Petar Puhmajer

BAROQUE PALACES IN VARAŽDIN: RESIDENTIAL AND PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE OF THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES

The palatial houses built in the 17th and 18th centuries in Varaždin form a high-quality group of Baroque secular buildings in continental Croatia. This book examines the process and circumstances surrounding the palaces’ construction, as well as their development, design and stylistic features in the context of Croatian and Central European architecture. The focus is also on the formal analysis aiming to create a typology on the basis of their floor-plan organization and design.

In the early modern age Varaždin was one of major Croatian cities, and it underwent transformations typical of a Central European urban settlement. The 15th and 16th centuries saw the construction of the fortress and the city walls, due to the nearing Ottoman threats. It was the period of the formation of the urban fabric with the layout of streets and blocks. In the 17th century, Varaždin developed into a strong regional centre, although life and building activities remained concentrated in the area within the city walls. Finally came the peaceful 18th century, when the city opened up to its surroundings, the walls were gradually demolished to make room for new streets, houses and palaces in the suburbs. Although urban development was in many respects determined by church orders which instigated the contruction of churches and monasteries (Jesuits, Franciscans, Capuchins, Ursulines), it was the accumulation of political power in the city that crucially impacted secular construction. The county and state officials started moving into the city especially between 1767 and 1776 when Varaždin became the seat of the Croatian government, i.e. the capital of Croatia, so many aristocrats also came to build their own private houses. The quality of upscale housing reflected the financial potential of owners and investors. At first, the investors were prominent noble families (Erdödy, Drašković, Patačić), but over time, bourgeois merchants, craftsmen and officials (Czindery, Petković, Herzer) acquired wealth and wanted to show off their status by building houses modelled on aristocratic homes. The term palace, therefore, means a town mansion built for a prominent client, which in spatial organisation and appearance stands out from the standard urban housing. Designed for comfortable and elegant living, in size, position and articulation, a palace excelled in the urban image of the city.

In determining the typology of the palace architecture in Varaždin, the book references the postulates made by Carlo Giulio Argan, according to whom an architectural type is based on the fact that groups of buildings are related in form and function, and the standard derives from variations of a shared basic form. Respectively, in the floor-plan organization of the Varaždin palaces, two basic principles can be discerned based on the distribution of rooms in relation to the main corridor: ‘sequencing’ and grouping’. The sequencing, which is of earlier origin, occurs in one-wing buildings where rooms were sequenced along both sides of a coach gateway (portes-cochère), which connects the street entrance with the back yard, while on the first floor, correspondingly, there is a central hallway with a series of rooms on either side. This type of plan was a result of the elongated and narrow plots with shorter side fronting the street, common in the Middle Ages and sometimes persisting until the 18th century. Several such structures dated to the 17th century were preserved in Varaždin, including the Patačić Palace (1669) and the Wassermann-Kreuz Palace.

In multi-wing buildings, rooms were sequenced in rows alined with a longitudinal corridor facing the inner yard, which makes another type of a floor plan, also predefined by the shape of the plot. In the 16th and 17th centuries, small plots were often merged into bigger ones which resulted in the longer side of the plot lining with the street. This enabled buildings with a wide façade of the main wing fronting the street, and the lateral wings stretching towards the back yard. This type of floor plan dates back to 15th-century Florence, and it is believed to have been transfered to Central Europe with the arrival of the Italian master builders in the 16th century. The prototype of this floor plan has four wings enclosing an inner square courtyard and within each wing there is single row of rooms accessed from an arcaded corridor. In smaller urban settlements such as Varaždin, this type was often reduced to two or three wings. However, it marked the beginning of the new palatial architecture. It continued to be used throughout the 17th and 18th centuries until the beginning of the 19th century, and can be found in the Prašinski Sermage Palace (late 17th century), Patačić-Puttar Palace (18th century), Drašković Palace (17th century, redesigned in mid-18th century), Erdödy Palace (ca 1762) and the Erdödy-Oršić Palace (1805).

An important novelty in palace architecture brought by the Baroque era stemmed from the need for a more functional and comfortable living space. It was the formation of groups of rooms organized as apartments. It first appeared in France in the 17th century in Parisian city mansions, the so-called hotel particulier. In Vienna it appeared in the eighties and nineties of the 17th century, and in other Austrian cities somewhat later. We have no record of it in Varaždin until the second half of the 18th century, but was then used in a number of palaces: Pauline mansion (1760), Zagreb Kaptol Palace (1760-63), Petković Palace (around 1767), Varaždin County Palace (1769), Keglević Palace (1774-75), Hinterholzer (1771-72), Janković (c. 1775, upgraded in the 19th century), Herzer (1791-95) and Eggersdorfer (c. 1807). 

The occurences of the older and the newer floor-plan types intertwined over the course of centuries, but in general, the sequencing concept originated from the Renaissance, while grouping appeared in the Baroque era. These floor-plan types were not only used in residential housing, but also in public buildings and generally in secular architecture. Administrative buildings could also include the living area of the executive who held office, so their apartment was integrated into the floor plan as its most important part, as shown by the example of the Varaždin County Palace.

In addition to spatial organization, the building frontages had particular typological patterns as well, which were mostly inventions of the Baroque period. The façades were articulated by projecting blocks. According to Christian Norberg-Schulz, this principle was based on dominant and subordinate elements, which was evident at the level of the entire building, its individual parts, and in decoration. The front was regularly grand and decorated giving the visual identity to the building, but also to the street or square. It could have one or three projecting blocks, symmetrically positioned on the central and corner sides of the building, as had most of the palaces in Varaždin. As a form of a projection, two corner houses had bay windows as angular protrusion, the Patačić Palace and the Patačić-Puttar Palace. There is also a case where the projection is formed as a tower, like in the Varaždin Town Hall, a 15th-century building upgraded into a palace in the 18th century, with an axial tower rising above the façade as the most prominent element.

Although accomplished in what was then the largest city of continental Croatia, the concepts of spatial and design solutions of Varaždin palaces did not originate locally but were a sum of different architectural experiences found elsewhere in Croatia and beyond. Under Habsburg rule, the north-western Croatia was politically, economically and culturaly influenced by the nearby Austrian province of Styria. The Styrian masters - architects, builders and artists, played a crucial role in the dissemination of architectural trends in the region. The arrival of military engineers in the 16th century, at first for the construction and renovation of fortresses, and later in the 17th and 18th century, civil architects from large workshops in Graz and Maribor, hired by the Church, as well as by private investors, - influenced the domestic builders and prompted the transfer and exchange of ideas, marking the architecture of Varaždin with Central-European baroque features.

