Architecture

Three Brothers

Riga, Latvia

Three Brothers — Wikimedia Commons image

The Three Brothers are three historic houses on Riga’s Mazā Pils iela. Their narrow plots, contrasting façades and restored courtyard show changes in domestic architecture and the twentieth-century choices that shaped the ensemble seen today.

Guide preview

Three narrow houses stand shoulder to shoulder on Riga’s Mazā Pils iela, but they are not three copies of the same medieval home. The Three Brothers, at numbers 17, 19 and 21, bring different centuries of domestic building into a single short street frontage. Their shapes show how Riga’s residents worked, stored goods and made room for family life on tight urban plots.

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Quick facts

  • The oldest house, at Mazā Pils iela 17, dates from the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century.
  • The middle house acquired its appearance in 1646.
  • The three formerly separate courtyards were joined during restoration.

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