Beogradska 21

“Pavilion of Engineer Officers”

A massive two-story building with a base in the shape of the Latin letter “L” was built on the corner of Beogradska and Nazorova streets.

The characteristic base of the building designated as the Pavilion of Engineer Officers is drawn on the plan of the Petovaradin fortress from 1761. Since its inception, in the middle of the 18th century, the building has retained its authentic purpose, and is still in use today as an integral part of the Serbian Army complex in the Lower Fortress.

Although a number of changes were made in the interior over time, both in the organization of the space and in the treatment of the surfaces, the building has preserved to this day all the elements of the authentic structural assembly, which is characterized by the massive masonry construction of the walls and half-shaped vaults in the basement and ground floor, and the cross and Prussian vaults on the first and second floor. The functional layout of the rooms on all floors is similar with central corridors and a series of offices placed on both sides.

The two stair verticals are in their original position, as well as the centrally placed skylight inside which the openings in the stone frame with iron bars have been preserved. The old wrought iron fence and traces of stucco ornamentation on the vault have been preserved on the staircase.

Judging by the design and materials used, the central entrance hall was given an appearance in the first decades of the 20th century that has been preserved to this day.

Under the building there are two separate basements which are accessed from the existing staircases with wooden treads. The rooms are under semi-shaped vaults made of brick, while the floors are made of rammed earth.

In the corner of the basement, the remains of a well that was removed on the ground floor are visible. The floors on the ground floor and on the upper floors have been replaced with modern materials, and the plastered and painted walls are covered with paneling.

The street facades are uniquely designed with accentuated multi-profiled attic and simply shaped mezzanine cornices. The wall canvas is plastered flat, except in the ground zone where shallow joints are drawn. The facades are divided by shallow pilasters that extend from the high plinth to the attic cornice. All the windows are in a shallow, simple, once stone, now plastered frame. On the ground floor they have a slightly prominent stone solbank and protective gratings, while on the first floor they are emphasized by protective stylized wrought iron fences at the height of the parapet on prominent stone profiled bases.

The facade from Beogradska Street is symmetrically composed, divided by pilasters into four fields, of which the two central fields accentuate the entrance part with double, segmentally finished portals, of which only the left one is functional today, while the right one is walled up with a window opening in the middle.

Above the portal, on the first floor, there are prominent stone balconies on profiled stone consoles. The fences are made of wrought iron, in a combination of stylized letters and floral ornamentation.

The main gate is wooden, double-winged with a skylight, of recent construction. The courtyard facade is plastered flat without dividing cornices with openings in shallow plaster frames and balconies with a simple iron fence of recent date. The roof is high, four-gable above the street part, and two-gable below, covered with pepper tiles.

In the extension of the main building, there is a lower, one-story building of the former Infantry barracks with apartments for staff officers. The base is rectangular with two prominent stair annexes, extremely reduced design suitable for the specific purpose of the building. The facades have an accentuated cornice and a simply shaped mezzanine cornice with rows of windows in shallow, flat plaster frames.

The realisation of this site was supported by the Administration for Culture of the City of Novi Sad

The sources and materials of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the City of Novi Sad were used for the realization of this website

The Old Core of Novi Sad was declared a cultural asset, by the decision on establishing it as a spatial cultural-historical unit – 05 no. 633-151/2008 of January 17, 2008, “Sl. gazette of the Republic of Serbia” no. 07/2008.