No. 1, 2, 4 and 6 of Jāņa (John) Street

Jāņa (John) Street around 1900

Jāņa (John) Street in 2014

Jāņa (John) Street in 1920s

Jāņa (John) Street in 2013

The story will be about the oldest picture.

The wooden building on the left was on № 1 Jāņa Street.

In 1787, this plot of land was separated from the plot of land of the Dome pub on № 7 Atmodas (Awakening) Street, which belonged to Friedrich Ewald von Fircks. The 3rd Guild merchant Joseph Danziger bought it from Fircks and built a house for himself here. At the time of the census of 1811, and at least until 1838, the owner of the house was his son, also a merchant of the 3rd Guild, Simon Danziger, who had a manufactory and haberdashery store here.

In 1863 the house belonged to Danziger's heirs, from whom it was bought by Behr Tamborer in 1864.

In 1867 it was the house of Mayor Carl Wiedner. He had bought it for 1,600 Rubles. In 1870, the Mayor's heirs became the owners, and in 1879 an inheritance agreement was signed between Johann Gottlieb and Carl Ernst Wiedner.

In 1887, Lina Thal bought this house from the brothers Wiedner together with the so-called Dome pub on the current № 7 Atmodas (Awakening) Street for 14,000 Rubles, but in 1910 this property was registered in the name of Abraham Thal on the basis of a gift. After 1925, it belonged to his heirs, the widow Rosa Thal and five of Abraham's daughters from his first marriage. The property was managed by a widow until the autumn of 1941.

In 1943, estate of the Thal became the property of the Latvian Land Management Union.

The following information can also be found about this house, this address. In 1884, the workshop of the watchmaker Abraham Aronsohn was located here, in 1916, the hairdressing salon of Jezechiel Abramowitsch. In 1924, there were 3 shops on № 1 Jāņa Street: 3 rooms for Moritz Nowosilsky, one for Honon Friedberg (manufactured goods and haberdashery) and one for Motle Foss (shoe). In the 1920s, there was also Nathan Nowosilsky shoemaker's workshop, G. Bandenieks' leather shop and Gamper's hairdresser's shop. His hairdresser was also here in the 1930s, when Elchonen Friedberg’s manufactured goods and haberdashery and Abram Foss's shoe store were also here.

In March 1929, the Secretariat of the “Hashomer Hacair” (Young Guard) Jewish Scout Organization was registered at this address, but on September 8 of the same year, the Scout Organization became the Aizpute Jewish Youth Society (actually a Socialist-Zionist youth organization), retaining its previous name.

On the right side, the first is the corner house on Atmodas (Awakening) and Jāņa (John) streets. Although today the official address of the house is both № 2 Jāņa Street and № 9 Atmodas Street, in the first half of the 1920s this building had only one address – 9 Atmodas Street, but № 2 Jāņa Street was the next house, and the numbering of the other houses on the right side of Jāņa Street was changed accordingly.

A few words about the wing of the building built along Jāņa (John) Street in the postcard, which had only apartments. It could have been built around 1850, because the Purchase and Sale Agreement of 1851 refers to the new wing extension of the house. They are not yet in the 1834 Town Plan.

In that year, merchant Carl Wilhelm Burbe bought the property for 3,000 Rubles from merchant Carl Gotthard Suldt (1783-1861).

The next known buyer was the Mayor and merchant Carl Wiedner, who had to pay already 6,000 Rubles for the purchase.

In June 1900, the estate was bought from the sons of the deceased Mayor merchants Johann Gottlieb and Ernst Carl Wiedner, by another merchant - Johann Dohrmann, a member of the 2nd Guild, who had a wine store there at the end of the 19th century. In 1937, Dohrmann's estate was inherited by his daughter Edith Fuchs, born Dohrmann. After her repatriation to Germany, Latvian Credit Bank became the owner.

Today, this municipal building houses the Residence and Workshop Center “Serde” (The Core).

Next is № 4 Jāņa Street. At the end of the 19th century, the house of Bernhard Andreas Pape was here, but from 1806 it was the property of the Crown or state. From 1806 to 1850, the Aizpute District School was located in this brick building. In 1850, the Inspector of Aizpute schools, Dr. Ludwig Köhler (1817-1878), as the Crown's trustee, sold the debt-free Crown house at the current № 4 Jāņa (John) Street, which is mentioned in the Town's Real Estate Incorporation Book as “the district school building belonging to the high crown”, at auction. The buyer was Heinrich Kirschstein, a confectioner and the alderman, who paid 1,525 Rubles for the purchase.

