TRG MLADENACA 4–6 – ADAMOVIĆ PALACE
Adamović Palace, the first three‑story building in Novi Sad, was erected in 1911 on the corner with Petra Drapšina Street, by the Budapest architects Geza Markuš and Fridješ Spiegel.
The investor was Aleksandar “Saša” Adamović, the son of Aleksandar Šandor Adamović, founder of the well‑known winery. Saša inherited the vineyards in Kamenica and Rakovac, continued production, thus further establishing the family winery’s reputation.
The palace was built specifically to rent luxury apartments to wealthy clients — lawyers and doctors.
The flats were designed in two functional parts, residential and commercial, with separate entrances and convenient circular communication (i.e. circulation).
The use of slanted and curved walls was an innovative Art Nouveau practice.
The building was constructed by joining two parcels — on one stood previously the house of Martin Šleger from 1852, which was demolished to make way for the palace. Adamović Palace is distinguished by its complex plan, strong volume, and the rhythmic alternation of projecting and recessed vertical elements. On the façades there are large windows, balconies and terraces with diverse forms, bay windows (oriels), heavy consoles, and shallow decorative work in the parapet fields.
The mansard roof with archaic chimneys further emphasizes the silhouette, and above the oriels there are attics decorated with motifs of vases and anthropomorphic figures.
On the ground floor there are two passageways leading into the courtyard and to a spacious staircase with a cast‑iron balustrade.
On the corner in 1913 a modern café “Elita” was opened, but soon fell into disrepair.
Only when Žiga Mesei took over management did the place become popular for white and black coffee, chess, billiards, and gypsy music by Deže Kekenji. In the mid‑20th century a Slovak restaurant “Marina” operated here; today the building still houses hospitality businesses, though without its former attraction.
The representativeness of the palace obliged the city to design the square itself as a park, enclosed by a beautiful wrought‑iron fence, which over time disappeared.
Only toward the end of the 20th century, in a project by architect Slavko Županski, was the space re‑arranged again and enriched with bronze street furniture by sculptor Mladen Marinković.
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.
