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Architecture of Riga
Capturing urban profile and scenic beauty of Rīga, capital of Latvia. Only my personal photos are on display.

02/08/2025

Riga.
As the sun dipped behind the Daugava, Riga whispered its evening secrets in colors of fire and shadow.
Bridges became silhouettes, spires reached for the fading light, and the city reflected itself in still waters.
In these moments, time slows—Riga feels infinite.

24/07/2025

Stabu iela.

Nestled in the heart of Rīga, this majestic 1911 edifice rises with baroque grace and a stoic elegance that whispers of a bygone era. Its warm ochre façade is adorned with regal pilasters, sculpted caryatids, and ornamental balustrades—each detail a chapter in the building’s silent story.

Above the arched windows and wrought iron gates, time has etched its signature in plaster: “1911”—a proud marker of its birth at the cusp of two centuries. The expressive stone faces, weathered yet dignified, seem to watch over the street below, as if guarding memories held within.

This is not just architecture; it is Riga’s soul carved in sandstone. A place where history lives not in museums, but in the walls that still breathe, the doors that still creak, and the stories that still echo.

07/07/2025

Elizabetes iela 7 in Riga is a striking red-brick apartment building constructed in 1898, designed by architect Hermanis Otto Hilbigs. It was originally built as the von Ertzdorff-Kupffer house and remains a rare example of exposed red-brick residential architecture in the city center—a bold move in an era dominated by plastered façades and decorative stucco.

The façade’s warm red tone is accentuated by its clear structural rhythm—vertical pilasters and classical cornice lines. But what truly sets this building apart are its remarkable sculptural window frames. Each opening is crowned with a unique relief composition, blending human figures and floral ornamentation with expressive depth. These details are almost unseen elsewhere in Riga, especially on buildings of this function and period.

Today, the building is more than just a preserved façade—it is also home to .lv , a forward-thinking architecture studio whose work explores form, material, and function across contemporary projects in Latvia and beyond. Their presence ensures that this historic house remains a site of architectural creativity, not just memory.

23/06/2025

Elizabetes iela

🔹 Built in 1899–1900, desegned by Karl Johann Felsko — one of Riga’s foremost masters of 19th‑century eclecticism. His rich façade compositions grace multiple corners of the city, and this building is a prime example .

🔹 A harmonious blend of styles — Renaissance-inspired pediments, Baroque turrets, Empire-era pilasters, and even early traces of Art Nouveau detailing unite through a restrained yellow-and-white palette. Almost every sculptural element survived restoration, preserving Felsko’s vibrant vision .

🔹 Addressed to Empress Elizabeth — Elizabetes Street was named for Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna (wife of Alexander I). The historic name was restored in 1991 after Soviet-era renaming .

🔹 Heart of the “Quiet Centre” — Though overshadowed by Art Nouveau’s flamboyant icons nearby (like Elizabetes 10b by Mikhail Eisenstein), No. 37 stands as a refined precursor — a late 19th‑century statement of elegance before the Jugendstil explosion .

🔹 A living building today — Now a well-maintained residential and commercial property, it houses apartments, boutiques, and offices. The historic façade, complete with sculpted finials and balconies, remains impressively intact.

19/12/2024

Bastejkalns.

Beautiful view of Old Riga from the Bastion Hill. In summer these views are hidden by dense foliage, but now is a unique time of year when the snow has not yet fallen and all the leaves have gone and you can see details that are usually hidden from view. It is especially beautiful to look at the objects of the old town from a small elevation, which allows you to see particularly unique and beautiful views of the city.

15/10/2024

Artilērijas iela

A beautiful view of Riga's inner courtyards bathed in the morning sun.
It's fascinating how an ordinary and seemingly plain picture can present itself if you look at it from a slightly different angle.

16/08/2024

Aspazijas Bulvāris

I managed to take this picture recently, when I went to the construction site I am involved in as an architect.
I was struck by the interesting juxtaposition of buildings from different eras next to each other. The last building belongs to the so-called Stalinist architecture, as it was built in the 1950s. Even then, the architects respected the existing buildings and they merged into a single ensemble.

The geometry of this type is very favourable, combining the converging horizon lines, as well as the colour scheme.

13/08/2024

Skolas iela.

One highly unusual example of how much a building's courtyard can hide. The site is located in an extremely dense perimeter development, resulting in the famous well courtyards, which are completely surrounded by buildings.
It is difficult to convey the sensation of being in this place. It is both clastrophobic and incredibly free, especially when you look up at the clouds flying overhead.

Often the courtyards are left in the background, when all the creativity of the author goes into creating an interesting and ornate facade. This is clearly not the case here. From the outside the building is built in the style of National Romanticism, while inside, instead of boring monotonous cladding we see a whole world of details and beautiful elements.

Not to mention the atmosphere, which in places like this you can practically cut with a knife. Just now you were on a noisy and lively street and a few steps away you are standing in the middle of the quiet, monumental walls of tranquillity.

05/10/2023

Čaka x Lāčplēša iela

View of the intersection of Čaka and Lāčplēša streets. The corner building in the centre of the composition was built in 1913 to the design of the famous architect Eižens Laube, the author of the project and the previous post, whose building is opposite this one.

The building was constructed as a rental apartment building with the commercial function on the ground floors. The unique feature of this building lies in its monolithic façade composed of similar elements creating an almost continuous sequence of window elements elegantly culminating in a rounded corner accent. A rather simple but powerful architectural statement.

It is also interesting to note that from ground level the roof of the building is not visible and gives the impression that it is a flat-roofed house, which was an extremely bold and modern solution for a building of that time. The dark colour of the facade is also not typical for Riga streets of that time. By all accounts, this building was a very unusual element of the urban landscape of its time.

02/08/2023

Old Rīga

Couple atmospheric shots of the Old Riga. These are some of my favourite views in the Old city.

20/04/2023

Elizabetes iela.

Four storey masonry apartment house, built in 1904, designed by architect Konstantīns Pēkšēns.
The building is an elegant Art Nouveau accent in the eclectic development of the outer perimeter of the Boulevard Ring. The strongly articulated volume is crowned by a series of gables, their contours stylised in German Renaissance forms, while the surfaces are filled with decorative bricks in an Art Nouveau ornamental style. Similar bricks are also made in the spaces between the openings. The different arrangements of the window openings on each floor correspond to the different sizes and layouts of the apartments.
A characteristic feature of the building is the absence of an entrance at the corner, despite all indications that it should have been there

22/01/2023

A. Čaka iela.

Is there a better pastime than devoting a free day on the weekend to meditating through the medium of drawing. This may not be the most exciting content for you, but in wintertime thoughts are directed at slightly different things and going outdoors comes with a lot of challenge. Not to mention meeting all the complicated shooting standards I've come up with for myself which are rather difficult to meet during the winter season. Drawing, on the other hand, is something that allows the brain to relax and immerse itself in the process. It's very therapeutic and good for the mind and consciousness.

As for building it is located on one of the main streets of the city. It is neatly integrated into the surrounding buildings, apart from the parasitism of modern additions on one side. I'll definitely follow up with a full post about this building complex when it's more pleasant outdoors.

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