House Ružić

address: 26 Strossmayerova Street
Period: Historicism
Kind: Immovable material heritage
Century: 19
Year: 1888
Purpose: residental

The house Ružić is one of two high-class houses on Piramida, Sušak, by the author Julije Stanisavljević. It was built in 1888 in historicistic style of early Renaissance.

Julije Stanisavljević was a royal county technical reporter, dubbed by Radmila Matejčić as “the architect with a European taste”. He worked in the second half of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century. One of his works is the Civil Engineering High School (co-author Mato Glavan).

The house Ružić, today enclosed between two roads, used to be above the beach with its two appertaining structures and a boat port. As it was constructed in neo-Renaissance style, it is rich with decorations and indentations. The south façade is opened with balconies/loggias, arched by an Ionian balustrade, providing insolation throughout the day. The north façade consists of two turrets with an indented entrance between them, above which there is a terrace. The east façade is decorated with an oriel window (closed balcony/half-turret) above which there was a cupola originally, which burnt in the 1930s and was never reconstructed.

This luxurious house is the birthplace of the famous Croatian director and composer Lovro von Matačić (1899 – 1985). Matačić was born in an artistic noble family; at the age of eight he moved to Vienna where he received his musical education. Some of his works are the Symphony of Confrontation, the cantata Konjuh planinom, solo songs to the rhymes of R. M. Rilke, and other. He received numerous significant world awards and was the director of the opera in seven European cities. 

Today the house Ružić lost its attraction as it is enclosed between two roads – one that connects the centre of Rijeka with the Adriatic motorway, and the other that connects it to the parts of the city Vežica, Krimeja, Vojak and Trsat. Owing to the traffic load of these roads, its location has become unappreciated and unwanted, so it has been abandoned for years.

After its construction, the family Ružić lived in it until Villa Ružić was built on Pećine. On planning the villa, the architect had to adapt his ddesign according to the valuable furniture that the family had in the house, which was either gotten or inherited by their family.

 

Valorization:

The edifice is not protected as an individual cultural good in the Republic of Croatia Register of Cultural Goods

Tags: houseruzic, historicism