U knjizi su predstavljena saznanja prikupljena konzervatorsko-restauratorskim istraživanjima stancije Seget provedenima 2016. godine. Arhitekturu stancije čini stambena palača (vila) te gospodarske i infrastrukturne zgrade koje ju okružuju u planski izgrađenom krajoliku. Detaljno se razmatraju prostorna, razvojna i oblikovna obilježja palače, a s obzirom na značaj i kvalitetu, donesen je prikaz podrijetla njezina stilskog rješenja, s naglaskom na veliku klasicističku obnovu 1843.-1845. prema paladijevskim uzorima, pri čemu se ona stavlja u širi kontekst onodobne ladanjske i općenito stambene arhitekture u Istri i Furlaniji. Na kraju knjige je prijepis arhivskih dokumenata u kojima se spominje izgradnja, izgled ili uređenje stancije, kao i rodoslovlje obitelji de Franceschi.

Knjiga govori o povijesti građevnog sklopa Velike stancije u Savudriji, zvane još i vila Cesare. Riječ je je ladanjsko-gospodarskom zdanju podignutom u 19. stoljeću, kojeg čini velika palača s tornjem te gospodarski objekti, danas većinom u ruševnom stanju. Knjiga se temelji na povijesnim i konzervatorsko-restauratorskim istraživanjima, provedenima u svrhu obnove stancije. Razmatra se povijest vlasnika kroz arhivske dokumente, građevni razvoj stancije, arhitektonske značajke i regionalni kontekst izgradnje. U prvom dijelu obrađuje se vlasnička kronologija stancije koja se iščitava iz arhivskih zapisa te kartografskih i drugih prikaza. Analiza građevinskih struktura pokazala je da je stancija građena u više faza. Prva faza predstavlja zapravo raniju građevinu, čiji su elementi sačuvani u zanemarivoj mjeri, a druga se datira u sredinu 19. stoljeća, kada stancija dolazi u vlasništvo piranskog plemića Angela Fabrisa, koji ondje uspostavlja imanje za uzgoj dudova svilca. Podiže ladanjsku stambenu palaču (vilu), veliku staju i svilogojsku manufakturu. Godine 1877. vlasnikom postaje tršćanski brodovlasnik i industrijalac Carlo Cesare koji znatno nadograđuje palaču i podiže visoki toranj u karakterističnom stilu gotico quadrato, nadahnut dvorcem Miramare i zgradom arsenala Lloyd Triestino u Trstu. Cesare kontinuirano obnavlja stanciju te ondje uređuje i raskošni ladanjski vrt. U kontekstu prostornih i oblikovnih značajki stancije, detaljno se razmatra njezino unutrašnje uređenje, u svjetlu novopronađenih dekorativnih zidnih slika s kraja 19. i početka 20. stoljeća, a kojima su, u više navrata, bile oslikane brojne prostorije. Ističu se kompozicije vegetabilnih ornamenata i arabeski, zatim oslici koji oponašaju izgled tapeta, dok su posve osebujni prikazi groteski na stropu spavaće sobe u tornju, s prizorima zmijolikih zmajeva i urni sa ženskim glavama, nastali početkom 20. stoljeća. Knjiga također govori o stilskim osobinama arhitekture stancije i stilu gotico quadrato u okviru regionalne arhitekture, te primjerima iz osobito referentnog područja Istre i Furlanije. U zaključku se utvrđuje loše današnje stanje stancije i perspektive za obnovu.

Knjiga je topografski pregled arhitektonske baštine Velike Gorice od ranog novog vijeka do 21. stoljeća. Prvi dio čini kronološki, povijesno-urbanistički i arhitektonski razvoj naselja. On se može pratiti od feudalnog doba 17. i 18. stoljeća, kada je Velika Gorica, unatoč statusu trgovišta, još uvijek neveliko selo u kojem prevladava drveno graditeljstvo. Značajni je razvoj uslijedio u 19. i početkom 20. stoljeća, uspostavom pruge Zagreb-Sisak i velikim investicijama Plemenite općine turopoljske, kada Velika Gorica doživljava snažnu modernizaciju izgradnjom gradskih trgova i infrastrukture. Poslije Drugoga svjetskog rata postaje satelitski grad Zagreba i jedna od zagrebačkih općina, a tek krajem 20. stoljeća, unatoč slabom urbanitetu, dobiva status grada. U drugom dijelu knjige nalazi se katalog arhitektonski relevantnih građevina, poredanih po abecednom redu ulica i kućnih brojeva, gdje se za svaki objekt donosi kratka povijest i okolnosti izgradnje te valorizacija.

The development of modern public administration in European cities facilitated the construction of various types of public buildings. Among these, guardhouses were a prominent type in the 18th century, housing the police force under civil or military jurisdiction. Guardhouses were widespread within the Habsburg Empire and were common in the Croatian and Slavonian Military Frontier.

THE SUGAR REFINERY PALACE IN RIJEKA AND MODELS OF BUSINESS-RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE OF THE 18TH CENTURY IN THE NORTHERN ADRIATIC
The author examines the spatial features of the administrative building of the sugar refinery in Rijeka, also known as the Palace of the Privileged Company of Trieste and Fiume. The analysis focuses on two significant phases in its history: the initial construction in 1752 and the subsequent renovation following the fire in 1785/86. By identifying spaces designated for living, business operations, and storage, the author provides a new interpretation of the original intended functions of the building’s floors and rooms. The palace’s architectural design is associated with a group of business-residential structures built in Trieste during the latter half of the 18th century. These structures share remarkably similar spatial characteristics, which are evident from archival drawings since most of the palaces have not survived. The comparisons further imply the existence of a standardized design for mixed-use business and residential buildings, whether these were erected by affluent merchants for their own dual-purpose use or by large, privileged private companies that had their headquarters in Trieste during the 18th century.

RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE IN THE FORTRESS-TOWNS

The article examines the characteristic phenomena, as well as spatial and design features of civil houses built from the 17th to the beginning of the 19th century in the fortress-towns of Croatia: Osijek, Slavonski Brod, Stara Gradiška and Karlovac. Residential architecture within the fortresses reflected the financial possibilities of the investors, ranging from modest wooden ground-floor dwellings, through burgher’s houses, all the way to grand houses of wealthy merchants. The civilian population was involved in the construction of fortresses and their functioning in times of peace and war. Civilians were, to a considerable extent, the bearers of economic and social development, and the housing they left behind bears witness to urban life in a distinct military environment at the end of the early modern age.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF VINKOVCI IN THE AGE OF THE MILITARY FRONTIER

The article gives an overview of the urban development and the construction of Vinkovci, a town located in the Syrmium region of Eastern Croatia, which was, from the early-18th to the mid-19th century, part of the Slavonian Military Frontier, a Habsburg-ruled province bordering the Ottoman Empire. The rise of the town started when it became the command post seat of the Brod Regiment in 1747, followed by the status of the “military community” (Militär Communität) in 1765, which enabled the regulation of the legal affairs between the military personnel and the civilian population. The Military Frontier authorities undertook the construction of dozens of buildings, initially around the town square, with the houses of colonel, brigadier, first and second major, military judges, main guard, as well as a school, a parish church and many others. By the 1850s, as much as fifty buildings were erected for the military administration. Although most of them were relatively modest in scale and design, these buildings constituted the urban fabric of the town. The authorities also encouraged the arrival of the civilians, mostly merchants and craftsmen from Serbia and Bosnia, who opened businesses and started their families in Vinkovci, but also built civic houses, typical for their arcaded porches facing the streets. The article tries to determine the basic spatial and design characteristics of this architecture, as well as the role of the military government in its creation.