A few years later, Kirschstein died and the house was inherited by the widow Johanna Julia, who remarried in 1857 to Heinrich Jakob Stegmann. He bought this property from his wife in 1867 for 4,400 Rubles. In 1875, Johanna Julia inherited the house for the second time because she became a widow for the second time. From 1876 the owner was the widow's son Carl Kirschstein, who paid his mother 2,500 Rubles for the house.

In 1906, property rights were secured in equal parts to the heirs of the deceased Carl Kirschstein - Ernestine Pauline Kirschstein and Friedrich Egon Kirschstein, from whom real estate at № 4 Jāņa Street was bought in 1909 for 9,000 Rubles by Aizpute Credit Union, founded in 1903, to whom this property belonged until 1940.

At least from 1879, Carl Kirschstein had both a café with sweets and a pub here. The German Houseowners' Association (Bürgerverein) was also here.

In 1884, Kirschstein leased part of the house to the Craftsmen's Association, where Kirschstein worked as a house manager and ran a pub selling alcoholic beverages.

From the 1990s until 1911, the premises were rented here by the Aizpute German Society, but from January 1, 1911, the Commonwealth Society "Vienība" (Unity) which had separated from the Aizpute Latvian Society. The then one-storey brick building had a wooden extension, which housed a billiard room, a room for ladies, an auditorium and a stage with side-scenes.

During the First World War and at the beginning of 1919, the house was occupied by German military personnel. In the post-war years, the Aizpute Latvian Society renewed its activities here with an auditorium, a stage and a cafe. The association allowed events organized not only by itself in its premises, but also to other public organizations. Information on February 18, 1927 in the local newspaper "Aizputes Vēstnesis" (Aizpute Messenger):

„On March 6, the Aizpute District Board of the Farmers' Union organizes an event with a theater, solo performances, bazaar, lottery and other events in the Latvian Society House.

On the same day, a public meeting will take place in the hall of the Society, where Mr. K. Ulmanis, Member of the Saeima, will deliver a report.”

In the March 11 issue, it can be read that on March 6, “Leader of the Farmers K. Ulmanis had gathered a full hall of listeners”.

In 1923, the real estate survey lists of the Aizpute Town Council show that the Aizpute Credit Union owns two residential buildings and a stable at 4 Jāņa (Johns) Street, and here is also the cafe of the Aizpute Latvian Society. In fact, the street house had the office of the Credit Union and the Latvian Society, which also had a cafe here, in the second half of the 1930s - a 1st class tavern, and at the end - a 1st class restaurant.

In the autumn of 1940, after nationalization, the house acquired the name "Latvian Communist Party’s Aizpute Committee", where the Liepāja "Red Aid" Aizpute organization had become the user of the rented premises of the former Latvian Society.

Today, this building, rebuilt in the middle of the last century, is a municipal residential building.

№ 6 In 1811, the property for 5 years already belonged to the 67-year-old strap maker and former Councilor Johann Wilhelm Brandt (1754-1823), which was inherited around 1824 by his son, a bronze caster, and the Councilor Ernst Philipp Brandt, and a daughter Maria Elisabeth Grening, born Brandt. In 1824, Maria Elisabeth bought the share from her brother, and her husband was registered as the owner - a merchant and later Mayor (1828-1856) Johann Friedrich Nicolaus Grening, who had a Russian haberdashery shop here.

On December 7, 1856, the property was bought by rope maker Benjamin Sommer for 1,400 Rubles and already on January 16, 1857, sold to butcher Lewin Zern for 5,200 Rubles. In 1868 the owner was Heikel Zern, who in 1869 sold the house to Lewin Burbe for 2,300 Rubles. A year later, Burbe sold the property to Tewje Bordel (also Bordeil) for 4,850 Rubles.

In 1879, there was a small items store in Tewje Bordel house. Later, there was also a watch repair shop for watchmaker Hone Mazee, and the shoemakers' workshops of Hugo Seehusen and Daniel Jakobson. Butchers Lewin Grünfeld und Itzig Mündel were also here, who traded by carrying around their goods.

In 1917 the photographer Gabriel Berger was registered here, in 1924 O. Fosh's small items store.

In 1925, the property was inherited by Leopold Bordel, and in the same year his inherited house burned down. The land plot with the barn left on it was bought by Aizpute Credit Union in 1925.

Next are houses № 8 and № 10 (see above).

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