{"id":5068188,"date":"2025-04-11T13:59:50","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T11:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visitparnu.com\/supeluse\/homanni-maja\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T10:40:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T08:40:56","slug":"homanni-maja","status":"publish","type":"supeluse","link":"https:\/\/visitparnu.com\/en\/supeluse\/homanni-maja\/","title":{"rendered":"HOMANN’S HOUSE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The earliest owner of the house was <\/span><\/span>August Frommhold\u00a0<\/span>Lorenzsonn<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>(1836-1905), a\u00a0<\/span>P\u00e4rnu<\/span>\u00a0town clerk and archivist, who had a small one-storey building erected here (the first floor of the seaward part of the present building). August Lorenzsonn was born in 1836 in\u00a0<\/span>P\u00e4rnu<\/span>. His father was Caspar Franz Lorenzsonn (1811-1880), a long-time churchwarden of the Elizabeth congregation (1830-1875) and editor of the Perno\u00a0<\/span>Postimees<\/span>\u00a0newspaper after Jannsen.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Caspar was one of the key figures in early Estonian literary history. As a young man, he translated and published a true\u00a0<\/span><\/span>bestseller\u00a0<\/span><\/span>in 1839 \u2013 a story translated into the\u00a0<\/span>P\u00e4rnu<\/span>\u00a0dialect, “The Life of\u00a0<\/span>Jenowewa<\/span>“. This 22-page little book is\u00a0<\/span>essentially the<\/span>\u00a0first fiction publication in Estonian. The book was printed in the Marquardt printing house in\u00a0<\/span>P\u00e4rnu<\/span>. Caspar’s son August Frommhold started his apprenticeship as a printer in the same printing house, which was now run by Friedrich Wilhelm Borm (1812-1881). However, he followed in his father’s (and his father’s brothers’) footsteps and became a churchwarden-schoolteacher in\u00a0<\/span>Audru<\/span>, near\u00a0<\/span>P\u00e4rnu<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1874, he resigned from his position as churchwarden of\u00a0<\/span>Audru<\/span>\u00a0and took up a position as town clerk in\u00a0<\/span>P\u00e4rnu<\/span>. In 1896, he sold the house to\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Baroness Alma Stael von Holstein<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>(1852-?), daughter of the manor owner Heinrich Stael von Holstein, who resold the house just a couple of years later.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo studio in the yard<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In 1909, the studio photographer Homann from\u00a0<\/span>P\u00e4rnu<\/span>\u00a0became the owner of the house.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Wladislav [Ladislaus] Homann<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>(1855-1912) was born in the town of\u00a0<\/span>Bia\u0142ystok<\/span>\u00a0in what\u00a0<\/span>is now Poland<\/span>\u00a0and had previously worked in Riga and\u00a0<\/span>Kuressaare<\/span>. In 1905, he had received permission from the governor to open a photographic studio in Arthur Pusill’s house (the building of the Hotel Bristol, entrance from\u00a0<\/span>Ringi<\/span>\u00a0Street) in\u00a0<\/span>P\u00e4rnu<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He had the building on\u00a0<\/span>Supeluse<\/span>\u00a0Street rebuilt to the shape we know today, with a second floor and a larger volume facing the street.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>The project\u00a0<\/span>dates back to<\/span>\u00a01910. The project to build a vaulted laundry room in the courtyard, to which a glass-roofed photo studio was later added as an annex, also\u00a0<\/span>dates back to<\/span>\u00a0the same year.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After Homann’s death in 1912, the house was inherited by his widow Emma (1861-1930), his son Wladislav (born 1895), a chemical engineer, and his daughter Wanda (1895).<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The house was bought from the heirs in 1918 by\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Erich Andreas Glabe\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong>(1886-?). His father was Carl Demetrius Glabe (1851-1910), a merchant of the second Guild of\u00a0<\/span>P\u00e4rnu<\/span>. The family lived in “Glaabe’s house on\u00a0<\/span>Glaabe<\/span>\u00a0square” (now\u00a0<\/span>Vabaduse<\/span>\u00a0Park). Erich’s uncle, Johann (1859-1917), was also a merchant who ran a tobacco and alcohol shop in the former Specht shop premises next to the Town Hall. Erich Glabe himself also became a merchant, running a shop selling all kinds of technical equipment and household appliances, first at Nikolai 10 and from 1912, at R\u00fc\u00fctli 51 opposite the Endla Society House.