MATILDA HÖNIGSBERG'S RESIDENTIAL AND RETAIL BUILDING AT 2 FRANKOPANSKA STREET IN ZAGREB

The paper discusses the history of the residential and retail building constructed in 1894, at the corner of the Ilica and Frankopanska Street in Zagreb, for the investor Matilda Hönigsberg, based on the designs of the Hönigsberg & Deutsch architectural studio. The designs and other historical documentation show the original appearance and the floor plan organization of the house, as well as the modifications it has undergone since its construction. The first and second floors included one upscale apartment respectively, while the ground floor and the mezzanine housed the Bauer Café, a famous gathering place of Zagreb's intellectual scene, painters and writers. The Café had stucco and painted wall decoration, which was unfortunately taken down in the 20th century. The house has recently sustained damages in the 2020 earthquakes, when the tin roof dome had to be dismantled due to the cracks in the dome tower, and is currently awaiting restoration. The Hönigsberg house is important as an early example of a mixed-use building type in Zagreb with the residential and retail areas clearly distinguished in the building’s outlook, while its lavish neo-baroque style was modelled on contemporary office buildings in Vienna, the imperial capital.

MORETTI PALACE – AN UNFINISHED PROJECT FROM THE LATE 18TH AND EARLY 19TH CENTURY IN BUZET.

Moretti Palace, formerly known as the "Neo-Classical Palace in Buzet", is a residential house located on the western stretch of the former town walls. The palace is designed with an oval central space, which was meant to be an entrance hall on the ground floor and a salon on the first floor, with groups of smaller rooms adjoining on the sides. The identified investor was a Buzet nobleman Francesco Moretti who had the palace built at the turn of the 18th to 19th century, but died in 1811 leaving it unfinished to his descendants, who are mentioned as heirs in the 1820 cadastre. The cadastre records clearly state that most of the palace was in ruinous condition, and that the heirs lived only in a smaller, northern part of the house. Since it was ruinous only twenty years after the construction, we can assume that it has never been actually completed. This was confirmed by the conservation research showing that the oval hall never had floor decks built within. Furthermore, the fact that the southern part of the palace continued to be “ruinous” in the late 19th century, certainly supports this claim. Although unfinished, Moretti Palace is a unique example of a house with an oval layout in Istria, and by comparing it with similar examples from the region, it is possible to gain insight into the origins of its design.

CIVIL ARCHITECTURE IN 18TH-CENTURY OSIJEK TVRĐA: HOUSES OF MERCHANTS AND ARTISANS
The article discusses spatial and design features of Osijek’ s residential architecture in the 18th century. The authors focus on the higher-standard houses erected on plots within Osijek’ s planned city fortress, Tvrđa, as well as the time of their construction and the investors. These mostly included artisans, merchants, city and military officials. They used the houses for trade, which took place in the ground-floor shops, while the living quarters of the owners were located on the first floor. The floor plans were organized in rows or groups of rooms. The ground floor had a porte-cochère, either centred or decentred with regard to the central axis, and several other vaulted rooms grouped around or aligned to it. The first-floor living quarters had a group of rooms, the largest usually being a drawing room. Although smaller in scale, the houses resembled the public and military buildings in Tvrđa, both in their floor-plan organization and in the design of their front façades, since the designers were the same – military engineers engaged in the construction of the fortress.

PALATIAL HOUSING IN LATE 18TH-CENTURY RIJEKA: SPATIAL AND TYPOLOGICAL FEATURES
The paper provides insight into the upscale residential architecture of Rijeka at the end of the 18th and the very beginning of the 19th century. Most of the buildings have perished, or have been rebuilt in the later period, and only a few survive until today. In addition to several well-known examples, new houses have here been identifed for the frst time, including their owners and the time of construction. The occurrence of palaces in Rijeka was related to the expansion of the city and the demolition of the medieval city walls, which enabled the construction of new blocks and higher standard housing. The “New Town” became the central city district and its thoroughfare, Korzo, was lined with palaces belonging to wealthy merchants, shipowners and government ofcials. The spatial organization of these palaces can be studied mostly on the basis of archival documentation from the period when it was still extant or at least identifable. It shows typical floor plans formed by grouping or sequencing of the rooms. The origins can be traced to early modern Trieste, where the omnipresent plan model with 3x2 rooms on each floor is recognized as a “typical merchant’s house.” Façades also show considerable uniformity, but also differences in details such as portals and balconies, as well as giant roof gables that gave palaces their visual identity and grand appearance.

The city of Rijeka (or Fiume in Italian) in the Northern Adriatic owes its development to the efforts of the Hapsburg policies which shaped it, along with Trieste, as a major port of the Austrian Littoral. Rijeka’s urban growth started in the late 18th and early 19th centuries with the arrival of many foreigners from different parts of Croatia and Italy (notably Friuli and Veneto), from Austrian territories such as the Carniola, as well as from Ottoman areas, such as Serbia and Bosnia. The foreigners found in Rijeka fertile ground for business and commerce, and the growing harbour traffic prompted the economic and cultural wealth of the city. Since the medieval centre of Rijeka was inconveniently placed between a hill and the sea, in the mid-18th century the city government proposed engineering projects that would enlarge the city’s territory through land reclamation. The new areas were named the “New Town” (Città Nuova), by contrast with the historical “Old Town,” and consisted mainly of residential blocks. The city’s major thoroughfare, the Korzo, was built in this period, comprising large houses and palaces for notable citizens. Many of the investors were foreign-born, and their palaces became landmarks in the urban image of Rijeka.

CERNIK CASTLE – CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN THE PRE-OTTOMAN HERITAGE DURING THE BAROQUE ERA

The aim of the paper is to analyze the history of the Cernik castle starting from its construction in the 16th century until the 18th-century renovations, when it gained its present appearance. The castle was built for the Dežević (Dessewffy) family in the first half of the 16th century as a four-winged structure with cylindrical corner towers surrounded by a moat. In 1536, it fell into Ottoman hands and remained under occupation until 1688. When the Austrian army liberated Slavonia, Cernik became the property of the Imperial Chamber, which turned it into the seat of a manorial estate. In 1707, it was granted to Baron Maximilian von Petrasch, commander of the Brod and Osijek fortresses in the service of Prince Eugene of Savoy. Petrasch restored the damaged castle around 1720, keeping most of the old structures. His family continued to own the castle until 1756, when his son Josip sold it to the Marković family from Sombor. They undertook a large-scale renewal in 1756 and then again in 1781, giving it a baroque outlook. In the 18th-century renovations, the building kept its pre-Turkish four-sided elevation with corner towers, but a stretch of hallways with arches was added in the inner courtyard, a typically baroque hall in the main axe, a sail vaulting, as well as a system of flat plastered pilasters and strips on the façades. The retaining of the towers and the generally defensive character of the castle can be explained by the owners’ desire to keep its military appearance due to a possible upheaval on the Turkish border near the Sava river, for which a series of fortresses were built in Slavonia in the first half of the 18th century, but also as a memory of the heroic war times, which was characteristic of the peaceful period in the second half of the century. On this occasion, the rooms were turned into salons with large windows and decorative interiors. The Cernik castle exemplifies a construction boost that spread across Slavonia in the 18th century, when the old pre-Ottoman buildings were upgraded with constructional and stylistic elements typical
of the baroque era.

