devil.

House Nr. 10

This house was designed by local architect – Pauls Mandelštams. 

The main decoration of the facade is shaped in the form of a medical symbol – Rod of asclepius. Explicitly hinting at what the house was for in the beginning of last century. This is where the faculty of comparative anatomy of the University of Latvia was located in the 1930s. Now however, this house is used for faculty of geography and geodesy.

House Nr. 11

Built in 1908 by Eižens Laube, this house is built in the style of Finnish romanticism (also called northern modernism). In the early 1920s this house was given to Soviet Russia for trading needs. This is also where Vladimir Vladimirovich Majakovskiy was reading a lecture during his visit in Riga.

House Nr. 12

This house was constructed by a team of two architects – Pēkšēns and Laube. They designed it in the style of Latvian romanticism as an answer to northern modernism. That is why there are multiple unusual elements here, like bizarre images of animals, trees and even a tower on the corner of it.

This was the home of famous latvian artist Jānis Rozentāls, finnish opera singer Ella Forsel and also Rūdolfs Blaumanis, latvian playwright and novelist.

House Nr. 13

Completing the composition of the street is house nr. 13. It was built in 1904, in the hottest point of the Russian-Japanese war. The news of the Russian fleet’s defeat is also reflected in the design of this building. Silhouettes of crying and worried women are symbolizing the general atmosphere in the country at the time. Center of the facade is decorated with the sun god – Apollo. According to the architect, he is ensuring peace and tranquility for residents of this house. 

In the beginning of 1920s, the political police department of Latvia was resigning in this house. Currently it’s being used to host embassies of Belgium and Ireland.