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1935, the house was bought from Erich Glabe’s widow, Anna Glabe, by its last pre-war owner,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Reinhold Isak<\/span><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0from Viru County. He himself moved into an apartment in the courtyard house soon after and rented out four large and prestigious apartments in the house on the street. Jewish merchants from\u00a0<\/span>P\u00e4rnu<\/span>,\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span>Leib Kahn<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>(1901-1941) and\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Jeremiah Krakusen<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, together with their mother and brother, found a home here. In 1938, Krakusen’s sister Frieda’s family, together with the head of the family, Doctor\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Schmuel Haitov<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>(1909 – 1984), moved into his apartment on the first floor.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Founder of\u00a0<\/span>P\u00e4rnu<\/span>\u00a0Polyclinic<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

a practicing doctor, he saw patients in the spacious apartment here. In the first year of communism, he became the first head physician of\u00a0<\/span>P\u00e4rnu<\/span>\u00a0Polyclinic, founded on 20 November 1940. The house was opened on L\u00f5una Street, in the former retirement home of the German Nikolai congregation, which became empty after the Germans left in 1939.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While Haitov’s parents, who came from a Jewish family of\u00a0<\/span>P\u00e4rnu<\/span>\u00a0origin, perished in the Holocaust during the subsequent German occupation, Schmuel Haitov, his wife and their young son escaped to the rear of the Soviet Union, where he spent World War II as a military doctor in the Estonian National Army units of the Red Army. Only a couple of days after the capture of\u00a0<\/span>P\u00e4rnu<\/span>, on 26 September 1944, he arrived in his hometown and was appointed head of the health department of the war-ravaged city of\u00a0<\/span>P\u00e4rnu<\/span>\u00a0on the same day. A highly respected and recognised doctor in\u00a0<\/span>P\u00e4rnu<\/span>, who was awarded the title of Honoured Doctor of the Estonian SSR in 1976, died in\u00a0<\/span>P\u00e4rnu<\/span>\u00a0in 1984 and was buried in the Jewish Cemetery of the\u00a0<\/span>P\u00e4rnu<\/span>\u00a0Alevi Cemetery.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nationalisation<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"The Soviet authorities nationalised the house from the last pre-war owner, Reinhold Isak. Isak died in 1941 and was buried in the Alevi Cemetery. Immediately after the war, the building was used by the Red Army to house soldiers, like most of the larger buildings on\u00a0<\/span>Supeluse<\/span>\u00a0Street. Later, the housing authority rented it out as apartments.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, the two-storey house, originally with four, now with six apartments, is\u00a0<\/span>relatively well<\/span>\u00a0preserved. Fortunately, the last Soviet-era major renovation ensured the historic wooden decor was preserved. In addition to the house on the street, the courtyard house with its vaulted laundry room and the apartment on top of it has also survived. The former photographic studio in the courtyard was converted into a living space during the Soviet period.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5068188","supeluse","type-supeluse","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHOMANN'S HOUSE - Visit P\u00e4rnu<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/visitparnu.com\/en\/supeluse\/homanni-maja\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"HOMANN'S HOUSE - Visit P\u00e4rnu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The earliest owner of the house was August Frommhold\u00a0Lorenzsonn\u00a0(1836-1905), a\u00a0P\u00e4rnu\u00a0town clerk and archivist, who had a small one-storey building erected here (the first floor of the seaward part of the present building). August Lorenzsonn was born in 1836 in\u00a0P\u00e4rnu. 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August Lorenzsonn was born in 1836 in\u00a0P\u00e4rnu. 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