BANSKI DVORI - CONSTRUCTION, RENOVATIONS, INVESTORS

Banski Dvori  (Ban’s Palace) originally included a building on the south side of the west perimeter of St. Mark’s Square in Zagreb. This location was occupied by the house of count Petar Zrinski in the 17th century, along with a few other houses, an armoury and St. Ursula’s Chapel. The area was rebuilt and upgraded after 1766 by count Petar Troilo Sermage, who established a magnificent baroque palace facing the square. Further renovations followed at the beginning of the 19th century, when the palace became the seat of ban  Ignjat Gyulay, due to which it was further rebuilt and redesigned in 1808–11 by architect Ivan Eyther and thence titled “Banski Dvori ”. During ban Franjo Vlašić’s rule in 1832–40, the neighbouring Rauch Palace, bordering to the north, was added to the complex, which was greatly enlarged as a result and converted to government offices on the basis of designs by architect Ludwig Berger. The renowned ban Ivan Mažuranić had the complex further upgraded in 1875–82, separating the ban’s office and apartment located in the south palace from the government offices in the north palace, where he also built two new wings. Major refurbishments followed in the time of ban Nikola Tomašić in 1910–12, and again in the 1940s, when several new staircases were added. The multi-layered architectural complex underwent its most significant changes during the times of some notable political figures, and has therefore maintained its stately appearance.

HISTORY, ARCHITECTURE AND CONSERVATION OF THE KEGLEVIĆ PALACE
The renovation of the Keglević Palace in Varaždin was undertaken in two phases during the last decade. It was an occasion for an overview of all up-to-date knowledge about its history and architecture. The palace was built for count Josip Keglević III in 1774-1775 by a Varaždin builder and architect Jakov Erber. The floor plan of the palace shows a high-baroque space organization, with rooms grouped on every floor, and concentrated around the central axe, which is a reflection of the comfortable 18th-century living standards. The research conducted in 2008 revealed the original characteristics and subsequent changes in the palace structure, technical aspects of its design, as well as the façade coloring. The façades boast lavish articulation with three projecting blocks, portal, balcony, stone and plaster decorations, and was originally painted monochrome in bright white-pinkish color typical of the rococo period. The renovation works included structural repairs, restitution of the inner space arrangement, replacement of the old roof construction, and the restoration of the main façade. It was done with the utmost care to preserve all relevant historical and architectural features of the palace.

NOVA KRALJEVICA CASTLE: CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HISTORY OF CONSTRUCTION AND INTERIOR DESIGN. The article deals with the history of construction and renovations, as well as the interior design of the Nova Kraljevica castle. Based on archival sources and in-situ findings , the author has defined the architectural history of the castle starting from the construction for the Zrinski family in the 17 th century, renovations for army barracks, hospital and monastery in the 18 th and 19 th centuries, to the present day. Abundant archival documentation helps gain insight into the castle's original 17 th century features , and detect changes it underwent in the later period. The article also discusses the original function of individual rooms, and various elements of the interior design, including their original location.

PLASTERED AND PAINTED MEDALLIONS – A CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF THE FAÇADE DESIGN IN CONTINENTAL CROATIA IN THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES

In the 17th- and 18th-century architecture of Continental Croatia, there is a number of façades articulated with a raster of repetitive fields in various forms, which are called 'medallions'. The author determines the origins of these forms relating them to the works of the Italian builders of the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as paths of their adoption in the Habsburg lands, especially in the big cities like Vienna, Prague or Graz, where from they came to Croatia. In Croatia, this type of design is seen in three phenomena. The first is a plastered articulation made of vertical and horizontal strips, in which the inner fields make the medallions, which is completely influenced by Styrian architecture. The second are the wall-painted compositions with randomly painted medallions on a group of buildings near the Croatian-Styrian border, modelled on the works of the architect Domenico Sciassia. And the third is a mature-baroque motif of the cartouche-shaped medallions in Slavonia, which seem to be brought in by the architects who came from Vienna and Hungary. Further transformations of the medallion composition occured in the late 18th century with the geometrical forms shaped as rows of plastered rectangular „plates“, which paved the way for the development of the „Plattenstil“, typical of neo-classicist architecture in Central Europe.

PARISH CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST IN SVETI IVAN ZELINA: HISTORY AND CONSTRUCTION IN THE CONTEXT OF STYLE PLURALISM IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY

The paper discusses the construction history of the Church of St. John the Baptist in the town of Sveti Ivan Zelina. The church was initially erected in the medieval times, from which period dates its bell-tower. In the early modern period, the church has undergone multiple renovations, especially in the 18th century when it got a baroque outlook. Between 1828 and 1839, the church was demolished, and a new structure was erected on its place, with the exception of the bell-tower, which was preserved but upgraded to its current height. The project resulted in a completely new, mixed style design, composed of the late baroque, neo-classicist and neo-gothic elements. The interior, surmounted with sail vaults and the so-called vaulted arches in the nave, is a typical late-baroque space. The inlaid window axes on the sacristy façade represent a neo-classical feature, while the bell-tower and its side annexes were articulated with blind pointed arches, this being one of the earliest occurrences of the Gothic Revival style in the history of Croatian architecture. The design of the church is analyzed in the context of similar churches built in the north-western Croatia and, generally, in view of the stylistic tendencies in the first half of the 19th century.

PATAČIĆ PALACE IN VARAŽDIN: DEVELOPMENT, INVESTORS, CONTEXT

This study aims to define the chronological sequence of the construction and subsequent renovations of the Patačić Palace in Varaždin. The palace is a one-winged, three-storey building, constructed in the 17th century by the enlargement of an older house, most probably in 1669 for the merchant Daniel Praunsperger. Since then, both the interior and the exterior of the palace underwent multiple renovations which resulted in changes with each new owner. After a short period in the possession of Juraj Plemić, the palace was sold to the Pauline order in 1705. The Paulines undertook to carry out a substantial renovation which included, among other things, adding a corner bay window and painting the façades in grey and white medallions, the design which had been characteristic of several other buildings owned by the Paulines. Subsequently in 1730, the Paulines sold the palace to count Ladislav Keglević who had the façades repainted in white with simple grey decoration.

