Elizabetes Iela (Elizabeth Street) 10A and 10B, Riga

Standing next to one another, at the corner of Elizabetes and Antonijas streets, are the two of Mikhail Eisenstein’s most iconic buildings in Riga. Completed in 1903, they are perhaps also the most recognized pearls of local Art Nouveau.

Although Konstantīns Pēkšēns was the initial mastermind behind this project, it is Eisenstein who eventually took it over and is credited for adding to the typically eclectic design of 10A building an unusually extravagant façade (complete with colorful set of Art Nouveau ornamentation).

Among other elements seen on the façade is the impressive, large window aperture in the shape of a keyhole on the upper floor. Another distinctive feature, intertwined in several decorative elements, is the stylized carriage spring motif. This was Eisenstein’s subtle way of mentioning his day job at that time – as the head of the Public Transport Department in the Vidzeme province.

The 10B building next door (once an apartment house with shops, belonging to the State Councillor Andrey Lebedinsky) is also rich in ornamentation. Dressed in blue ceramic tiles, the façade on two upper floors here offers a wonderful background for stucco decoration: masks, peacocks, sculptured heads and geometric figures. The monumental mascarons, rising two floors high above the central avant corps, complete the sumptuous attic.

The façade's design was based on the sketch made by the Leipzig architect Georg Wünschmann and artist Hans Kozel, published previously in St Petersburg.

The incredibly long female faces seen at the top of 10B (whose expressions seem to make anyone ruminate the meaning of life) are among the most photographed sights in Riga. Equally impressive in this respect are the oddly-shaped windows and smiling sun face under the balcony at 10A.