Katoļu (Catholic) Street

It probably got its name from the plot of land belonging to the Vecpils (Altenburg) Catholic Church at the end of this street (nowadays № 1 and № 3 Kuldīgas Street). In the autumn of 1940, Katoļu (Catholic) Street was renamed Sarkanā (The Red) Street, and in July 1941 it regained its old name, which was taken away again on October 31, 1948, when it was renamed Pionieru (Pioneer) Street. Since 1990, there is again Katoļu Street in Aizpute.

A photograph taken around 1940/41 shows the beginning of Katoļu (Catholic) Street

Beginning of Katoļu (Catholic) Street in 2014

At one time, the place was called Falkenhof, which got its name from Johann Joseph Falck, a doctor of medicine in Königsberg in 1744 who practiced in Aizpute (also named Falke). It is known that in 1746 he lived in Liepāja, but after that he at some time moved to Aizpute, the capital of Piltene District, where he established his residence there. In 1760, Dr Falck offered to rent this house to the Land Parliament (Landtag) for its sittings, and in 1765 the Landtag entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement with Falck for 2,000 Albert Reichsthalers, retaining the right for Dr Falck and his wife to continue living there. After Dr Falck's death in 1782, his widow entered into a tenancy agreement with the Landtag for 50 Talers a year until the end of her life, which came in 1785.

The building served as the house of Piltene Land Council (Landrat), also known as the District House, until 1804, when due to its old age the building could no longer be used for the needs, therefore it was sold.

The former Falkenhof of the noble Piltene Knighthood was bought for 1,635 Talers by August von Fircks, an owner of Rokaische (Rokaiži) und Nogalle (Nogale) Manors, but in 1819 the former Council House with the entire tower clock was exchanged for it from Fircks by the miller Heinrich Christoph Wilcke, who handed it over to Gottliebe Wilcke in 1829.

In 1844 the property was bought by the judge of Aizpute District Baron Alexander von Roenne, in 1872 Paul von Roenne, in 1874 Louise von der Osten-Sacken, in 1877 Olga von Rickmann, born Osten-Sacken, from whom in 1922 the house was inherited by her daughter Elvira Wilhelmine von Rickmann.

In 1923, this Katoļu (Catholic) Street property was bought for 3,500 Lats by Eduard Schwerduth, the Head of the Aizpute German Evangelical Lutheran Congregation, who sold it for 5,000 Lats to Alfrēds Ābeltiņš, a sworn lawyer living in Riga, in 1932, but a year later for 15,000 Lats - Latvian German Evangelical-Lutheran Church Union. This striking price difference suggests that a major refurbishment of the building has taken place between the two purchases.

In the 1930s, apartment and work premises of Walther von Hirschheydt (1898-1985), the last pastor of the German congregation of the Aizpute Evangelical Lutheran Church, who returned to Germany with his family in 1939, were there.

Today, № 1 Katoļu (Catholic) Street is the property of the municipality. On the ground floor of the building there are weavers of the Folk Applied Art Studio "Aizputes kamolītis" (Thread clue of Aizpute), as well as a collection of dolls by V. Jēriņa can be seen. There is also a point for organizing public works, on the 1st floor - apartments.

№ 3 was Ina Schwerduths's house.

In the 18th century, this place was one of the five houses of the then richest Aizpute merchant Heymann Wulff Sr. Mitausche Anzeiger announces in № 32 on July 31, 1802 that five houses of the deceased Heymann Wulff will be auctioned off on August 18. This house was apparently bought by Johann Joseph Falck’s (Falke) nephew, mentioned in the description of № 1 Katoļu (Catholic) Street, who was born in Leipzig in 1746 and obtained a doctorate in medicine in Halle in 1774, was having a practice in Courland since 1774 and a doctor in Piltene District since 1798, Gottfried Falke (he is also Falck), because during the 1811 census it was one of his houses. However, he himself lived in the present № 22 Atmodas (Awakening) Street.

In 1834, the house belonged to the unmarried carpenter Johann Friedrich Wendel. Wendel also died that year. The next information is about 1855, when this property was sold for 2,600 Rubles by the heirs of the deceased lord of the manor von Offenberg. The buyer was Baron von Sacken. In 1858, the free lord von der Osten-Sacken sold it to Hanna Sahra Feinberg for 2,700 Rubles, but in 1891 it was bought for the same amount by Schanno (Joel) Feinberg.

In 1921, the property rights of the deceased Schanno Feinberg were confirmed to the heirs of the deceased, from whom Ina Schwerduth bought their inheritance in 1923 for 70,000 Latvian Rubles.

On the right side you can see the greenery created in 1936 between Katoļu (Catholic) Street and Pasta (Post) Street. Behind the trees, a two-storey stone building can be seen on № 1 Pasta (Post) Street. (See Pasta Street around 1900)

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