The most important period in the palace’s history was the renovation of 1764 for the wealthy investors count Franjo Patačić and his wife Katarina, née Keglević, who were prominent nobility figures of the Varaždin society in this period. The interior of the palace was thence refurbished with wall paintings and a new staircase, and the exterior redesigned with stone, plaster and stucco decoration of great plasticity. The interior excels with an illusionist wall painting depicting blue and white Delft “tiles” in a second-floor room, and an abundant rocaille ornament in two bel-etage salons, all three rooms dated between 1764 and 1770. The concurrent appearance of the rocaille ornament on the interior wall paintings and the same motifs made of stucco on the façades, show that the renovation was predefined by the investors’ clear conceptual and stylistic vision.

The design of the façade with the articulated portal and free forms of the rococo ornament can be related to the building and stucco workshops in Graz and Styria of the 18th century. The palace’s architectural concept evokes the works of the architects Johann Georg Stengg and Joseph Hueber, who both had many followers throughout Styria, notably in a local building workshop in Maribor from 1750s to 1770s. The stucco decoration, on the other hand, reveals the influences of Heinrich Formentini’s artisan workshop in Graz.

Count Franjo Patačić and his wife Katarina were the well-known patrons of art, and, by hiring major Styrian artists, left a remarkable work of the baroque architecture in Croatia. Although the “golden age” of their life was somewhat short, it co-occurred with the peak of the rococo period in Varaždin in the 1760s.

CHURCH OF ST. GEORGE ON THE HILL IN LOPATINEC - CONSTRUCTION AND ORIGINS OF ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

The paper aims to establish the stages of construction of the church of St. George on the Hill (Sveti Juraj na Bregu), which was predefined by its functional changes. The first erected filial chapel was turned into a parish church, which was then promoted into a Loreto pilgrimage place. These changes have affected the church's successive construction and enlargements. The church with the surrounding graveyard wall was erected from 1739 to about 1747, after which the wall was built up into a porch before 1768. A significant renovation of the complex followed between 1774 and 1779 when the church was prolonged and was given a new main façade, just as was the porch on its front side. In such time sequence, it is difficult to determine the exact building stages, but we can say that the church built in the 1740s had a simple rectangular floor plan, maybe with some incorporated earlier structures, while the construction of the church extension and the new façades in the 1770s meant a qualitative upgrade of the complex. The latter endeavor was conceived in a unique architectural project with the purpose of giving significance to a newly declared parish church and ever more visited place of pilgrimage. The design of both the church and the porch shows influences of the Styrian architectural tradition, especially those of the Stengg family building workshop in Graz, and we also find similarities in the works of the Maribor workshop lead by Joseph Hoffer and Johann Fuchs, who were also active in continental Croatia.

CONSTRUCTION HISTORY OF THE PAULINE MONASTERY COMPLEX IN LEPOGLAVA

The article gives a chronological overview of the construction development of the former Pauline monastery complex in Lepoglava. From the the first erected medieval monastery, over the renewals made in the early modern age, up until today, the complex was continuously being demolished and restored. As a result, it has preserved multiple historical layers. The monastery was founded in 1400, when the construction of the church was started, to be finished and consecrated in 1415. The large gothic church  with longitudinal plan had a a nave and chancel surmounted by vault and adorned with the Celjski coat of arms. In the 17th century, the old monastery was replaced by a considerably larger building (1650-1673), and the church itself was extended westwards (1663-1676). It was followed by the construction of the adjacent chapels to the north and south side of the church, which were donated by the Croatian noblemen. The years of 1710 and 1711 saw the construction of the monastery library and the new church façade, which are the most articulate part of the complex. The abolishment of the Pauline order in 1786 meant the decay of Lepoglava. A new chapter in its history started in 1850 when the monastery was adapted for a state prison. In the same decade, and especially after the earthquake of 1880, radical changes were made to the buildings. The interior walls of the monastery were rearranged, most vaults were demolished and façades altered. The buildings were heavily damaged in World War II. Subsequently, the church was being restored on several occasions during the second half of the 20th century, while the monastery came back in possession of the church as late as 1999. The first stage of its restoration followed at the beginning the 21st century. Extensive archeological, historical and conservation investigation enabled a comprehensive study of the monastery complex, as well as its architectural and art-historical evaluation.

"REFLECTIONS OF ANDREAS MAYERHOFFER’S ARCHITECTURAL WORKSHOP IN THE 18TH-CENTURY RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE OF OSIJEK"

"The most notable private building in Osijek’s 18th-century historical district of Tvrđa was the Kohlhoffer House (also known as Plemic House), located on Franjevacka Street No. 5. Although the archival sources do not offer clear information about the time of its construction, recent research has revealed that the house obtained its present appearance in 1775 by joining two earlier neighbouring houses for the wealthy innkeeper and city councillor Johann Kohlhoffer. The house is remarkable for its ornate façade with a complex composition of blind arcades, pilasters, and strips, as well as its stone and plaster decoration such as scrolled pediments, rocailles, and seashells. The origin of these forms can be related to the work of Hungarian architect Andreas (András) Mayerhoffer (1690–1771) and his workshop.

Mayerhoffer was the leading Hungarian architect in the second and third quarters of the 18 th century, and was known to have been the designer of various palaces, castles, and churches for the Hungarian nobility and clergy. He was born in Salzburg and started his career in service of Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt, notably working on the construction of Prince Eugene of Savoy’s mansions, Ráckeve near Budapest and Bilje in Baranja, where he was sent as a foreman in the 1720s to finish the previously started works. His work was highly praised and he was therefore entrusted with major construction projects, such as the Pauline church in Budapest and the Cathedral of Kalocsa. The pinnacle was his commis-sion for Count Anton Grassalkovich (1694–1771), president of the Hungarian Aulic Chamber and a well-known patron of arts, for whom he built a palace in Pest, and whose affec-tion would secure him numerous commissions from major Hungarian noble families, such as the Forgách, the Ráday, the Péterffy, or the Rudnyánszky.

Mayerhoffer worked together with his two sons, János and András, who occasionally also worked on their own. The stylistic and qualitative differences between the three are practically impossible to discern, since their work is not well documented in the archival sources. Furthermore, after their father’s death in 1771, János and András Mayerhoffer continued to work in a very similar style.

If we take the year of 1775 as the date of construction of the Kohlhoffer House in Osijek, we can assume that one of them, or a yet unknown architect from their circle, would have created the façade design. The closest decoration is found in János Mayerhoffer’s work on the Cathedral of Kalocsa and the parish church of Jászberény. It is important to note that János worked on various projects for the Hungarian Aulic Chamber, among others on the Ráckeve Mansion in the 1770s, where his father had proved himself as a great architect fifty years before. After the death of Prince Eugene of Savoy, both Ráckeve and Bilje Mansion in Baranja came into the possession of the Aulic Chamber, and both were adapted for economy purposes. Is it possible that János came to Osijek or Bilje, which is at about 6 kilometre distance, to work on a Chamber’s project, and that he was also hired to design a burgher’s house in 1775? Despite the fact that it remains an open question, the record of Andreas Mayerhoffer’s work in Bilje in the 1720s, and János Mayerhoffer’s work for the Chamber in the 1770s, as well as strong resemblance between their architectural style and that of the Kohlhoffer House, indicate that they may have influenced or were even involved in the construction of Osijek in the second and third quarters of the 18th century.""

