In the pursuit of architectural marvels, Ukrainians need not travel abroad. Just take a look around you. Korrespondent presents our paper’s selection of the Top 15 most beautiful residences in Kyiv, L’viv and Odesa. Needless to say, none of them are contemporary.

Architects in Ukraine’s capital say that, if not for the Russian Revolution, which interrupted the career of the great Kyiv architect of Polish origin, Vladyslav Horodetskiy, the builder of the House of Chimeras and many other unique buildings would have done for Kyiv what the great Antonio Gaudi did for Barcelona.

At the turn of the 20th century, Horodetskiy and his colleagues put their hearts and talents into transforming Kyiv into one of the most beautiful yet warm cities in the Russian Empire. With the coming of the Bolsheviks, Horodetskiy moved to Poland.

Still, if Ukraine were to run a competition among its cities, the capital would find a few serious rivals. For instance, L’viv and Odesa also boast some marvelous, original works of architecture. Some of the greatest builders and engineers worked in these two cities, while L’viv has preserved a splendid collection of older buildings.

These cities always had substantial enclaves of wealthy residents who were happy to spend money on beauty and luxury, not only inside their homes, but outside as well. Moreover, at the turn of the 20th century, Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities saw a boom in the construction of multi-story residential buildings whose apartments were rented out.

Erecting this type of building was not only a good investment but led to a competition of sorts. Owners would hire the best architects and were willing to spend money so that their residence would stand out from its neighbors. Vainglory played first fiddle here, as these buildings were not named according to their addresses but according to their owners’ names: Ginzburg House, Hildenbrand House, Rodzianko House, and so on.

Today, these houses beautify Ukraine’s cities.

After many a debate over a long list of architectural beauties, Korrespondent selected the Top 15 most striking residences in Kyiv, Odesa and L’viv for its readers’ enjoyment.

KYIV

1. Hildenbrand House (vul. Shovkovychna 19)
This neo-Gothic house was completed in 1901 as a commercial residence commissioned by Waldemar Baron Ikskile-Hildenbrand, who came from Estlandia, the northern region of what is today Estonia. The Baron’s family crest can be seen on the building’s façade. The architect was Mykola Vyshnevskiy. Reconstruction of the war- and time-worn residence to return it to its original appearance is currently in its final phase.

2. The House of Chimeras (vul. Bankova 10)
This residence was designed and built by Vladislav Horodetskiy at the beginning of the 1900s in defiance of fellow-architects, who insisted that it would be impossible to build anything on such a steep and twisted slope. The building was expected to be commercial, with the architect himself taking over one floor. Still, the chimeras—fantastic sculptural decorations based on Horodetskiy’s sketches and executed by Italian sculptor Elio Sala—frightened Kyivites initially and the builder had to offer his house up as collateral. Today, the House of Chimeras is used as the official residence of the President of Ukraine.

3. The Leipzig Hotel (vul. Volodymyrska 39/24)
Also built at the start of the 20th century, the Leipzig was the design of architect Karl Shiman and was the tallest building in the city at that time. The commission came from hunting-equipment trader Petro Hryhorovych-Barskiy, who went bankrupt during the construction and the project was completed by merchant Oleksandr Sirotkin. The new owner rented out part of the new space as furnished rooms and on the first floor opened the famous Marquise confectionery shop mentioned in Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel, The White Guard.
During the soviet era, a two-story restaurant called the Leipzig operated there, but in the 1990s, the building stood empty. In 2002, reconstruction began and it is expected to open as a hotel in time for the Euro 2012 football championship.

4. Premier Palace Hotel (bul. Shevchenka / vul. Pushkinska 5-7/29)
The corner of Pushkinska and bulvar Shevchenka took on its current look in 1911-12, having changed hands several times before the decision was made to combine the group of buildings into a single complex. Its architects, Odesites Adolf Minkus and Favel Trupianskiy, transformed several residences into a single building that became the grandest hotel in the capital, under the proud name, Palast Hotel.
Prior to the Russian Revolution, Jakob Zellermayer rented the building, an hotelier from the Austro-Hungarian Empire who lived in Kyiv. Once he turned it into the best hotel in Kyiv, the building has never changed its purpose.

