HOUSE WITH CHIMAERAS
House With Chimaeras is the most famous and chimerical Kyiv manor designed in modern style.
It got its name because of sculptural decorations of the building with fairy creatures, exotic animals and fish. It was built of concrete, the newest building material at that time.
In 1901, famous Kyiv architect Vladyslav Horodecki wanted to build a house in a prestigious city block. He lived here and was leasing other parts of the building. Now it’s another residency of the President of Ukraine where different receptions take place, but you still can take a tour.
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It was difficult to build the house on such a hill, but the architect bet his colleagues he could do it and won.
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The building has two foundations and an innovative fixture of concrete piles. The design is also unusual; it’s in the form of a cube, with six floors on the one side and only three on another.
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At one time, the cost of renting a place to live here reached a pretty huge sum in 3500 karbovantsiv (now hryvnias) a year.
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Mykhailo Bulgakov, was so inspired by the house, that he created Voland and Azazello after seeing it, the characters from his novel “The Master and Margarita”.
- Hey, how many figures are there on the facade of the house? Share your observations! There’s a legend that if you find a crocodile on the facade of the house, it’ll bring you luck. Good luck you with that!