Anton Lembit Soans
Anton Lembit Soans (September 17, 1885 Oranienbaum, Russia – November 26, 1966 Tallinn, Estonia) was an Estonian architect, urban planner and lecturer.
[1] At the same time, several other well-known names studied architecture in Riga, such as Erich Jacoby and Karl Treumann-Tarvas, Herbert Johanson, Eugen Habermann, Ernest Kühnert (also graduates of Tallinn Secondary School of Science) and Edgar Johan Kuusik.
Specialist career began in St. Petersburg as a member of the Association of Apartment Buildings under the guide of Ernst Wierich, it was recommended to work with someone for a few years before becoming independent professional.
For example, the area between Narva and Tartu highways was completed under his supervision, including the plan of the Police Park, the plans for the area between Väike-Ameerikas, as well as Pärnu highway and the railway, which provided for several plantations [4] A good example of a garden city is the construction of Aarde and Preesi streets in Pelgulinna (1927), using H. Johanson's four typical projects (1929).
the project "Air, Water and the Sun", which was created by Anton Soans, Edgar Kuusik and Frans de Vries, was awarded 1st Prize at the competition organized by the Pirita Coastal Planning Program.
In 1923 Soans made the first plan of Haapsalu, which foresaw it as a new management and shopping center (not performed), a more densely populated main street of Karja, a fire fighting house, a sanatorium specially for the resort and Läänemaa Gymnasium.
[1] In 1925 a new mine was constructed on the edge of Kohtla-Järve, according to Anton Soans' general plan small dwellings and schoolhouses were built, wooden barracks and low-rise apartment buildings as dispersed groups (Hädaküla) and officials' houses (Siidisuka).
Revival of Pärnu as a formerly prestigious resort town, restoration of Tartu as a centre for education and science (1945 with Peeter Tarvase, 1948, 1954 with J. Fomini and H. Arman, 1959 corrected) and Tallinn's new general plan (with O. Keppe and H. Arman, Option I, 1946, Revised 1950, was approved in 1952; Soviet Estonia Prize in 1948).
[5] In terms of his output, Anton Soans can be regarded mostly as a city planner, but he is the author of several magnificent architectural projects.
In the second half of the decade, he began to demonstrate his ability to execute functionalist architecture (A.Soans, House of the Estonian Seed Farm, Tallinn, Pärnu mnt 2, an overhaul project, 1923; Long 36.
Other participating architects for the buildings were Richard Falkenberg, Johann Ostrat, Villem Seidra and Artur Veedemaa-Vetemaa.
[3] In 2015 it turned into a real estate development project called Villa Soans, in which the house was renovated and 9 apartments created.
A modernist aesthetic, featuring a large glass screen that combines exhibition halls, meeting rooms, and a number of studio windows.
Soans' creative contribution is uncertain, but he signed both the Pärnu Beach Hotel (1935–1937) and the functionalist villa on Lõuna street (1933–1936).
The house has robustly functionalistic elements, asymmetrical corner window frames, a round panorama wall and metal railings on balconies.
[14] He also designed the Pelgulinna Resort (destroyed in 1936), the Estonian Seedlings Community House (Valli St 1936), the Industrial Palace (1937 A. Kotli), the Fairs Building (1937) and the English College ( with J Kunder and A Jansen, 37–38, all in Tallinn, but not built) and the Pühajärve Holiday Home (only the administrative building was built in 1954).
[1] September 18, 2012 – November 7, 2010 the exhibition "Architect Anton Soans 125" took place in the salt basement big hall of the Estonian Architecture Museum, in which the curator was Matis Rodin and designer Marge Pervik-Kaal.
They had two sons Eerik and Ado Soans, the first is a forest scientist and the younger one a civil engineer in civilian and industrial construction.
