No. 31 Atmodas Street in the 1930s

No. 31 Atmodas Street in the 1930s

No. 31 Atmodas Street in 2014

At the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, the property of Johann Daniel Ewerts, the former Registrator of the Aizpute District Court and the Archivist's of Piltene Land Collegium (Landrat), Secretary of the Province, was located here. Von Heyking, Notary of Piltene District, also lived here with his family and servants.

Ewerts died in 1826, and in 1831 the property was bought at auction for 3,500 Silver Rubles by Wilhelmine von Drachenfels, who sold it to Baroness Julia von der Osten-Sacken in 1836, and in 1852 it was bought by the Head of the Administrative Court (state official) Julius von Seefeld (1802-1878) for 4,850 Rubles.

The house built in 1841 of boulders with a tiled roof, on the ground floor had 4 living rooms, 2 shops, 2 large basements and 2 kitchens. On the second - wooden - floor there were 8 warm (probably heated) and 2 cold rooms with "English style kitchens". The ends under roof and attic were in half-timber (fachwerk) style. There were 5 warm and 1 cold room with a large kitchen. In addition, there was also a back yard building made of boulders, covered with a tiled roof, which had 3 warm and 1 cold room with a kitchen. There was also a wooden horse stable, a carriage storage and a barn covered with a tiled roof, as well as a wood shed covered with a shingle roof. More than 299 fruit trees grew in the fruit and vegetable garden, which was about 2.5 Lofstelle big, and then there was a fenced paddock of more than 1 Lofstelle size.

In 1858, the merchant of the 3rd Guild, Moses Bernitz, already had to pay 6,000 Rubles for this property. In 1863 he owned 2 living houses here, where 7 rooms were inhabited by 19 people, mostly Jews, another 14 rooms were rented from Bernitz by Miss von Sacken.

Given that, firstly, only the 52-year-old unmarried von Sacken and the 68-year-old unmarried von Wettberg with their two unmarried servants and a cook lived in 14 rooms, and secondly, the same School Inspector, Köhler, as the representative of the Crown sold the district school building at № 4 Jāņa (John’s) Street to the high Crown, there is some reason to believe that the Aizpute District School could move to this address at № 31 Atmodas Street already in 1850, when Jāņa Street House was sold. However, there is no reliable evidence for this. It is a fact that the Crown or State School of Aizpute, established in 1886 before 1902, when it began its studies at the current № 22 Atmodas Street, was located in this house, which also housed the apartment of the School Inspector Eduard Lapowitsch. It is not known from which year the school was here.

In 1878, the property was bought by merchant M. Damje for 5,100 Rubles, who had a small items store here run by Jankel Beitler. The second small items store belonged to Levin Zippert.

It is believed that Damje had made good repairs to his house, because when he sold it to the Supreme Court's lawyer Wilhelm Groth in 1881, he received 8,000 Rubles for the property sold. Groth, however, sold it a year later, receiving 8,500 Rubles from the buyer - teacher Paul Kauschmann, for the amount of which Wilhelm Groth, now the Mayor, bought the house from the teacher in 1886.

In 1884 there was an Abraham Lewenthal colonial goods shop, and in the 1890s - Johann Wohlberg's "Stadtkrug" (City Pub), and at this address there was also a wine warehouse of the Aizpute Consumer Society, presumably in one of the backyard houses.

In 1903, there was a Robert Neumann bakery here.

During the First World War, 9 rooms and a kitchen in this house were occupied by the German Food Administration.

In 1926, the property rights were registered for the heirs of Groth, from whom in the same year their property was bought for 24,000 Lats by the Aizpute District Council, which provided premises for the office of the District Consumer Society.

In 1927, there were 4 shops on the first floor of the house belonging to: Hess Krupp, Ernests Šterns, Levi and Hunau.

The Groths had widened the right wing of the building, adding shop space at its end and a veranda above them. At least from 1927, there was Alfred Taube's photo studio on the first floor of this extension, and an apartment on the second floor. On October 2, 1929, the Town Council decided to "enter into a lease agreement with Taube for the lease of an apartment on the second floor, consisting of 3 rooms, a kitchen and a pavilion / veranda / for 6 years from October 1, 1929". After 15 May 1934, the contract still in force with Taube on 1 June was terminated “due to the rearrangement of the Council’s premises”.

In the 1920s, there were both Kasriel Buchbinders and Motte Marcuses's small items stores and Hirsch Krupps' shoemaker's workshop, as well as Miķeļis Krumbergs' liquor store and Ernests Šterns' manufactured goods store, which was later replaced by David Levi's manufactured goods, men's and ladies' clothing store still in 1930s. In the second half of the 1930s, there was also a tableware and kitchenware store of Leontine Brezinska and a book and stationery store by Minna Reinholds, which was later registered as a printing and stationery store by Jacob Reinholds.

Besides the District Council, the headquarters of the 6th Aizpute Guard Regiment was also here for some time.

On December 21, 1937, the rights to this property were secured by the Rural Municipality Fund.

According to a copy of a secret document dated October 18, 1940, signed by the Secretary of the Aizpute Town Board J. Virga, the Town's Senior G. Jansons has informed the Commissar of Public Utilities of the Latvian SSR that “the Aizpute branch of the LCP (Latvian Communist Party) has occupied the house of the Rural Municipality Liquidation Fund in Aizpute, 21 July Street 31 ..”, namely, the current № 31 Atmodas Street.

Nowadays - municipal property. On the first floor of the building there is a municipal company SIA “Aizputes nami” (Houses of Aizpute), but on the second floor there are apartments.

The next two houses in the photo are on Jelgavas Street.

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