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Neo-Historicism in Croatian Architecture of the First Half of the 20th Century

Historicist tendencies in the architecture of the majority of (Central) European countries reappeared in the decade before the outbreak of the First World War as a response to the Vienna Secession and remained dominant until the mid- 1920s, or in certain countries, until the end of the decade. They shaped a complex stylistic phenomenon, or a conglomerate of styles, which might be called Neo-Historicism, Second or Modern Historicism. There was a certain degree of continuity between the 19th-century Historicism and the early-20th-century Neo- Historicism since elements of historical styles were continually present in architecture, even during the full bloom of the Vienna Secession. However, around 1910 they became dominant again, though in modernized forms. The focus of this paper will be placed on various manifestations of Neo-Historicism in Croatian architecture in the first decades of the 20th century. In the years before the war and simultaneously with their European counterparts, Croatian architects such as Viktor Kovačić, Vjekoslav Bastl, Dioniz Sunko, Ignjat Fischer, Hugo Ehrlich, and Rudolf Lubynski, abandoned the Vienna Secession and introduced into their designs historical motifs. Neo-Historicist features were mostly used in the years immediately after the First World War. It was a time of an intense search for the most appropriate architectural style, so a variety of styles continued to characterize Croatian architecture. Modernized Neo-Classicism, Neo-Biedermeier and even Neo- Baroque and Neo-Medieval styles were most widespread. Along with these Neo-Historicist styles several Croatian architects were also influenced by Art Deco, German Expressionism and Czech Cubism. After a long period of crisis caused by the world war and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the 1920s saw a propulsive economic development, especially the growth of the financial sector. Political and economic circumstances in the newly formed country, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, encouraged numerous commercial and public building projects in the Croatian capital, Zagreb. Some of them, such as V. Kovačić's Stock Exchange Palace (1923-27), R. Lubynski's Central Office for the Insurance of Workers (1925-28), I. Fischer's City Savings Bank (1923-31) or Croatian community centres that Aleksandar Freundenreich built all over the Croatian ethnic territory show that modernized Neo-Classicism turned into a dominant style in public and commercial architecture. While public and commercial buildings were marked predominantly with Neo-Classicist features, church architecture showed a growing influence of the modernized Neo-Byzantine style. The latter style appeared more due to ideological and political than aesthetic reasons because it served as a reference to the period of Croatian political independence and architects believed they could capture particular genius loci through its use. Such public reminiscing about sovereignty represented a political message and a wish for Croatian statehood recognition. V. Kovačić’s Church of St. Blasius in Zagreb (1910-13) inaugurated the modernized Neo- Byzantine style which, owing to architect Stjepan Podhorski’s work, became widespread in the Croatian ethnic territory in the 1920s and 1930s. Compared to other Central European countries, historicist tendencies were present in Croatian architecture for a longer period. In 1928, architect A. Freudenreich claimed that this particularity stemmed from the specific mentality of the people living in this territory. „We southerners love to have a bit of pathos and exterior forms, we love a bit of sentimentality and tradition!“ Nevertheless, the mid-1920s saw the majority of Croatian architects gradually simplify or even abandon facade decoration thereby taking a turn towards International Style. After almost two decades of predominant Neo-Historicism, early examples of radical modernism appeared in both architectural theory and practice first in Zagreb and then in the rest of Croatia (and Yugoslavia). In the 1930s, Modernism became the predominant style in Croatian architecture.

20th Century Architecture, Neo-Historicism, Neo-Classicism, Neo-Byzantine Style, Byzantine Revival, Viktor Kovačić, Vjekoslav Bastl, Dioniz Sunko, Ignjat Fischer, Hugo Ehrlich, Rudolf Lubynski, Stjepan Podhorsky, Ivan Meštrović, Viktor Axmann, Vladoje Aksmanović

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