HOUSE WITH CHIMAERAS

The 'House with Chimaeras' or 'Gorodetsky House' (; translit. ''Budynok z khymeramy'', , translit. ''Dom s khimerami'') is a major Art Nouveau building in Kiev (''Kyiv''), the capital of Ukraine. It was built in the period of 1901–1902 by noted architect Vladislav Gorodetsky, who was regarded as the Gaudí of Kiev.^[2]
The building derives its popular name from its ornate decorations depicting various scenes of exotic animals and hunting scenes, as Gorodetsky was an avid hunter. It is situated on ''No. 10, Bankova Street'', across from the President of Ukraine's office in the historic Pechersk neighborhood. Since 2005 it has been used as a presidential residence for official and diplomatic ceremonies.^[3]

Contents

History

Construction and early history

Ownership 1921–2002

Reconstruction and official use

Architecture

Floor plan

Legends

References and footnotes

External links

History

Construction and early history

The House with Chimaeras was designed by the architect Vladislav Gorodetsky in 1901–1902. Gorodetsky was born in 1863 into a generous Polish szlachta family in the Podillia region.^[4] After finishing the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg in 1890, he moved to Kiev, where he lived for almost 30 years. At the time of the building's construction, Gorodetsky had already established himself as a prominent Kiev architect, have designed many city buildings, from the St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Cathedral to the Karaimska Kenasa and the current National Art Museum of Ukraine. Besides architecture, Gorodetsky was also interested in big-game hunting, which explains why his building features many animals.
The building was built on credit taken out by Gorodetsky and was intended to be used as a commercial building for rent.^[5][6] The house was designed in such a way that the tenants would occupy the whole floor, as a separate apartment, each connected by an elevator and stairs.^[7] Gorodetsky himself occupied the fourth floor of the building, measuring at about .^[8]
Gorodetsky bought the first lot of land on February 1, 1901, with construction work commencing on March 18 of that year. Construction of the exterior walls was finished by August 21, and the roof installed and all masonry work was completed on September 13. Due to the economical hardships within the Russian Empire, the completion of the building was delayed. In May of 1903, only one apartment on the lowest level and Gorodetsky's own apartment were occupied. The total cost of the land and construction equaled to 133,000 rubles. In total, of land were used for construction of the building and cost a total of 15,640 rubles.^[9] The projected annual profit from the rentals was 7,200 rubles. A cowshed was located on the premises of the building due to Gorodetsky's insistence on fresh in-house milk. It was specifically placed in a way that the smell of cows would not disturb the tenants. On a lot adjacent to the building, a miniature alpine garden (approx. ) and a fountain were built.
Due to financial mismanagement, including his Safari hunting hobby, in July 1912, Gorodetsky put the house as a deposit for a credit taken from Kiev Mutual Credit Association.^[10] The building was auctioned in 1913, and became the property of engineer Daniel Balakhovsky, a son of a Kiev trader, who was also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Blahodatinskoe sugar factory, and a French сonsular agent in Kiev.^[11] In 1916, the house belonged to the Blahodatinskoe sugar factory. In 1918, the building's ownership changed again, to a certain Samuel Nemets. In 1921, after the Bolsheviks gained control over Kiev, several of the departments of the Kiev Military District took office in the House with Chimaeras.

Ownership 1921–2002

A furnished interior room of the House with Chimaeras, seen with elaborate decorations.

After the period of unrest following the Russian Revolution of 1917, the building was converted for communal living. Each apartment was occupied by about nine to ten families. During the Second World War (1941–1943), the building was abandoned. Being exposed to the harsh elements during the war, the building suffered significant damage to its structure. After the war, the building was briefly used as a residence for evacuated actors from the Ivan Franko Theater; however, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Ukrainian SSR took ownership of the building and later transformed it into the Polyclinic (''clinic'') No.1 for their elite. The polyclinic had already used the building up until the end of the 20th century. During that time, the building had almost split into two separate halves. One part sagged at 22 cm, and a major vertical crack formed, having a width of about 40 cm. Some of the building's architectural details had either chipped away, or had cracked.
The building's restoration work was scheduled for 2002, however the polyclinic was reluctant to leave, having occupied the building for over 40 years. Drastic measures had to be taken to evacuate the building: the workers boarded up all of the windows and threatened do the same to the doors if the polyclinic did not vacate the premises. Only the president's involvement in the matter forced the polyclinic to move out completely.