Interventions on the Church Between the Two World Wars

The renovation of the Church of St. Mark between the two world wars, instigated by parish priest Svetozar Rittig, encompassed construction work as well as the decoration of the interior. Poor condition of the church structure and displeasure with its look after the Schmidt-Bollé‘s historicist renewal were the reasons for the new project. A renovation committee was set up comprising eminent experts: parish priest Svetozar Rittig representing the parish of St. Mark, civil engineer Karlo Šefček and architect Bruno Bauer from the City Council, art historian Đuro Szabo from the Heritage conservation office and painter Jozo Kljaković. The construction work was carried out between 1936 and 1938, headed by engineer Karlo Šefček. Larger interventions included the replacement of the existing choir, built by Schmidt and Bollé, with a new one, of dimensions better suited to the church space, and the re-establishment of the chapel of St. Fabian and St. Sebastian in the place of the sacristy, which was relocated to the adjacent rooms. Damaged pillars were restored, panelling was fitted on the bottom section of the walls, as well as new paving. The crypt under the church were excavated, and reinforced concrete slabs were placed over. Furthermore, drainage was installed in the church, the heating system modernized and artificial lighting was added. Simultaneously with the renovation work, conservation research of sorts had been conducted, revealing certain elements of the earlier phases of the church construction.

The decorative embelishment of the church was carried out in the 1920s and 1930s, partly prior to, partly during and after the construction work on the church. It had comprised the work of painter Jozo Kljaković on the painting of the large wall surfaces of the nave, apse and the chapel, rendered in three phases. The walls were painted in Biblical themes and scenes from Croatian history. Ivan Meštrović added his contribution by designing bronze
statues and stone relief, and Ljubo Babić with three oils on canvas. This church renovation preserved the design features of the exterior, but the interior underwent intense modernization, through the introduction of new materials and forms. Furnishing the interior with contemporary contributions by the leading Croatian artists of the time and prominent themes and symbolism from the national history proved once again the extent of the national significance of the Church of St. Mark in the context of the Croatian history and culture.

"The Construction of the Belltower and the Church Renovation Between the 17th and the Beginning of the 19th Century

Multiple renovations of the Church of St. Mark during the 17th and the 18th centuries were not established by a wholesome concept, nor aimed at stylistic adjustment of the interior and the exterior. It was rather that the individual sections were renovated and repaired on and off subject to varying circumstances, and primarily dependent on financing. The belltower erected in the 16th century was lost in the fire of 1645, and the construction of a new one in 1659 was interrupted by yet another collapse of in the fire of 1674. The work continued only in the last decade of the 17th century, and as early as 1705 the belltower was almost completely finished and covered with a hipped roof. Around 1725 a tin onion dome was fitted on its roof instead.

The renovation of the church was carried out on two occasions. Between 1681 and 1685 the medieval stone windows were removed from the south façade, and replaced with new windows with rounded top sections and formats shaped in plaster. The renovation also comprised the replacement of the roof construction and roofing, above the sanctuary and the south portal, which is evident in the traces of the original, significantly lower roofing above those parts of the church. The other change was recorded on the painted medallion of the belltower, dated to 1775, when course, grain plaster was applied, with white paint work and the black painted lines outlining the architectural details.

Furnishing of the interior was carried out over a long period between the 17th and the 18th centuries, with approximately 12 altars, financed by Zagreb‘s guilds and fraternities. Significant is the commission of the central altar (1730) and the pulpit (1742) from the famous wood-carving workshop of Bishop Juraj Branjug‘s court. All the altars were removed in the 19th century, and some of the remaining statues are [now] housed at the Museum of the City of Zagreb, except one, entirely preserved altar of the Conversion of St. Paul, today housed in the Croatian History Museum. The lateral apses of the church used to be painted in the illusionist wall paintings, dated to the 18th century, the traces of which were found in the attic above the southern apse. At the beginning of the 19th century minor interventions were done on the church, such as the new west portal, designed by the architect Bartol Felbinger (1818).

Since the church had been in a bad condition for decades, up until mid-19th century there were initiatives for its demolition and the construction of a new church in a different site, however, a comprehensive renovation took place in the 1870s, headed by architects Friedrich Schmidt and Herman Bollé."

THE JESUIT MANOR IN VINICA – CONSTRUCTION PHASES AND PRESENTATION ISSUES

The author establishes the chronology of the successive construction of the Jesuit manor in Vinica. The manor is dated to the 17th century based on its characteristic floor plan with the sequencing of rooms on both sides of a centrally positioned hall. The first owners of the manor are not known, but the archival records show that it was earliest owned by the counts of Drašković, who sold it to the Jesuit order in 1738. The Jesuits had the manor radically restored in 1740 by adding the arcaded hallways, a new staircase and a chapel. In the 19th century, the manor was converted to a local government office, so additional changes were made in the interior, and the façade was redesigned with plastered strips and a different arrangement of window bays. In the 20th century, some inner walls of the upper floors were removed for the purposes of the textile factory that had been installed in the manor. Due to the years-long lack of function, the dilapidation of the building has caused the collapse of the eastern arcaded hallway, followed by its reconstruction at the turn of this century. In this heavily rebuilt structure, it took considerable efforts to read the conservation findings, but a thorough investigation of the building, as well as a study of archival sources, enabled the author to define the architectural development of the building and the guidelines for its restoration.

The Construction Development of Opeka Castle in Marcan (Vinica)

The recent conservation investigations of the stratified structures of Opeka Castle in Vinica have confirmed that the construction of now dilapidated castle has been carried out in stages. The first stage is dated to the year 1674, based on the inscription on the main portal from the period of count Nikola Keglević, to which period belongs most of the building’s masonry. From the second half of the 18th century until the mid-19th century, the castle was owned by the Drašković family, which undertook the construction of sail vaults, annex to the south wing, and a projecting block on the east façade. During the second half of the 19th century, the ownership went to the Bombelles family, during which time the castle underwent a radical restoration in the style of historicism. The years-long construction works lasted with some intermissions until the beginning of the 20th century, and consisted of significant changes and additions to the structure, as well as a new façade design in medieval revival styles. The results of the conservation investigations have yielded a set of guidelines for the presentation of the castle, which is based on preserving its many historic layers. Due to the condition of the demolished east and south wings, it will be necessary to perform a considerable reconstruction.

