Contribution to the Study of the Building Heritage of Aleksinac: The Example of 13 Oktobar Street

Abstract

The street row of single-storey houses with courtyards, fences, and gardens preserves the pattern of housing and everyday life from the period of modernization of Aleksinac (the late 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century). Its value does not lie in any “one of the most beautiful houses”, but in the rhythm of the whole: the uniform height of the buildings, the roofline, the width of the street, the typology of courtyard fences, the rows of trees and fruit trees in the gardens, as well as the calm, pastel tones of the façades. It is precisely this set of elements that creates the recognizable character of the street which, despite individual disruptions caused by aggressive new construction, high-rise buildings, and inappropriate materials, has not been completely lost. 13 Oktobar Street represents the “heart of urban Aleksinac” – a space in which the history, scale, and spirit of the place are most clearly reflected. It is a rarely preserved example of urban housing culture and an urban matrix in which the relationships between the collective, public, and private are evident through the organization of plots, the positioning of houses, and their relationship to the street and the courtyard. Therefore, the preservation of this entity is not only a professional concern but also an obligation within planning, design, and all forms of spatial intervention. Protection should not be focused solely on individual buildings, but on the environment as a whole and on the way of life embedded within it, which is of essential importance. In this sense, 13 Oktobar Street is a strong example of contemporary tendencies in cultural heritage protection, which increasingly shift the focus from isolated monuments or individual houses toward the preservation of architectural ensembles, the character of space, and the intangible layers of everyday life that shape the identity of a place.