ABOUT
The house that today houses the Art Deco Museum was built in 1929.
The museum is housed in a building whose exterior and interior are decorated with many of the Art Deco signs that were fashionable at the time, and which can be found in New York, London and Paris. The search for a Lithuanian national style is also reflected through this house. The 1929 oak door is decorated with a motif of tulips and lilies, and the house's stepped tower is decorated with patterns reminiscent of national textile fabrics.
Architect: Edmundas Alfonsas Frykas.
The owners, Pranas and Vanda Gudavičiai and their daughter Danute, lived on the ground floor and rented out all the other apartments.
In 1929-1940, the apartments in this house were rented to people such as: Jurgis and Eugenija Štroms, Aleksandras Bobinskis, Maks Leonas Rozen, Pranas Dailidė, Prof. Vincas Čepinskis, the Latvian military attaches Janis Žids and Fridrichs Kocinš, Ošeris Kaplanas, Antanas Vaitkevičius, Stasys Grigaliūnas, Stasys Baltramijūnas, Dr. Kazimieras Gurauskas, Isaacs Sudarskis, Jonas Lukauskas, and Chaim Starovolskis.
On 18 December 2016, the owners of apartment 5 upload an advertisement for the sale of the apartment, and on the same day the apartment is reserved by Petras Gaidamavičius and Karolis Banys. They have been attracted for some time to this expressive apartment block at the intersection of Gediminas and K. Donelaičio Streets, decorated with granite plaster and masks. Despite the difficult fate of the building, the apartment retains its authentic layout, with 16 doors, tiled floors and oak parquet. Exceptional authenticity that has not been destroyed by time.
The apartment is being carefully managed between 2017 and 2020. Polychrome studies are being used to recreate the colours of the walls in the rooms from 1929 and the Art Deco and vernacular wall stripes hidden under layers of paint. All the authentic elements of the apartment are restored. Historical research, collection and restoration of furniture, books and household appliances.
The Art Deco Museum opened on 9 June 2021.
The founders of the museum, Petras Gaidamavičius and Karolis Banys, do not come from the usual field of art, architecture or heritage conservation, which is one of the reasons why they have managed to create a unique new museum experience, which they have called "Experiential Excursion". They wanted to create a museum that they themselves would enjoy visiting. This is where the first Experiential Excursion in Lithuania was born. Today, a wide range of Lithuanian museums, cultural and educational institutions have started to use the term and create similar immersive visitor experiences.
At the Art Deco Museum, guests can not only see, but also experience how the brave, hard-working inhabitants of the First Republic of Lithuania lived, and understand what the invaders did to our society and how important it is for us to defend our freedom today.
This museum is an example of sustainable culture. It was founded entirely from the personal savings of its founders and is maintained without any public taxpayer funding.