The building at 10, Bankova street, is known to almost all Kyivites as the “Chimera House.” Part of the urban mythology of the city, the legends surrounding it as there are as fantastic as the animals on its parapet. The most popular of them is a touching tale about the beloved daughter of the architect; she is said to have drowned at sea, and the inconsolable father decided to put up this beautiful building as a symbol of the underwater realm in which she now lived. The legend lives on, as does the very real legacy of the architect, Vladyslav Horodetsky.
Very little is known about Horodetsky’s childhood. He was born May 21, 1863, in the village of Sholudky, Podillia. He studied in Odesa, and it is here that he first took an interest in architecture, which he continued in his studies at the Petersburg Academy of Arts. This institute gave V. Horodetsky an encyclopedic knowledge of various styles of architecture and excellent civil engineering skills. With these considerable achievements under his belt, he came to Kyiv to spend the most brilliant period of his creative life.
At the end of the last century, the city was going through an unprecedented building boom as a result of a surge in the economy. The city’s central district was assuming the form we all recognize today. V. Horodetsky played some role in the construction of most of Kyiv’s well-known buildings of this period. The already popular young master builder “put his name on the map” within as little as five years and became well-to-do in the process. But the name of Horodetsky only became really famous after 1896, when Bohdan Khanenko, one of Kyiv’s richest people, the son-in- law of sugar tycoon Tereshchenko and the descendant of an old Cossack family, donated a collection of archeological finds to the city. It was decided to establish a museum of antiquities to house them, financed by the city’s well- known industrialists-cum-art patrons. The winning design was chosen in a contest, but the fastidious Kyivites were less than satisfied with it. It was decided to invite Horodetsky to add the master touch to the basic design.
The architect drew up a new facade of the building. As a result, a six-column Doric portico frontage now faces visitors to the Museum of Ukrainian Fine Arts, testament to the architect’s talent and inspiration. Finishing touches come in the form of sculptures by the Italian Elio Salia, then living in Kyiv. Construction costs were high, and contributions were collected in all regions of the then Russian Empire.
Vladyslav Horodetsky worked in the epoch of modernism. Both natural forms and the architectural styles of various epochs, including the Middle Ages, played an important role in the formation of this style. The Gothic style, with its innovative spirit, dynamism, and brilliant designs, was in vogue. Using this style of architecture was a precondition in the contest to design St. Nicholas’ Catholic Cathedral in Kyiv. Horodetsky was appointed to supervise the construction. Perhaps emboldened by his augmentation of the Museum of Ukrainian Fine Arts, he completely remade the proposed design. This magnificent building was also to be furnished with sculptures by Elio Salia, by now V. Horodetsky’s long-time colleague. At fist glance, this church merely repeats the structure of Gothic cathedrals in the early Middle Ages. However, looking more closely at the details — the new building materials, above all, reinforced concrete and ceramic plates — one feels the influence of the new times of modernism. This cathedral is still a major point of attraction in our city.
Horodetsky was also known in Kyiv as a painter of monumentalism. He would paint over plafonds and frescoes, manufacture jewellery, and work on sketches for theatre productions. The well-known architect was also keen on hunting. He was a life member of the Imperial Society of Lawful Hunting, and published his African safari diary as a highly detailed work of art.
The interior of his own “chimera house” on Bankova St. is a testament to his passion for hunting. The architect built it for himself, so had complete free rein in indulging his every whim. The monumental structure took shape in a very short time: in February 1901, Horodetsky had acquired a land plot on the slope of a ravine, where nobody would normally bother to build anything, and the building was practically ready in August 1902. The images from hunting expeditions go hand in hand here with classic elements. But the chimeras, so plentiful on the facade, failed to keep the owner from thieves. In 1908, the newspaper Kievlianin reported: “It was found on the morning of August 24 that the apartment of landlord and architect Horodetsky, at 10, Bankova St., had been robbed of silver tableware and valuables worth more than 4 000 rubles. The miscreants then went from the dining-room to the anteroom, where they broke into a desk drawer and ransacked all papers in it; then, using a master key, they unlocked a desk in the study room and stole about 10 gold medals.” The medals were V. Horodetsky’s pride: being a very good marksman, he had won them at various European competitions.
The celebrated architect spent the last years of his life far from Kyiv — in Iran — where he had designed and built the Shah’s palace. V. Horodetsky died in 1930.
