GRČKOŠKOLSKA 2
The two-story neo-baroque palace of the Central Credit Institute, which old Novi Sad residents called the Golden Man, after the bronze sculpture of Hermes atop the corner dome. It was built as a one-story building in 1896 according to the project of the Viennese architect Franz Voruda for the Central Credit Institution in Novi Sad, which was then the strongest Serbian financial institution in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The founders of the Central Credit Institution in Novi Sad were wealthy merchants Lazar Dunđerski, Ljuba Stefanović and Miloš Dimitrijević.
The second floor was added in 1921, according to the project of the same architect.
At the end of the 1970s, the building was renovated for the needs of Ljubljanska banka. The building was restored to its current state in 2004, when Zepter Bank took over the building, and iron columns with ionic capitals were discovered in the counter hall.
The neo-baroque Zlatni čovek palace is located on the corner, with the longer wing towards Grčkoškolska Street and the shorter one towards Miletićeva Street. The corner part of the building has a circular base and ends with a massive dome, on top of which is a bronze statue of Hermes, the work of sculptor Đorđe Jovanović. A balcony with a masonry railing made of balusters, on the first floor of this circular corner part of the building, is supported by four Ionic columns, and the three vertical openings on the floors are flanked by massive semicircular pilasters with Corinthian capitals.
On the facade towards Miletićeva street is another long balcony with a brick baluster fence, supported on supported by four massive spiral consoles.
The wing towards Miletićeva has 5 vertical openings, and towards Grčkoškolska 10. The openings on the ground floor and first floor are semicircular, and those on the second floor are architrave. The windows on the first and second floors are flanked by shallow pilasters with Ionic capitals. The facade is richly decorated with plastic of various motifs, especially above the windows on the first floor.
The facade fabric is horizontally grouted on the ground floor, and plastered flat on the upper floors.
On Sauter’s plan of 1889, on the site of the Golden Man Palace, there was a corner building on the combined lots 1416 and 1417.
In a photo taken around 1900, we see the original one-story building with the Golden Man on top of the dome.
An aerial photo taken in 1926 shows the center of Novi Sad and The Golden man palace is circled, showing the added floor.
Photo of The Golden man palace from 1995.
Photo of details from the hall of the Golden Man Palace towards the counter hall.
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.
