Wooden apartment houses and brick rental blocks line streets a Latvian production closed for filming in 2014.
What Āgenskalns looks like
Wooden houses are two and three storeys along the side streets, their plank siding painted blue, red or left unpainted. Carved window frames and decorative trim sit under shallow gabled roofs, and most date from the 1820s to the early 1900s.
Many stand close together behind low fences. Gardens and large trees fill the courtyards behind them.
Multi-storey brick and stucco rental buildings line the main streets. Kalnciema iela, Slokas iela and Nometņu iela carry them, their facades rising three to five storeys above ground-floor shops. stands in red brick on Nometņu iela, its roofline broken by tall chimneys and steep gables, with arched windows set between brick piers.
The street grid runs at odd angles rather than a straight plan, so blocks dead-end or bend without warning. Granite paving survives on parts of Ērģeļu iela and Meteora iela, and on Zeļļu iela and Ļermontova iela. Short lengths of Daugavgrīvas iela and Liepājas iela keep cut stone. The rest of the area is asphalt, with tram tracks and overhead wires down some streets.
, a low mansard-roofed building at Kalnciema iela 28/30, stands behind the Kalnciema Quarter's restored wooden houses. A brick water tower with a tall conical cap rises over the same corner, visible above the trees from several blocks away.
Shot in Āgenskalns
In August 2014, the production Boheme International filmed Nedegošais ērkšķu krūms on a cluster of streets in Āgenskalns. A municipal notice named among them, along with and nearby.
Nedegošais ērkšķu krūms, 2014
Eduarda Smiļģa iela
The same municipal notice listed Eduarda Smiļģa iela among the streets where traffic could be stopped for up to five minutes at a time while filming, with lighting switched off on some nights between 9 PM and the early hours. The notice itself is dated 12 August 2014, four days before the closures on this street began.
Kalamaja has rows of two and three storey wooden apartment houses from the 1920s and 1930s, close in scale to Āgenskalns' own blocks. Look near Kalju and Vana-Kalamaja streets for the symmetrical Tallinn house type, two wooden wings either side of a central stone stair. The paired, mirror-image facades are a distinct Tallinn shape, so avoid a wide frame that shows two houses side by side. Try searching wooden apartment houses now.
Vallila in Helsinki, Finland
Puu-Vallila's wooden houses sit on narrow streets with courtyard gardens, laid out on small plots much like Āgenskalns' own blocks. The houses date from the 1910s and 1920s, with mansard roofs and workers' cottage detailing. Helsinki's hillier terrain and pine trees read differently in a wide shot, so keep street level. Try searching wooden houses courtyard gardens now.
Haga in Gothenburg, Sweden
Haga's landshövdingehus have a stone ground floor under two wooden storeys, a looser match for the Āgenskalns houses that are wood throughout. The colour and scale read close in a tight frame. A wide shot gives away the stone ground floor, so frame closer on the upper wooden storeys. Try searching stone ground floor houses now.
