Kyiv chocolate house

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

Chocolate house in Kyiv is a small elegant house, amazing both outside and inside. What is the reason for this name? What is special about this building?

Appearance

Almost in the center of Kyiv there is a nice house, which the people of Kiev called chocolate. It is made, of course, not from edible materials, but it very much resembles a chocolate bar in terms of external decor, and most importantly, in color.

The chocolate house was built in 1899-1901 by the architect Vladimir Nikolaev, the creator of the National Philharmonic and the refectory of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. In addition to designing the building, Nikolaev also worked on its interior design.

The chocolate house is a two-story building with a mezzanine and a basement. The architectural style repeats the features of the palace renaissance. The side and front facades are symmetrical. Outside, there are lush high reliefs with many small and large details. Such houses are not easy to find in Kyiv.

The windows are decorated with bas-reliefs with mascarons of lions framed with stucco flowers. On the windows of the second floor, caduceuses are depicted - Greek and Roman symbols of the rod of Mercury, which was the patron, including merchants. These symbols corresponded to the occupation of the owner of the house.

Interiorshome

In the interior design of the house, Nikolaev revealed his talent in a new way. All rooms had a different style. For example, the Empire style was chosen for the stairs: marble steps and wrought iron railings. The patterns and colors on the custom-made furniture matched exactly the room it was in.

The White Hall is the largest. It is made in the French Baroque style. All important meetings and receptions were held here. In the middle of the wall hangs a 20th-century Venetian mirror decorated with stucco ornaments.

The Art Nouveau hall deserves special attention. The walls and ceiling are painted with oil paints depicting semi-fantastic flowers. There are stained-glass windows on the arched windows, which also depict flowers. On the ceiling is a copy of the portrait of Sarah Bernhardt by Alphonse Mucha.

The Byzantine Hall was used as a dining room. From all sides the room is decorated with stucco garlands depicting grapes, apples and berries. New Russian style decorates the Russian Hall. Murals with firebirds settled on the ceiling, and on the walls there are patterns that were present on the royal five-ruble bill of those times. The main feature of the Moorish room is the carved plaster panels on the walls. Previously, the walls were painted with six- and ten-pointed stars.

Chocolate house: history

Earlier on the site of the house there was a small estate with a luxurious garden. In the 30s of the century before last, it was owned by a regular military man P. Konstantinovich. After his death, the estate was divided into parts and passed on in turninheritance to relatives of the owner. Finally, Baroness Uexkül-Gildenband acquired it.

The son of the baroness in 1988 sold the corner part of the estate to a member of a banking office, and converted the rest of the inheritance into an apartment building. The new owner, S. S. Mogilevtsev, decided to demolish the corner house and build a mansion in this place.

Until 1934, the house was residential. It was partially reconstructed, and a little later transferred to the NKVD. After that, the house housed a society for cultural relations with foreign countries and a bureau of the Administration of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR. And since 1960, marriages were registered in the chocolate house for 20 years. Signing here was considered an unusually prestigious event.

In 1982, it was given under the auspices of the Department of Culture and Arts.

Semyon Mogilevtsev

S. S. Mogilevtsev was quite a respected person in Kyiv. The merchant of the 1st guild was born into a family of timber merchants. After moving to the capital of Ukraine, he continued to trade in timber and was a city patron. For the construction of the mansion, Mogilevtsev chose the chief architect of Kyiv. The chocolate house made in coffee tones exceeded all expectations.

Semyon Mogilevtsev was then the treasurer of a credit society and could afford a rather expensive mansion for holding various receptions, meetings and solemn events. But bad rumors immediately spread in the city.

The treasurer had no relatives in Kyiv, he was single. Evil tongues immediately came up with a version that such a chic and at the same time sophisticated house is being built for secret love meetings withmarried lady. And the banquets and gatherings are just a front.

Art Exhibition

For a long time the house was in an extremely unacceptable state, given its architectural value. In 2009, it carried out thorough restoration work. After that, excursions began to take place here.

In addition to looking at the interiors, you can visit the art gallery in the chocolate house. The building houses a branch of the Kyiv Museum of Russian Painting, so an art exhibition with works by Russian authors is open here.

Exhibitions housed in buildings with a peculiar history delight doubly. Opening massive wooden doors, guests get into the atmosphere of past years, looking into antique Venetian mirrors, admiring the exquisite interior details.