A five-apartment house owned by Taubė Elšteinienė was one of the most elegant and the most unique examples of Kaunas modernism. Although we can see characteristic elements of that in that period in the architecture (narrow, vertically lined up windows, an arch), in its style the building clearly stands out from the architectural landscape of the city. Ascetic cubic shape and symmetric facade, emphasised by the dark, horizontally stripped corner part, provides the building with a clear modernist character. The draft was supplemented in 1938 by architect M. Zimanas by designing an apartment in the basement and a garage with warehouses in the courtyard. An interesting difference is that in the first draft the house is shown as having two stories with a basement, yet in the 1938 version is shown as having three stories – just as it is today. Thanks to its unusual architecture the building was acknowledged by receiving an award for “the most beautiful facade of a residential house” from Kaunas City Council in 1935.
Vaidas Petrulis