5. Commercial Building (vul. Pushkinska 45/2)
One of the loveliest works of Ukrainian architect Mykhailo Artynov was this commercial building, which belonged to the heirs of Kyiv merchant Adam Snizhko.
The building has been well-preserved and reconstruction has left its original appearance nearly unchanged: the date of construction, 1901, can still be seen on its façade, along with the initials of the surnames of its owners. At the beginning of the 20th century, photographer Dmytro Markov, the publisher of views of Kyiv, included a picture of this building in his series “Beautiful Buildings in Kyiv.” Buildings that were worthy of such an honor could be counted on the fingers of both hands.

6. Passage (vul. Khreshchatyk 15)
Now a harbor of expensive boutiques and elite cafés, this place was built over 1913-14 according to a design by Pavel Andreyev. The architect worked in a subdued neoclassic style and the building consists of two parallel wings that are bracketed by archways at either end. Together, they form an alleyway between Khreshchatyk and vulytsia Zankovetskoyi.
In addition to apartments, the block contained a plant from the Swiss confectioner Martin Stifler and two shops that sold his sweets, complete with buffets and billiards.
During the Second World War, the Passage was ruined but in the post-war years, it was restored to its original appearance.

7. Ginzburg House (vul. Horodetskoho 9 and 11а)
Prior to the 1905 Revolution, the great Kyiv builder and hotelier Lev Ginzburg had a number of commercial properties on vul. Horodetskoho. Kyiv architects Gregory Schleifer and Eduard Bradtman, who were given the commission, gave the property a neo-Renaissance style, which was popular in the city then. The façades were decorated with figures of the gods, angels and winged wonders, and the buildings fit in perfectly with the bohemian atmosphere of the street.
True, restoration took place here after WWII and today the building cannot be said to be in ideal condition. Yet it looks as elegant as it did during Ginzburg’s time.

ODESA

8. Atlantean Building (vul. Gogolia 7)
Built over 1900-1901 by architects Lev Vlodek and Symen Landesman as a commercial building, this House belonged to a local aristocratic family, the Barons von Falz-Fein. Among others, they founded the Askania Nova Parkland. After the Revolution, the building was nationalized, as were other properties of the Falz-Fein family. Still, the barons were able to flee to Europe and the last of their descendants lives in the Duchy of Liechtenstein.
Currently, the original building has become a symbol of Odesa and the sculptural grouping of the Atlanteans is the official symbol of the Worldwide Club of Odesites, whose president is the satirist Mykhailo Zhvanetskiy.

9. Col. Grygoriev’s Building (vul. Kateryninska 15/17)
In 1872, the Swiss entrepreneur Jakob Fanconi opened the Café Fanconi in this commercial building. Soon, his confections were known as the best in the city. The café was a favorite haunt of both business and the bohemians.
Among others, writers like Isaac Babel, Ivan Bunin, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Nikolai Gumilev, Ilya Ilf, and Yevgeni Petrov met here. The last two even brought one of their heroes, Ostap Bender, here in one of the episodes in their book, The Golden Calf. In soviet times, of course, it was numbered Cafeteria #68, the place where a Turkish underling thought up the “Koreiko Affair.”

10. The Krasnaya Hotel (vul. Pushkinska 15)
This was the first four-story hotel in Odesa. Today it is called Krasnaya, although it was originally The Bristol, built over 1898-99 in the Renaissance style but with elements of the then-popular Baroque. The designer was Alessandro Bernardacci of a long line of renowned Italian architects and a man to whose talent Odesa owes many of its beautiful buildings.
The subtle façades and cozy rooms in the Krasnaya appeal to visitors with taste: the great and the wealthy have all spent nights here, including French writer Henri Barbuse and American writers Theodore Dreiser and James Aldridge.

