Ivan Levynskyi
| Ivan Levynskyi | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
6 July 1851 Dolyna |
| Died | 4 July 1919 Lviv |
| Nationality | Ukrainian |
| Occupation | Architect |
Ivan Ivanovich Levynskyi (Ukrainian: Іва́н Іва́нович Леви́нський, * July 6, 1851, Dolyna, now Ivano-Frankivsk region - † July 4, 1919, Lviv) was a Ukrainian architect, teacher, businessman and public figure.
Ivan Levynskyi was born 1851 in Dolyna, in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, as the son of a folk school director. The family moved to Stryi after the death of his father 1859 and later to Lviv so he could attend the Lviv Real School, which offered a technical and applied sciences curriculum. Later he graduated with honours from the Lviv Technical Academy. It was this technical education, combined with his father’s love of folk art, which would lead Levinsky to start his own artistic pottery company Soon after graduating in 1875, Levinsky partnered with Julian Zachariewicz to buy land in northwest Lviv (Kastelivka). In 1888, he began building his factory on Kzhyzhova St. (now 58 Chuprynky St.) and by the next year he opened his seminal Ivan Levinsky Tile Stoves Factory. At the beginning, it was a small enterprise – only 2 floors and 5 employees. Levinsky was interested in the development of pottery and bought equipment and a special furnace for making tiles, ceramic dishes, and the like. Soon after he hired professional potters and ceramists and by 1894 his company featured 25 employees making tiles, bricks, vases, sculptures, and other building materials. Clay was imported from nearby Glynsk (near Zhovka) and Oleyov (near Zolochiv), as well as premium coal clay from the Czech Republic. Just 20 years later, his company would become one of the most successful enterprises in Halychyna, employing over 800 Leopolitans.
Levynskyi became a professor of architecture at the Lviv Polytechnical Institute in 1903. At the same time he was building his factory into one of Galicia’s premiere businesses, Levinsky continued to work as an architect and constructor. You can still see many of his spectacular architectural works, especially in buildings on Chuprynky St. (11, 11a, 60, 103), Kotlyarevskogo St. (25), and Bandery St. (4, 6). His Ivan Levinskogo architectural bureau helped design and build many of the most famous buildings in Galicia – including such eminent masterpieces as Lviv’s main train station, Hotel George, and the Opera & Ballet Theatre. Working together with such esteemed architects as H. Helmer and F. Fellner, they also designed the Galicia Pavilion at the World Exhibition in Paris, the Chamber of Commerce, and many of Lviv’s hotels and banks. It is difficult to move around Lviv without noticing something that Levinsky and his companies had their hands in designing. It’s important to remember that Levinsky was celebrated even in his own time. For example, his company was awarded the Imperial Russian Technical Society’s gold medal at an international exhibition in Odessa in 1911.
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Wikipedia