Reconstruction and official use

During the time of the restoration, conducted by ''UkrNIIProektRestavratsiya'' and headed by Natalia Kosenko, the workers unearthed the whole lower floor, which had been filled in during Soviet times to strengthen the building's foundation. Restoration of the interior, the elaborate decor, had to be fully redone. In the courtyard, the restorers had placed an artificial lake, fountains, and a miniature garden—all of which had been in Gorodetsky's original plans.
The building was opened as a filial "Masterpieces of Ukrainian Art" of the National Museum of Arts in November 2004.^[12] It was expected that the building would serve the dual purpose as a museum and as president's meeting place with state visitors.
In April 2005, the Kiev City Council submitted a bill^[13] for 104 million hryvnias (approx. $20 million) to the Ukrainian Government for reconstruction and restoration of the House with Chimaeras.^[14] The Council also allowed the Ukrainian government to construct a new square (closing off all automobile traffic) in front of the building for use in official ceremonies. Since May 2005, the status of the building was set as an official presidential residence, used for official and diplomatic ceremonies. Recently, the House with Chimaeras was used as a meeting place between Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin, when the latter visited Kiev on December 22, 2006.^[15]

Architecture

A detailed view of the architectural statues of chimeras and others, designed by Emilio Sala.

Volodymyr Yasiievych[16]

''The House of Vladislav Gorodetsky can only be compared with the works of Antoni Gaudí, especially the famous Casa Milà in Barcelona, Spain, however being constructed a couple years later (1905-1910).''

The building was designed in the Art Nouveau style, which was at that time a relatively new style and featured flowing, curvilinear designs often incorporating floral and other plant-inspired motifs. Its architect, Vladislav Gorodetsky, featured such motifs in the building's exterior decor in the forms of mythical creatures and big-game animals. His work on the House with Chimaeras has earned him the nickname of the Gaudí of Kiev.
Due to the nature of the steep slope the building sits on, the building had to be specially designed out of concrete to fit into its foundations correctly. From the front, the building appears to have only three floors. However, from the rear, all of its six floors of the building can be seen.^[17] One part of the building's foundation was made of concrete piles, and the other—as a continuous foundation. Usually, these two approaches do not mix well but the architect somehow succeeded in doing that.
The Italian sculptor Emilio Sala was responsible for both the internal and external sculptural decorations, such as mermaids, dolphins, and frogs on the roof of the building, sinking ships and hunting trophies on the exterior walls, and exuberant interior decorations, such as grand stairways and chandeliers depicting huge catfish strangled in the stems of lotus flowers. The exterior sculptures done by Sala were made out of cement. Production of the cement was done by the «For» company of which Gorodetsky was the co-director.^[18] Using cement as the building material was used exclusively by the request of the company's head director Richter.^[19] During that time, cement as a building material was not popular, so it was used it as a publicity for both the house and the building material.

Floor plan

Because the building was designed in such a way that the tenants would occupy the whole floor, each floor had all the rooms necessary ranging from private kitchens to small powder rooms. The open floor plan and extra rooms featured throughout the building are characteristic of rich houses of the early 20th century.
On the lowest level of the building, which is located deep into the hill, were two stables, two rooms for coachmen, a shared laundry, and two separate apartments. Each of the two apartments consisted of a foyer, a kitchen, one bathroom, and a storage room. The first apartment had two residential rooms, and the second—three rooms.^[20] Each floor above the lowest level was designed for one apartment only.

Gorodetsky's original blueprints of his own apartment, located on the sixth floor; early 1900s.

