Institute of Art History of the Latvian Academy of Art Anna Ancāne ...

uilding with a symmetrical façade composition, large windows and
lavishly decorated portal. In 1679 the penitentiary (Zuchthaus) was also
built; it demonstrated a similar type of public building on a smaller scale.
Since the 1670s massive building activity of large storehouses, often in
the city centre, was on the rise. No regulations on this issue were passed;
as a result, storehouses often ended up next to dwelling houses. Either the
gable or the cornice of storehouses faced the street; both types were
equally common in Riga. Storehouses of the rich merchants stood out by
their representative façade solutions with the natural stone finish and
sculpturally decorated portals. Extensions of the main facades were
extremely wide-spread, housing shops and taverns; this influenced the
urban space. In the late 17 th century, detached rows of shops also
appeared along with the built-in shops, often next to the main entrance
roads of the city.
IV. TYPES OF DWELLING HOUSES IN RIGA DURING THE 2 ND
HALF OF THE 17 TH CENTURY
IV. 1. Innovations in the construction of dwelling houses and general
description
Three main types of dwelling houses have resulted from the research:
a) side-gabled houses with the side of a gabled roof facing the street; b)
front-gabled houses with the gable facing the street; c) combined
intermediate forms in the space between ramparts after 1689. About the
mid-century a balance between the side-gabled and front-gabled buildings
is present, but the two types are sometimes difficult to take apart, as
buildings at street corners could have both facades equally elaborated.
Among the average buildings there are examples not fitting in the
previous period but not yet complying with the new building type. The
building at 10 Laipu Street (drawing from 1650) illustrated the possible
transformations of various building types on the border of two epochs. On
the one hand, the plan depended on the location of the building plot; on
the other hand, aesthetic considerations were significant as well.
The transition process from the old structure of buildings to the new one
is related to the changes brought by the Swedish rule in politics and
economy as well as the overall flourishing of art and architecture in
Northern Europe. Riga was considerably influenced by the architecture of
Stockholm’s noble classes, but the major innovations came to Riga’s
architecture from direct contacts with the Netherlands and Northern
Germany. With the spread of classical trends, locally conservative traits
were also retained. The fire of 1677 marked a turning point in the
developmental dynamics of dwelling house architecture: construction
activity boomed and the new principles of side-gabled houses were
implemented. The second major fire broke out in the space between
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