Jaunmoka Manor—Gothic and Jugendstil in the Latvian countryside

The name "Jaunmokas" first appears in documents in the mid-16th century. Jaunmokas manor echos other architecture of the time—one can find similar examples in Riga—uniting gothic and Jugendstil architectural elements in a brick structure. The manor house was built to be the personal hunting lodge of George Armisted, the mayor of Riga. It was erected in 1901, designed by Wilhelm Bockslaff. However, when Armisted assumed ownership of Rindzele Manor after his father's death in 1904, he sold Jaunmokas manor.

The manor passed through a number of hands, eventually divided up in the agrarian reform of 1920, the land (nearly 1,400 hectares or 3,500 acres) and utility buildings rented out while the manor itself was taken over by the state and put to use as a recuperative facility for children.

Russians, Germans, then Russians occupied the manor during WWII. It was chopped up into offices, meeting rooms, stores, and apartments during the Soviet era, all the while falling further and further into disrepair. Parts had fallen into complete ruin by the time the forestry ministry took over in 1974, starting a restoration lasting more than two decades.

Street signs in Rīga were in German, from 1877 to 1902 in German and Russian, after that in German, Russian, and Latvian. The name of the street was translated. After independence was declared, street signs were changed to Latvian only, but when the USSR reinstalled street signs in Russian and Latvian after reoccupying Latvia, street names were transliterated from Latvian, not translated.

The state hunting enterprise took over in 1992; since 2000 the manor has been under the public Latvian state forests corporation. Restoration and improvements continue.

One of its fireplace tiles bears an inscription for the Rīga 700th anniversary celebration and exhibition. You can read more at the University of Latvia↗. Note the artifacts in German, the language of the German intelligentsia. Also look for the poster (reproduced above) in Russian, German, and Latvian. At the time, Rīga street signs weren't even in Latvian, just Russian and German. Available in Latvian, English, and German.

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