Dimitrije T. Leko

Dimitrije T. Leko

Dimitrije T. Leko (Serbian Cyrillic: Димитрије Т. Леко) (January 22, 1863, Belgrade, Serbia – September 24, 1914, Kragujevac, Serbia) was a renowned Serbian architect and urbanist. He has spent most of his life outside Serbia – he had finished high school in Winterthur, before studying architecture at the universities in Zürich, Aachen and Munich. After getting back to Belgrade, at the end of the 19th century, he tried to implement the model of contemporary urbanism of Western Europe in Belgrade. He has projected some of the most important and technically perfected buildings in Belgrade of his time, such as Belgrade Meteorological Station in 1891, The Vučo Family House on Slavija Square in 1893 (the first McDonald's restaurant in Eastern Europe was opened in this house March 24, 1988^[1]), The New Military Academy in Nemanjina Street in 1899 (today's Belgrade City Museum^[2][3]), The Athens Palace on the Terazije Square in 1902, Đorđe Vučo's House Upon Sava River in the Karađorđeva Street in 1908, the school buildings in Makenzijeva Street and Gavrila Principa Street and many other structures and villas.^[4][5] He has also designed a graceful chapel that was built to enclose what was left of the infamous Skull Tower in Niš. Several of his works were financed by one of the wealthiest merchants in Belgrade at the end of the 19th century, Đorđe Vučo. Leko also got the first prizes on the open competitions for the regulation of Terazije Square, Little Kalemegdan and the city of Skopje. Yet, these projects were never fully realized.

Belgrade Meteorological Station

Leko was also a very harsh critic of the urban development of Belgrade. He was often labeled as "too provocative" and "revolutionary" in his criticism of the urbanism in Belgrade, and some of the problems he was pointing at, such as the problem of the regulation of the Terazije Terrace and the Sava banks, still remain unsolved.^[6]

Leko was a member of Belgrade's prestigious Leko family. His brother, Marko Leko, was a renowned chemist.

A street in the Belgrade suburb of Borča bears Dimitrije T. Leko's name.

References

1. ^ The History of McDonald's in Serbia (Serbian)
2. ^ Belgrade City Museum: The New Museum Building (Serbian)
3. ^ arte.rs: About Belgrade City Museum
4. ^ Divna Đurić-Zamolo: Graditelji Beograda 1815-1914, Belgrade, 1980
5. ^ Nikola B. Nestorović: Građevine i arhitekti u Beogradu prošlog stoleća, Udruženje jugosl. inženjera i arhitekata - Klub arhitekata, Belgrade, 1937
6. ^ Dimitrije T. Leko and Belgrade Salon of Architecture 2006 (Serbian)

External links

• Dimitrije T. Leko biography (Serbian)
• Dimitrije T. Leko and Belgrade Salon of Architecture 2006 (Serbian)
• Leko family history (Serbian)
• Leko family grave

Persondata
Name	Leko, Dimitrije T.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	January 22, 1863
Place of birth
Date of death	September 24, 1914
Place of death