Rylsky brothers' house

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Rylsky brothers' house is a large four-story building in Baku, Azerbaijan. It was completed in 1912 for the Polish oilmen the Rylsky brothers and designed by architect Józef Płoszko. The address was 11 Police Street, which is today 11 Yusif Mammadaliyev Street. The building now houses the Central Union of Cooperatives of Azerbaijan, and in 2001 it was protected as a state architectural monument.

The facade has a formal, vertical design with soft curves. It features a tall central bay window on the middle floors, a closed second-floor bay window, and a third-floor openwork arcade on Moorish-style columns. The second-floor bay window uses vertical frames with arches and three-quarter columns with traditional capitals. A loggia with a stalactite belt supports a balcony with Roman lattices. Large window openings include a horseshoe arch on the second floor and lancet arches on the third. The walls have shallow decorative niches. The wooden doors are richly carved and match the portal’s decorative patterns, sometimes enhanced with metal lattice.

In 1919, during the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the building housed the first Polish diplomatic mission, headed by Stefan Rylsky.