The Most Common Problems of the Nineteenth-Century and the Early Twentieth-Century Apartment Building Structures and the Possibilities of Their Restoration

The nineteenth- and early twentieth-century tenement house is an important architectural phenomenon and a representative of the technical progress of rapidly developing European cities. In this context, the conservation of a large number of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century urban buildings of relatively high structural quality, in which many complementary structural elements such as windows, doors, floors, plaster, stucco elements, decorative paintings, etc., have been preserved, becomes increasingly important. The buildings of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries often provide a very plastic image of the lifestyle of their time, while the principles and technologies of traditional craftsmanship are still preserved in their construction elements. However, the load-bearing and non-load-bearing structures of these houses nowadays show characteristic, recurring defects and failures, which are most often caused by defects in materials, degradation processes caused mainly by moisture, faulty design, execution, use and neglected maintenance. Not only the restoration of the wooden and stucco elements but also of the locksmiths and other exterior and interior components of these buildings often results in the loss of these elements and the deterioration of the expression not only of the building itself but also of the street frontage or the entire area. In many cases, knowledge of the nature of the disturbance can facilitate and accelerate the design of the restoration of a historic building without compromising its heritage values and without compromising the integrity of the building itself and the urban fabric. The paper presents an overview of the most frequently occurring defects and failures of the front elevation of urban apartment buildings of the mentioned period and, for selected examples, the possibilities of restoration.