Kotys Oleksandr
The Head of the Cultural Heritage Protection Department of the Lutsk City Council
Kotys Oleksandr
Biography
Architecture of Lutsk interwar modernism
The difference between western and eastern cities in Ukraine is that western interwar modernism was not Soviet. Until the 1950s there was no modernist architecture in the west of Ukraine, and after the war and until the 1950s a Stalin's "Empire" style was popular. The former Volynian Voivodeship was part of Poland in the interwar period, so its architecture developed in the context of Polish modernism.
The construction of modernist buildings in Lutsk began in the late 1920s, from the state gymnasium named after T. Kosciuszko (1929). And during the construction boom in the 1930s all buildings in Lutsk, from public buildings to residential cottages, were built in the style of modernism.
To promote modernism in Lutsk, two years ago I founded the Lutsk Modernism project. I created a Facebook page and started to post photos and articles, explaining why this architecture is so interesting, where it came from, who lived in these buildings, and what is the condition of it now. During these two years, I have given public lectures on modernism in five cities and collected material for a book about Lutsk modernism.
On the other hand, the Department of Cultural Heritage Protection works with modernist architecture. There are a few interwar buildings that are architectural landmarks and now we are working on the protection and documentation of several Soviet facilities.
What are the challenges? It is probably a misunderstanding. Even though this architecture is remarkable and speaks for itself, not many people understand and appreciate it. This applies to both the Soviet and our interwar modernist buildings.
Thanks to the promotion and explanation of the aesthetic value of modernist architecture, the people open their eyes, saying, “Actually, I've been walking by these houses for 50 years of my life and I didn't know anything interesting."Therefore the promotion is necessary, and I will continue to do it.
Let me mention a few examples of Lutsk interwar modernism. It is a cinema that was built in 1938. (By the way, 95% of the buildings of interwar modernism in Lutsk were built by local architects). I've already mentioned the first modernist building in Lutsk - the Gymnasium named after Т.Kosciuszko. The architect of this building is Kazimir Toloczko from Warsaw. Another architectural landmark is the Agricultural Union Credit Society. The Main Post Office never altered its purpose. Lattices and windows of the ground floor have not been preserved, therefore this building has lost its significance. As for me, modernism manifests itself in clean lines; pick up the lines, conceal them, - and the building will lose its features. This is a very subtle style.
One of the best-preserved modernist cottages in Lutsk is designed by Serhiy Tymoshenko. (In total, there are up to twenty houses in Lutsk designed by him.) The mentioned above two-family cottage remain a typical example of modernist, mostly two-storey (occasionally three or four storey) residential cottages in Lutsk in the 1930s. Yavoshchuk Street is almost completely built up by these modernist cottages and looks like a street of one of those German cities that were built up during the heyday of modernism.