House with Chimaeras in Kiev

The building is located in Pechersk district at 10 Bankova Street, in front of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine.

The architect, Vladislav Gorodetsky, built it in 1901-1903 as a tenement house with rooms for his family.

The master himself lived in apartment number 3, the other six being leased. Each apartment was quite luxurious, consisting of 8,9,10 or more rooms. There were rooms for governesses, a spare room, a closet, a pantry, and more. Each apartment was equipped with a wine cellar, storage for firewood, a room for the driver, a stable, servants’ quarters.

Unique sculptural decoration on the outside and inside is made of concrete, and is based on the sketches by Gorodetsky’s sculptor Elio Salle.

The house was built in Art Nouveau style and is designed in the shape of a cube, viewed from Bankova Street, it has three floors, and from the area of Ivan Franko - six. An open layout was used, maintaining a functional connection between separate, isolated groups of spaces (ceremonial, residential, business), typical of many residential buildings of the 20th century.

On the walls of the house, concrete heads of rhinos, giraffes, lions, crocodiles, antelope and other African animals are mounted. Concrete elephant trunks, hanging over the sidewalks, were used as drainpipes. On the roof the giant toad settled with sea monsters and the Nereids with chains instead of hair. The roof itself is almost completely concealed by large parapets. Frieze sculptures and reliefs adorn the parlor staircase, and a huge sculpture of a dolphin entwined with plants decorates the center column.

The rooms in the house are arranged in the form of a fan and are very open to the sun, thus creating conditions for good natural light. The total building area is 3309.5 m ²