Abstract: Povijesnim i laboratorijskim istraživanjima te sondiranjem ostataka žbuke utvrđena je izvorna prostorna organizacija, namjena pojedinih prostorija i dekorativna obrada zidova u Kursalonu. Oblikovanje unutrašnjosti i vanjštine zgrade izvedeno je polikromnom ...

""The Palace of the Zagreb Kaptol in Varaždin was considered
to have been built at the beginning of the 18th century. A close study of its extensive construction documentation, kept at the Kaptol Archives in Zagreb, proved that between 1760 and 1763, a new palace was erected to replace an older house. Although the records do not reveal the identity of the palace designer, the execution was entrusted to Anton Maričnik, the master builder of the Ludbreg manorial estate, while a number of local craftsmen were commissioned to do the artisan work. In spatial organization, as well as in the façade decoration, the palace resembles a group of 8th-century noble houses in Varaždin, influenced by the neighboring province of Styria. The specific feature of its façade design, the projecting block crowned with a pediment with scrolls, is typical of several other secular buildings dating between the 1760s and 1770s in Croatia. Despite small dimensions, the palace stands out as a valuable work of the baroque architecture in the continental Croatia.""

Tekst donosi pregled svjetovne arhitekture slavonskih gradova u 18. stoljeću, kada nastupa snažna izgradnja potaknuta njihovim vojnim i trgovačkim ustrojstvom. Najveća i najreprezentativnija zdanja gradi vojska, pa se u nizu velikih vojarni ističu generalati i sjedišta pukovnija, koji su reprezentativno arhitektonski oblikovani poput palača. Uz njih su važne zgrade civilne i vjerske uprave, kao što su gradske i općinske vijećnice, a veliki je broj i javnih zgrada namijenjenih boravku većeg broja ljudi (škole i dr.). Stambena izgradnja ograničena je na skromne građanske kuće, a reprezentativna obilježja imaju tek kuće gradskih činovnika ili vojnih časnika

"The conservation research of the façades of the former
Pauline monastery in Lepoglava, undertaken by the
Croatian Conservation Institute in 2007, revealed new
information on the construction and the original appearance of the monastery wings. The monastery was built in
stages between 1650 to 1673. The east wing was built first,
between 1650 to 1656. Then, the construction went on in
the north and south wings from 1656 to 1663. Finally, the
year of 1673 saw the completion of the west wing. Since the
mid-19th century, the monastery has been used as a state
prison, during which time its original baroque structures
have been degraded and partly destroyed. During the World
War II, the monastery was bombed and then rebuilt without
regard for its architectural and historic values. Recently, a
series of architectural designs from the mid-19th century
was discovered in Zagreb, showing the original baroque
appearance of the façades. Originally, the monastery’s outer
façades had horizontal strips made alternately in plaster
and painted in color, as well as windows with stone frames
and straight pediments. On the north façade of the north
wing, the builders have inscribed the year 1659 by cutting
it into the plaster, thereby designating the date of the façade
plastering. The courtyard (cloister) façades had open arcades on the ground floor, and rows of two-bay windows on the 1st and 2nd floors. All architectural elements had plastered decorations, and the windows had small, painted columns in between the two bays. Two sun clocks, polychromed in red, black and blue color, are preserved on the south façade of the north wing. The original coloring of the façade was done in light-grey color, while decorative parts were painted white. This type of coloring was typical of the 17th-century façades in the mainland Croatia."

Documenting the Condition of the Peristyle’s East Colonnade in 2004

"In 2003 the Croatian Conservation Institute initiated a large project of the restoration of the Peristyle in Diocletian’s Palace in Split. The pilot project encompassed solely the northern part of the east colonnade including the corner pylon with a pilaster, and the first two columns. The overall investigations included the laboratory analysis and other technological procedures to examine the structure and condition of the stone. Historical research gave insight into the interventions on the northeast part of the collonade. It has been shown that this part of the colonnade has sustained severe damage, mainly due to the construction of a house in 1805, where the Peristyle’s antique columns were used to make a part of its facade. The house was subsequently demolished in 1876, which led to structural damage, as well as damage to the stone surfaces. The complete repair of the colonnade was done in 1907, when the entire cornice was dismantled to be fixed with a cement mortar. The columns were stabilized with the insertion of new marble, somewhat different in color. Major repair and replacement of the antique stone blocks, especially in the lower parts of the structure, was done during the 1959-61 restoration, when the entire floor surface of the Perstyle was lowered to its original level. The 2004 conservation investigation also included a detailed architectural measuring of the northern part of the east colonnade. The designs of the current condition were digitally mapped with hatches depicting various types of damage detected on the stone. Initially, we encountered fourteen types of damage. The typology was further adapted to better illustrate the condition of the stone, so 10 types of damage were retrieved (break outs, fissures, erosion, soiling, crust, lichen, test cleaning, mortar, metal pieces, and mechanical damage due to anthropogenic impact). The overall mapping of the stone damage was done on the views in scale 1:20, on the details of bases and capitals in scale 1:10, also on the details of the west part of cornice in scale 1:5, and on the developed surface of the arch intrados in scale 1:20. The measuring and the historical research was followed by the restoration works which lasted from May 2004 to October 2005. This restoration project was one of the first in Croatia to use laser as a method of cleaning stone surfaces.
"

Knjiga predstavlja zbornik radova povodom dovršetka dugogodišnje obnove crkve sv. Marka u Zagrebu. Kroz šest članaka različitih autora (Zorislav Horvat, Petar Puhmajer, Dragan Damjanović, Zrinka Marković, Vladanka Milošević, Edita Šurina, Branimir Rašica i Ivan Jengić), prikazan je razvoj crkve od prvotne, još uvijek nedovoljno rasvijetljene izgradnje u srednjem vijeku, preko obnova u 17. i 18. stoljeću, zatim velike Schmidt-Bolléove obnove u drugoj polovici 19. stoljeća, potom obnove između dva svjetska rata te nizu konzervatorsko-restauratorskih zahvata od 1967. do danas. Uz građevinsku povijest crkve usko je vezana i povijest njezina likovnog opremanja pa se u člancima, osobito onih koji se tiču obnova u novom vijeku i u novije doba, govori tehničkim i likovnim aspektima unutrašnjeg uređenja, koje je obuhvaćalo postavljanje i izmjenu oltara, oslikavanje zidova i drugo.

U svrhu izrade članaka provedena su opsežna arhivska i povijesna istraživanja crkve, pa se u zaključku knjige donose i dva značajna arhivska izvora za njezinu povijest (protokoli kanonskih vizitacija od 17. do 19. stoljeća te izvještaj o radovima iz 1937. godine), dok je slika razvojnog procesa izgradnje crkve dodatno upotpunjena saznanjima dobivenim tijekom građevinskih i konzervatorsko-restauratorskih radova, kada su in situ bilježeni nalazi u strukturama. Time je ujedno stvorena i osnovna konzervatorska, arhitektonska i povijesna dokumentacija o crkvi, koja može poslužiti kao temelj svih budućih istraživanja i obnova.

