Dimitrije "Mita" T. Leko ( sr-cyr, Димитрије Т. Леко; January 22, 1863 – September 24, 1914) was a Serbian

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and

urbanist Urbanism is the study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning, which is the profession focusing on the physical design and m ...

Biography

He spent most of his life outside Serbia and finished high school in

Winterthur , neighboring_municipalities = Brütten, Dinhard, Elsau, Hettlingen, Illnau-Effretikon, Kyburg, Lindau, Neftenbach, Oberembrach, Pfungen, Rickenbach, Schlatt, Seuzach, Wiesendangen, Zell , twintowns = Hall in Tirol (Austria), La ...

before studying architecture at the universities in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

(''

Technische Hochschule A ''Technische Hochschule'' (, plural: ''Technische Hochschulen'', abbreviated ''TH'') is a type of university focusing on engineering sciences in Germany. Previously, it also existed in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands (), and Finland (, ). ...

''),

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

, and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. After returning to Belgrade at the end of the 19th century, he tried to implement the model of contemporary urbanism of western Europe in Belgrade. He designed some of the most important and technically perfected buildings in Belgrade of his time, such as the

Belgrade Meteorological Station Meteorology was first practiced in Serbia when meteorological data was gathered, monitored and recorded on a daily basis, in 1848, in Belgrade. Daily, meteorological forecasts started in 1892. The first meteorologist was Vladimir Jakšić. Whil ...

in 1891, the Vučo House on

Slavija Square Slavija Square ( sr-cyr, Трг Славија, Trg Slavija) is a major commercial junction between the intersections of Kralja Milana, Beogradska, Makenzijeva, Svetosavska, Bulevar oslobođenja, Deligradska and Nemanjina streets in Belgrade. The s ...

in 1893 (the first

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

restaurant in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

was opened in this building on March 24, 1988), the New Military Academy on Nemanja Street (''Немањина улица'') in 1899 (today's Belgrade City Museum), the Athens Palace on Terazije Square in 1902, Đorđe Vučo's house on the Sava River on Karađorđe Street (''Карађорђева улица'') in 1908, the school buildings in Mackenzie Street (''Улица Макензијева'') and Gavrilo Princip Street (''Улица Гаврила Принципа'') and many other structures and mansions. He also designed a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

that was built to enclose what was left of the

Skull Tower Skull Tower ( sr-cyr, Ћеле кула, Ćele kula, ) is a stone structure embedded with human skulls located in Niš, Serbia. It was constructed by the Ottoman Empire following the Battle of Čegar of May 1809, during the First Serbian Uprisin ...

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in southern part of Serbia. , the city proper has a population of 183,164, while ...

. 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 won first prizes on the open competitions for the regulation of Terazije Square, Little Kalemegdan, and the city of

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...

. However, these projects were never fully realized. Вхј

Leko was also a very harsh critic of the urban development of Belgrade. He was often labelled as "too provocative" and "revolutionary" in his criticism of urbanism in Belgrade, and some of the problems he addressed, such as the problem of the regulation of the Terazije Terrace and the banks of the

Sava River The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally t ...

, still remain unsolved.Dimitrije T. Leko and Belgrade Salon of Architecture 2006
Leko was a member of Belgrade's prestigious Leko family. His brother, Marko Leko, was a renowned

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

. A street in the Belgrade suburb of

Borča Borča ( sr-cyr, Борча, ) is an urban settlement of the municipality of Palilula, Belgrade, Serbia. , it has a population of 46,086 inhabitants. Location Borča is located just north of the downtown Belgrade, in the Banat section of the mun ...

bears Dimitrije T. Leko's name.

References

External links

Dimitrije T. Leko biography

Dimitrije T. Leko and Belgrade Salon of Architecture 2006

Leko family history

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leko, Dimitrije T. 1863 births 1914 deaths Serbian architects Serbian people of Greek descent People from the Kingdom of Serbia Expatriates in Switzerland Expatriates in the German Empire