Provincial Estate and a Town in the Middle of the19th – Middle of the 20th Centuries

In 1908, in Šiauliai, close to their prosperous Leather Factory, Chaimas and Dora Frenkelis built a two-storey residence villa. The year of construction has been assumed referring to the weathercock on the roof. The architect of the villa is unknown. Chaimas Frenkelis Villa is the only building in Šiauliai and one of the few in Lithuania built in the Art Noveau architectural style at the beginning of the 20th century.
In the Chaimas Frenkelis Villa, many engineering novelties of the turn of the 20th century were realized: running water, central heating, electricity and telephone were installed. The family of Chaimas and Dora Frenkelis used to live here until World War I. During the interwar years they used the right part of the Villa with a separate entrance, while Šiauliai Hebrew Gymnasium occupied the left part and was functioning here. From 1940, for more than 50 years, this building used to house military medical institutions. At first, the Villa became a Soviet military hospital, later a lazaretto of the Whermacht, and from 1944 it settled the hospital of the Baltic military district of the Soviet Army. In the Soviet time, during reconstruction of the building, the exterior of the Villa was damaged. Still, the major part of the interiors: wooden linings, staircases, panels, ornamented oak parquets and doors with impressive bays remained intact. In 1993, the Villa was handed over to the Šiauliai Aušros Museum.
At present, Chaimas Frenkelis Villa functions as a historical cultural centre, the goal of which is to reveal to the visitors the multi-layer cultural heritage of Lithuania and all Europe. The exposition “Provincial Estate and a Town in the Middle of the19th – Middle of the 20th Centuries” shows valuables, brought to the museum from the nationalized in 1940-1941 Šiauliai disrtrict manors. The personality of the former owner of the Villa – Chaimas Frenkelis - and his activity in Šiauliai city are presented in brief at the beginning of the exposition.