Palače 17. i 18. stoljeća u Varaždinu najveći su i najkvalitetniji fond gradske svjetovne arhitekture baroknog razdoblja u kontinentalnoj Hrvatskoj. Disertacija se bavi proučavanjem njihovih razvojnih, oblikovnih, stilskih i tehničkih obilježja u kontekstu hrvatske i srednjoeuropske barokne arhitekture. Težište je na analizi procesa i okolnosti izgradnje varaždinskih palača te njihovu tipološkom određenju prema prostornim i oblikovnim značajkama. Pri određenju tipologije, uzete su postavke Carla Giulija Argana, prema kojima se utvrđivanje arhitektonskog tipa temelji na činjenici da postoji niz građevina koje su formalno i funkcionalno srodne, a obrazac je izveden iz skupine formalnih varijanti na zajednički temeljni oblik. Tako su u kontekstu prostorne organizacije varaždinskih palača uočena dva osnovna načela, utemeljena na distribuciji prostorija u odnosu na osnovnu komunikaciju, a to su nizanje i grupiranje. Ranije načelo je nizanje, koje se kod jednokrilnih građevina ostvaruje na način da su prostorije prizemlja nanizane uz osovinski položenu vežu koji je povezivala ulicu i dvorište, a na katu u njegovoj osi hodnik iz kojeg se ulazi u prostorije. Ovakva je organizacija bila određena karakterističnim dugačkim i uskim parcelama položenima kraćom stranom uz ulicu, koje dominiraju u urbanističkoj matrici gradova tijekom srednjeg vijeka, a zadržavaju se katkad sve do 18. stoljeća. U Varaždinu i Hrvatskoj niz takvih primjera sačuvan je iz 17. stoljeća, osobito u svjetovnoj arhitekturi, a nalazimo ga kod palače Patačić (1669.) i palače Wassermann-Kreuz. Kod višekrilnih građevina, javlja se drugi tip prostorne organizacije nizanjem, koje se također realizira s obzirom na format parcele. U 16. i 17. stoljeću dolazi do okrupnjavanja parcela, koje su sada prema ulici položene svojom dužom stranom. Novi objekti koji se na njima podižu smješteni su glavnim krilom uz ulicu te lateralnim krilima prema dvorištu. Porijeklo ovakvog tipa organizacije seže u Italiju do firentinskih palača 15. stoljeća, a njegova se pojava u srednjoj Europi može povezati s dolaskom talijanskih majstora u 16. stoljeću. Tlocrt je zasnovan na pravokutnom ili kvadratnom obliku s četiri krila koja zatvaraju unutrašnje dvorište, pri čemu krila čine jednostruki nizovi prostorija uz arkadni hodnik. Takvom je organizacijom obilježen početak izgradnje reprezentativne stambene arhitekture. U Varaždinu će ona kontinuirati kroz čitavo 17. i 18. stoljeće pa sve do početka 19. stoljeća te će biti karakterističan za palaču Prašinski Sermage (17.-18. st.), palaču Patačić-Puttar (18. st.), palaču Drašković (17. st., obnovljena sredinom 18. st.), palaču Erdödy (prije 1765.) i palaču Erdödy-Oršić (1805.). Bitna novina koju je donijelo barokno doba, a povezana je s potrebom za funkcionalnijim i udobnijim životnim prostorom, u arhitekturi palača značila je formiranje grupa prostorija organiziranih poput stanova. Njihove su najranije pojave u Francuskoj u 17. stoljeću, u arhitekturi pariških gradskih palača, tzv. hotela (hotel particulier), dok se Beču javljaju osamdesetih i devedesetih godina 17. stoljeća, a u drugim austrijskim gradovima nešto kasnije. U Varaždinu se zapažaju tek u drugoj polovici 18. stoljeća, ali na relativno velikom broju palača: pavlinski majur (1760.), palača Zagrebačkog kaptola (1760.-63.), palača Petković (oko 1767.), palača Varaždinske županije (1769.), palača Keglević (1774.-75.), Hinterholzer (1771.-72.), Janković (oko 1775., nadogr. u 19. st.), Herzer (1791.-95.) i Eggersdorfer (oko 1807.). Stariji i mlađi tipovi prostorne organizacije palača vremenski se isprepliću, pa iako će pojedina skupina biti karakteristična za određeno razdoblje, općenito se može zaključiti kako je renesansno doba polazište razvoja palača koje imaju prostorni niz, dok je barokno doba za one koje imaju prostornu grupu. Osim prostorne organizacije, pročelja također pokazuju na izvjesne tipološke obrasce, koje su uglavnom invencija baroknog razdoblja, a riječ je o raščlambi rizalitima. Taj je princip raščlambe utemeljen, prema C. Norberg-Schultzu, na dominaciji i subordinaciji elemenata, koja se očituje na razini cjelokupnog volumena, pojedinih njegovih segmenata, ali jednako i u dekoraciji, pri čemu pročelje redovito ima reprezentativni karakter, bogato je urešeno i predstavlja vizualni identitet ne samo zgrade, nego i ulice i trga. Pročelja mogu imati jedan ili tri rizalita, što je slučaj kod većine obrađenih palača, dok u Varaždinu izostaju dvorizalitna rješenja. Osim rizalita, kao element raščlambe javlja se erker i to kao središnji element dvije ugaone palače, palače Patačić i Patačić-Puttar, a gdje se, kao i kod rizalita, na isti način izražava ideja raščlambe i naglašavanja elemenata. Izdvojeni slučaj u koncepciji raščlambe predstavlja gradska vijećnica s tornjem, koja je u osnovi građevina 15. stoljeća, ali se u 18. stoljeću nadograđuje te dobiva izgled reprezentativne palače, pri čemu toranj preuzima ulogu najvažnijeg i najistaknutijeg elementa raščlambe. Koncepti prostornih i oblikovnih rješenja varaždinskih palača nisu proizvod lokalne sredine, nego zbir različitih arhitektonskih iskustava koji su ostvareni u tada najvećem gradu kontinentalne Hrvatske, ali koje nalazimo i drugdje u Hrvatskoj te izvan njenih granica. Budući da je sjeverozapadna Hrvatska više stotina godina bila pod utjecajem Austrije, napose Štajerske, čija joj je blizina u političkoj, gospodarskoj i kulturnoj sferi bila od presudnog značenja, djelovanje štajerskih majstora imalo je ključnu ulogu u graditeljstvu na području sjeverozapadne Hrvatske. Dolazak štajerskih arhitekata, u prvom redu vojnih graditelja u 16. stoljeću, a kasnije i graditelja većih radionica iz Graza i Maribora, imao je utjecaj na domaće graditeljske cehove te značio prenošenje i razmjenu iskustava oblikovne i tehničke prirode, a koja su snažno vidljiva i u arhitekturi varaždinskih palača 17. i 18. stoljeća.