This house was built by Józef Awin, a famous Lviv architect, for himself and his family. His design bureau was also located here. The facade looks quite decorated, considering the austerity of modernism, and has kept the authentic reddish plaster. The windows of the second floor are framed with triangular cornices. The facade is decorated with two small allegorical sculptures in Art Deco style: “Fortune” and “Architecture” (with the house model in motion). They were most likely made by Józef Starzyński, who worked with Awin on another project as well − the construction of the medical university building Collegium Pharmaceuticum. Other sources report that the sculptures could have been made by a minor sculptor Bernard Kober. The entrance to the house begins with a large wrought-iron gate through which the architect’s car went. Further, there was a driveway and a garage. On the right, there was the beginning of the exit to the apartments. According to the woman who lives in Józef Awin’s apartment nothing authentic has been left there, not even the entrance door to the apartment: “In Soviet times, there were communal apartments here. There was only one five-room apartment on each floor, which became communal. They were all distributed among factory workers. The last communal apartment will move out of here in a few days.” And she adds, “Awin lived on the fourth floor. He rented out the other floors. There were servants’ apartments on the ground floor.” One can see that the entrance definitely isn’t in the best condition. Not a single authentic door has survived; there is only a brass handrail on the solidly cast staircase. 

Myroslava Liakhovych