Two-story, three-apartment residential house for Iljinai family was one of the prime examples of modernism in interwar Lithuania not only in Kaunas, but all throughout the country as well. Noteworthy is the free and innovative window arrangement: both corner windows, giving the building a lighter look, and a combination of rounded and circular windows indicate that the windows serve not only as a functional element, but also as an active measure of composition. “On the roof there is a recreational platform with a small orangery (Winter Garden) which can be seen through the glass ceiling of the hall (has not survived)” which was an embodiment of Le Corbusier’s new architectural principals in Lithuanian context. Another fact worth mentioning is fast construction of the object – the draft was approved on 16 January 1933 and on 16 October that same year the house was already completed. However, there was a request to add “reinforced concrete fire staircase” the following year.
Vaidas Petrulis