Lithuanian Higher Maritime School (former I. Kant School)

At the beginning the 20th century, the schools in the northern part of the city were overcrowded and some of their buildings needed renovation. So in 1937, a new school on I. Kanto street was built with the funds allocated by the municipality (900,000 litas) and was named after the philosopher I. Kant. The building was designed by the city architect Paulis Giesings.

The L-shaped white building is set back quite far from the street, in front of it there is a wide lane for lawns and greenery. There was a pool there, the function of which was to keep off the dust raised on the street. This two-story building in the Bauhaus style consists of six parts: in the center of the street facade of the building  there is  a colonnade of clinker brick masonry together with two side symmetrically designed turrets and staircases form a vertical – rising part of the structure, which contrasts with the horizontal planes of the two-story buildings. The school is covered with a flat roof. On the ground floor of the central part there is a lounge, and on the first floor there is a hall. At the ends of the building there are staircases, next to them there are portal-emphasized front doors.

At the end of the building of training premises there were added living ones (rector’s office) and a parquet-lined gym, with washrooms and showers. The school had a doctor’s office, a pharmacy, a snack room, and a storage room for teaching materials. This school had 22 classrooms, a science laboratory, a drawing room; and a janitor’s apartment and the heating center in the basement. There were special gush water fountains.