Casa Terni-Smolars
The Trieste building most often cited as the local Liberty masterpiece after Casa Bartoli: Romeo Depaoli’s 1906 block exposed on three sides, with Rathmann’s sculptural programme running the corner and a 1994 restoration that brought back the stone surfaces.
At a glance
Casa Terni-Smolars stands at Via Dante 6, exposed on three sides where Via Dante meets Via Mazzini and Via San Nicolò. Romeo Depaoli designed it in 1906 for cavalier Augusto Terni. The building took its current name from the Smolars stationery shop, founded by Costanza Carniel Smolars, which opened on the ground floor of the corner of Via Mazzini and Via Dante. The 1994–95 facade restoration by Enrico Colosimo brought back the original stone surfaces.
Key facts
- Architect: Romeo Depaoli
- Client: Cavalier Augusto Terni
- Name origin: Smolars stationery shop (Costanza Carniel Smolars)
- Completed: 1906
- Address: Via Dante Alighieri 6, 34121 Trieste
- Style: Liberty
- Sculptor: Romeo Rathmann
- Restoration: 1994–95, Enrico Colosimo
- GPS: 45.6505, 13.7735
History
Depaoli organised the three-sided block into three distinct volumes — one central, slightly recessed, two lateral — tied together by an alternation of recessed and projecting elements: small columns, terraces, pilasters and lesenes. Romeo Rathmann produced the sculptural programme: two female statues flank the large circular window on the second floor above the main entrance; the roof carries further sculptural groups in the same hand. Friezes with floral motifs, stone medallions, leonine protomes, shields and curled cartouches run the façades; a top-floor loggia is crowned by two cupolas.
What you see
This is the Trieste building most often cited as the local Liberty masterpiece after Casa Bartoli. Depaoli is the Vienna-trained counterpart Fabiani would not be — slightly later, slightly more decorative, more committed to figural sculpture and less to Wagner-school austerity. Each of the three elevations answers a different street; the composition only makes full sense when you have walked all three sides. The 1994–95 restoration by Enrico Colosimo returned the stone surfaces to their original condition after decades of urban weathering.
Practical information
- Access: Commercial-residential; exterior free at any time
- How to visit: Walk all three sides — Via Dante, Via Mazzini, Via San Nicolò — to read the complete sculptural programme
- Time needed: 15–20 minutes
Getting there
Via Dante is in Borgo Teresiano, the Liberty-dense residential and banking grid north of Piazza della Borsa. From Casa Bartoli (Piazza della Borsa 7), walk north-east along Via San Nicolò for 3 minutes.
Nearby
- Casa Bartoli (Max Fabiani, 1905) — 200 m south-west, Piazza della Borsa 7
- Casa Polacco (Romeo Depaoli, 1909) — 200 m west, Corso Italia 22
- Palazzo della Banca di Praga (Costaperaria + Polívka, 1914) — 300 m north-west, Via Roma 7
Sources
- Beniculturali.comune.trieste.it: Casa Terni-Smolars — Depaoli 1906, Augusto Terni, Rathmann, restoration 1994–95
- Wikimedia Commons: Casa Terni-Smolars photo, Geobia, CC BY-SA 4.0
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