Ante Starčević Home, Library building in Donji grad, Zagreb, Croatia
The Ante Starčević Home is a three-storey Renaissance Revival palace at Trg Ante Starčevića 6 in Zagreb's Donji grad, built in 1895 to designs by Leo Hönigsberg and Julio Deutsch. Its facade follows the "monumental style of the Italian Renaissance", with symmetrical window rows and decorative mouldings. It now houses the Zagreb City Libraries' central library and registration service.
The decision to build the home was made on 27 April 1892 at a Party of Rights assembly in Rijeka attended by more than 80 members. Citizens donated 3,878 contributions totalling 104,471 kuna, and the cornerstone was laid on 8 May 1892. Architects Leo Hönigsberg and Julio Deutsch designed the palace in the monumental style of the Italian Renaissance, and it was completed on 17 July 1895.
The building is named after Ante Starčević, the "Father of the Homeland" of the Party of Rights, whose cramped courtyard rooms prompted Eugen Kumičić in 1892 to propose a dignified home for him. Today it houses the Zagreb City Libraries' central lending service and the Ante Starčević Library, and the square in front bears his name.
The building is easy to locate in Zagreb's Donji grad district and stands protected as a registered cultural property. Visitors can admire the facade from the street and observe the architectural details from outside.
The building was funded by 3,878 individual and group contributions totalling 104,471 crowns, collected between 1892 and 1895. The largest shareholder was Roko Bradanović, a Chilean Croat merchant from Valparaíso with roots on the island of Vis, and the long-time manager was the writer Marija Kumičić.
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