The gorgeous House of the Blackheads is one of the most striking buildings in Riga, forming a useful landmark as we attempted to navigate the city. I love the ornamental weather vanes and clocks. The Blackheads were German merchants in medieval Latvia, and they certainly must have had a profitable trade to splash out on such an ostentatious headquarters. The current building is actually a reconstruction built in the 1990s, after the original was bombed during the Second World War - so it still looks incredibly new and shiny.
5 comments:
Were they a single family? Or a sort of colony? It sounds like Riga is an interesting place!
Lots of 'wedding cake' deco here. One of those buildings that you can study for quite some time.
So beautiful! Funny... I see a lot of German architecture in these buildings so I wasn't terribly surprised when you mentioned who designed them. GORGEOUS photos, Rachel!
fairytale perfect, aren't they? so lovely
Needs a re-name. Or some Clearasil. :)
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