Edgar Johan Kuusik

Edgar Johan Kuusik (22 February 1888 – 3 August 1974) was an Estonian architect and furniture and interior designer.

Biography Kuusik was born in Valgjärve, Võrumaa, into a family who were masters of the Pikajärve mansion. He studied at Tartu Reaalkool from 1899 to 1906 and, from 1906, at the Riga Polytechnic Institute, from which he graduated in 1914 as an architect. After graduation, he travelled around Finland, where he had hoped to return in the autumn of 1914 to work in Eliel Saarinen's architectural bureau. However, at the outbreak of World War One he was forced to change his plans. He couldn't find a job in Estonia, so he decided to go to St. Petersburg where he worked for an architect named B. von Hueck. During World War I he worked as a commander for war remediation, and in 1916-1918, he worked in the construction department of the Peter the Great`s naval fortress in Tallinn, Pagari Street.

In 1945, Kuusik joined the Estonian SSR Architects' Union, but at the beginning of the 1950s he was removed from the list because of his past. In Tartu, he designed Tammelinna and beautiful city rental houses, for example, K. E. v. Baeri 1 and Liiva 17.

Drawings of interior decoration and details of the art building were prepared by E. J. Kuusik. Kuusik also designed the furniture - a long ping-pong table, which was performed at the Luther factory and the Art Club's interior. If the exterior doors of the building are functional, then the interior doors will be decorated with a typical Kuusik. Kuusik has written, "... ornamentation is essentially so closely related to the construction, that we cannot imagine a vivid construction of art without ornamentation. The question here can only be, in so far as the abstract nature should be ornamentation for this building. " In the interiors of the art building - doorways, stairwell window distribution, vestibule floor, stairway, etc.—Kuusik used an abstract geometric decoration (circular tondo door and window frame design, low relief horizontal boards and profiles for ornaments on doors, etc.). The interior of the showrooms was light, the walls were covered with a blue-white oil paint. The big hall was lit up by the roof window. The light bulb has been maintained, cleaned and replaced by a technical floor located above the hall. The luminaries were hung on the ceiling of the Freedom Square, the larger spherical so-called Saturn lamp illuminated the interiors. There were parquet floors in the hallways, a floor with a geometric pattern in the wardrobe lining, the design and color scheme of which was designed by Kuusik. The retained cloaked racks and barriers are also original.

The art building was completed and opened on 15 September 1934 with an art exhibition. President K. Päts concluded his opening address with the words "... if this art stamp is only addressed to serious art, I want to make sure that this art building is left to the forefront of artists forever. I will give this building to artists. "In 1940, the Art Hall was nationalized and handed over to the ENSV Arts Foundation. In the March 1944 air strikes, the art building was damaged - windows, luminaire and other furnishings shattered. Money for the renovation of the building was obtained from the Allied Fund.

From 1959 to 1962, an overhead construction of the art building was designed and performed according to the sketch by E. J. Kuusik (Luik from the preliminary draft). The basement and the first floor were reinforced, and the columns were surrounded by Febet shirts with pre-tensioned spiral armor. Awnings were built above the windows of the first floor stores, so the original "window-lifting mechanisms" were demolished. The entire facade was covered with a new granite grinder while maintaining its original color, and the courtyard facade was covered with a lubricant grinder. The reconstruction of the building was aligned with the height of the Art Hall of the Art Foundation building (1948-1953, architect Alar Kotli), but the original proportions of the façade were violated. It is a protected national cultural monument (reg. No. 3093). The main facade of the building faces the Sakala Street, slightly away from the street. The winged hammer marks the backing of the main facade. The central union of the building, which emphasizes the main part and the entrance, is designed on the portico and the edges with pairs of piers. Decorative window frames emphasizing the festivity of the facade, which appear sto be contrastingly highlighting on the dark surface of the plaster. Unfortunately, the furniture belonging to the building is not preserved.