11. Londonskaya Hotel (bul. Prymorskiy 11)
This residence in the early Italian Renaissance style was built over 1926-28 according to a design by Italian architect Francesco Boffo. Twenty years later, it was sold to the Frenchman Jean Batiste Karuta, a confectioner and gastronome.
The new owner established a luxury class hotel in the building with fashionable cuisine and sumptuous rooms. Soon VIPs from everywhere were visiting: one of the banking Rothschilds, writers Robert Louis Stevenson, Georges Simenon and Anton Chekov, dancer Isadora Duncan, Italian actor-director Marcello Mastroianni, and many more.

L’VIV

12. Residential Building (vul. Generala Chuprynky 50-52)
Looking more like a medieval castle, this building was conceived as an ordinary residence and continues to function as one to this day. In fact, it is a complex of two buildings that were designed and built over 1901-07 by Polish architect Josef Sosnowski and Ukrainian architect, the creator of an original style called “Hutsul Recession,” Ivan Levynskiy.
The two used a pseudo-Gothic style on the building with some elements of Venetian Gothic. Indeed, the building was even painted 100 years ago—traces of this painting can be seen here and there even now—, giving it the appearance of a real Venetian palazzo. In front of the street entrance there is a small garden guarded by that favorite L’viv totem, a sculpture of a prone lion.

13. Chorna Kamianytsia (ploshcha Rynok 4)
One of L’viv’s legendary buildings, Chorna Kamianytsia or Black Tower was erected so long ago that historians still do not agree about the exact date. The current adopted date is 1577, when Piotr Krasowski, a polonized Italian architect, put together a three-story Renaissance-style building on this spot for a wealthy local bourgeoise Zofia Chanelova, who was also the founder of the Jesuit cathedral.
Three hundred years later, the building was renovated and a fourth story was added. But when the restoration was completed, the building was a plain grey color. Locals say that the imposing black color is the result of decades of dirt, market dust and furnace smoke, as L’vivians heated with coal until the mid-20th century.
In 1596, Jan Lorenzowycz bought the building and established one of the city’s first apothecaries in it. At that time, the façade was graced with statues of the saints. Today, the building belongs to the L’viv Museum of History.

14. Korniakt Tower (ploshcha Rynok 6)
Greek merchant and wine trader Constantine Korniakt (Konstantinos Korniaktos) was knighted by the Polish king for his loyal service and was given permission to erect a building with up to six windows in the center of L’viv. This meant it could have a wide façade, an honor that in medieval towns under the Magdeburg Rights could not be bought for love or money.
To put up his edifice, the newly-made noble hired two Italian architects, Pietro Barbone and Paolo Romulus, which was evident in the façade and even more so in the construction of the courtyard, which locals call “Italianate” because of its strong resemblance to Florentine and Roman courtyards.
The building changed hands several times, being finally bought up in 1908 by the city of L’viv, which established a museum in it. During warm seasons, there is a café in the courtyard and open-air concerts and exhibitions take place there. The acoustics are apparently marvelous.

15. The Villa of Jusefa Franz (vul. Konovaltsia 47)
The most notable villa on a street famed for its villas and exceptionally original residences was built in 1893 by architect Jan Peros for Jusefa Franz, the widow of Josyp Franz, the owner of a gypsum factory. The façade of this sumptuous villa was decorated in a neo-Baroque style by Edmund Pleszewski. The wings of the villa enclose a garden, with a separate wing nearby.
The villa remained in the possession of the gypsum magnates until 1939, when it was nationalized by the communists. To this day, it is home to the L’viv Oblast Treatment and Physiotherapeutic Day Clinic.

* Korrespondent № 29 since 06.08.2010

SUBHEADING: Urban Architecture in Ukraine
AUTHOR: Iryna Iliushyna

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