Here is the building that I live in. My very own Kruschko (I am sure that this spelling is not correct, but the pronunciation would be.) The lower right hand window on the narrow end of the building is my flat's window that looks south. You can another Kruschko immediately behind this one, and in fact, we are behind another one. There are entire neighborhoods of these Soviet-era buildings, and many of them are looking their age. But the tall trees tend to soften the harshness of the drab exteriors, and in all fairness, the flats can be very cozy.
Nearby is a small vest-pocket park where the Russian Orthodox Aleksandr Nevsky Church once stood, if my sources are correct. It was torn down, I think in the '50s. A chapel remains, and it's busy with worshippers going in and out at all hours. This is the back view of the chapel from the park.
Across the street from the University is a streetscape of older buildings. I think that this one houses a lawyer's office (the sign in front reads "Advokat"). I'm smitten with the very Art Nouveau ironwork.
Finally, just a typical streetscape of wonderful nineteenth-century buildings, one after another. All that fancy brickwork! If you click on the photo to make it larger, you might see a small blue and white plaque on the building on the far left. I think that this means that this building is of historic importance. The plaque is issued by the Latvian government, maybe from the Ministry of Cool Old Buildings.
Of course, not all streets look like this; some buildings came down here and there and were replaced with newer ones that are not always sympathetic to what's around them. In particular, Soviet buildings don't fit in very well because they are often out of scale and severely plain Jane, having been put up fast and generally on the cheap. But plenty of older stuff did survive, and the residential neighborhoods are a funky mix of Soviet schlock and Russian-style wooden houses with carved working shutters painted in cheerful colors. And floral patterned sheer curtains are hung in all the windows, but if you've been reading this blog you already knew that.
Ok, so I was prepared for the floral curtains (natch!), but I hadn't realized before now that they're sheer. A whole other ballgame! BTW: quite familiar with the mix of pre-socialist and post-socialist architecture, as you might imagine. What I found was that the latter actually had more regular -- and generally larger -- spaces for living in than the former, even though those were super cute. In LJU, we lived in a very modern building that was a little stylish (if blocky), but very sizable and comfortable. The socialist-era housing was sometimes not in the best shape, as if there was some ambivalence there. We can compare notes down the line.
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