Strēlnieku iela 4a
Round the corner from Alberta iela, Eisenstein went taller and bolder still.
At a glance
The apartment building at Strēlnieku iela 4a, just around the corner from Alberta iela, is another of Mikhail Eisenstein’s richly decorated facades in central Riga. Built in 1905, it is a tall, vertically emphatic block whose front is covered in the sculptural ornament that defines the decorative stage of Riga Art Nouveau. It belongs to the same dense cluster of Eisenstein buildings that makes this corner of the city a magnet for visitors, and it is a protected Latvian cultural monument.
Key facts
- Architect: Mikhail Eisenstein
- Built: 1905
- Address: Strēlnieku iela 4a, central Riga
- Style: Art Nouveau, Eclectic (decorative) stage
- Type: multi-storey apartment building
- Setting: beside the Alberta iela ensemble
- Status: Latvian cultural monument (No. 6658)
History
Strēlnieku iela 4a was completed in 1905, at the peak of Riga’s Art Nouveau years. The surrounding Quiet Centre was then being filled with new apartment blocks for the city’s growing middle class, and Mikhail Eisenstein was among the architects most in demand for facades that would make a building stand out.
Eisenstein, an engineer and the father of the film director Sergei Eisenstein, worked almost entirely in the decorative idiom, treating each front as an independent composition. Strēlnieku iela 4a belongs to the same short, intense burst of work that produced his Alberta iela and Elizabetes iela facades.
The building remains in residential use and is protected on the Latvian register of cultural monuments.
What you see
The facade emphasises height, drawing the eye up a tall, narrow front banded and crowned with sculptural decoration. Masks and figural ornament punctuate the upper storeys, in the same theatrical manner as Eisenstein’s nearby buildings but pushed to a more vertical composition.
Seen together with Alberta iela a few steps away, it shows how Eisenstein varied a single decorative language from building to building, so that no two of his fronts read quite the same.
Practical information
- A residential building; the facade is what is open to view.
- Combine it with Alberta iela, immediately adjacent.
- Time needed: 10 minutes, or longer with the whole quarter.
Getting there
Strēlnieku iela meets Alberta iela in the Quiet Centre of Riga, north-east of the old town. It is a short walk from the centre, with tram and bus stops nearby.
Nearby
- Alberta iela and its run of Eisenstein facades.
- The Riga Art Nouveau Museum.
- Elizabetes iela 10b.
Sources
- Wikipedia, “Art Nouveau architecture in Riga”.
- State Inspection for Heritage Protection of Latvia (cultural monument register).
- Riga Art Nouveau Centre / Museum.
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