(b Mazsalacas region, 8 March 1859; d Bad Kissingen, Germany, 23 June 1928). Latvian architect. As the leading representative of the second generation of Latvian architects, his office was the training ground of most Latvian architects of the early 20th century. At Riga Polytechnic he studied civil engineering (1878–80) and architecture (1880–85). After graduating he worked in the office of Janis Baumanis and from 1886 had his own practice. In 1889 he was active in the new Riga Architects’ Society (Rigaer Architekten Verein). He was also the publisher of three newspapers and a magazine. Pekssens’s designs include community centres in the Adazi and Dole regions (1890s), the Lutheran church (1895) at Lejasciems and St Nicholas church (1904–9; destr. 1944) in Jelgava. Most of his work was in Riga, where he built over 250 multi-storey masonry buildings and many single- or two-storey timber houses. In the late 19th century his buildings were eclectic, mostly in Renaissance Revival style, as in Berg’s Bazaar, 84 Dzirnavu Street and 13 Marijas Street (1887–8), but also occasionally with Gothic Revival and Moorish elements. In addition, one of his most important works was the Holy Trinity Cloister Church (1900–7; with Aleksandrs Vanags), K. Barona Street, in Russo-Byzantine style. In the early 20th century Peksens’s work reflects the variety within Riga Art Nouveau. Among his early decorative Art Nouveau buildings are his apartment houses at 2 Smilsu Street and 6 Strelnieku Street (both 1902). Buildings in his more Rationalist style include the banks at 46 Brivibas Street (1907) and 14 Terbatas Street (1909) and several apartment houses. He was also, together with Eizens Laube, one of the pioneers of the National Romantic trend of Art Nouveau, one of his foremost buildings in this style being the A. Kenins School, 15/17 Terbatas Street (1905). In the mid-1890s he introduced the corner turret tower, which later became characteristic of the Riga cityscape.

• Peksens, Konstantins
  • Laube, Eizens
  • Riga