The apartment on the second floor consisted of six residential rooms in addition to a foyer, kitchen, buffet, three servant's rooms, a bathroom, two toilet rooms, and two storage rooms. There were also four wine cellars on the same level.^[21] The cellars belonged to the apartments on the upper levels. On the third floor, the apartment consisted of 8 residential rooms, a foyer, a kitchen, dish washing room, two rooms for servants, a bathroom, and two toilet rooms.^[22] This apartment was placed slightly lower than the level of the Bankova Street, from the front entrance.
The grandest apartment, which belonged to Gorodetsky, consisted of a study, a great room and a living room, a dining room, a boudoir, a bedroom, a children's room, a room for a governess, a guest room, three rooms for servants, a kitchen, dishwashing room, bathroom, two toilet rooms, and two storage rooms. One floor above was an apartment similar in size and design to Gorodetsky's apartment.^[23] The apartment on the top floor had one less room; to make up for this, there was a connecting terrace which provided a panoramic view of the city.^[24]

Legends

The gardens adjoining the House with Chimaeras.

Throughout the years, the House with Chimaeras had many legends revolving around it:
According to the first legend, Vladislav Gorodetsky's daughter had committed suicide jumping into Dnieper River because of either some unfortunate love or of a family feud.^[25] As a result, Gorodetsky went slightly mad and built this gloomy house for his daughter's memory.^[26]
The second legend has it that Gorodetsky made a bet with some other architects, including the architect Alexander Kobelev, who had tried to prove that is impossible to built a house on such terrain, because the site (near the Ivan Franko Theater) overhangs a swamp (''Koz’ye boloto''). The ''Construction Committee of Kiev'', prohibited construction of any structures on this particular lot. Eventually Gorodetsky won the bet.
According to the third legend, Vladislav Gorodetsky, when forced to leave the house (due to inability to repay credits in 1913), had cursed it; all of the house's tenants would be either unhappy or would meet some sort of financial misfortune. This is backed by the fact that all the businesses who rented a portion of the building, went bankrupt, all funds were stolen, and all organizations were dismissed.

References and footnotes

1. This price is as of 1903. Derzhavnyi arkhiv mista Kyieva - Fond No. 143, Series 2, File No. 520, Item No. 9. Malakov
2.
3. The aura is fine, but the place is too small Marta Shokalo
4. Architector of century
5. Architector Horodetskyi, , Dmytro, Malakov, Kyi, 1999,
6. Touring Kyiv, , Ruta, Malikenaite, Baltija Dryk, 2003,
7. The only exception to this fact was that the lowest floor of the building contained two separate apartments.
8. His apartment is apt. No. 3, the main floor, if looking from the level of the Bankova Street.
9. The rebirth of the House with Chimaeras
10. Riddle of House with Chimaeras
11. Hunter from the House with Chimaeras
12. A cultural museum center opens in the House with Chimaeras
13. Decrees of Kiev City Council Kiev City Council decree No. '380/2955': On the allowance of the change of ownership to the government authority with permission of conducting reconstruction and restoration works on the building of 10, Bankova Street. Passed on 2005-04-21.
14. "House with Chimaeras" received the status of an official governmental residence
15. Yushchenko and Putin decided their goals for two years ahead
16. Architecture of Ukraine at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, , V. E., Yasiievych, Budivėlʹnyk, , ISBN 5770500883
17.
18. "Budynok z Khimeramy"
19. Walks around Kyiv. House with Chimaeras explorer
20. The annual rental in 1903 was 540 and 420 rubles, accordingly. Malakov
21. The price for this apartment was 1,200 rubles in 1903. Malakov
22. The initial annual rent for the apartment was 2,000 rubles. Malakov
23. Both of these apartments were rented out for 3,500 rubles annually in 1903. Malakov
24. The rental cost for this dwelling was at 2,750 rubles annually, considering that an average salary for a librarian was about 50 rubles per year. Mir turizma
25. In fact, it was the previous owners' (''Professor Mering'') daughter who drowned. Mir turizma
26. House with Chimaeras

External links

★ Art Nouveau in Kyiv

★ House with Chimaeras

★ Around the House with Chimaeras

★ Photogallery containing detailed images

★ Interior photogallery

★ Presents of Yushchenko and his chimaeras