Many literature enthusiasts and visitors from all over Ukraine come to Kharkiv just to see the “Slovo” building, yet the city authorities have largely ignored its potential as a tourist attraction.

Construction of a cooperative building for Ukrainian writers and cultural figures began in 1927, based on a design by architect Mitrofan Dashkevich.

The house was built in the shape of the letter “C” (first letter in the “Слово” that means “Word”).

Residents began moving into “Slovo” in late 1929. The building contained a total of 66 two- and three-bedroom apartments; elevators were included in the plans for entrances 1 and 5 (they were installed later).

A solarium was built on the roof above the entrance 5 (lost in the 1950s), and there was a kindergarten for writers’ children on the ground floor.

The building is notorious for the fact that most of its residents were repressed by Bolshevik authorities in the late 1930s (40 out of 66 apartments). The Slovo Building became the symbol of Ukrainian Executed Renaissance.

33 residents were shot.

In the 1950s, many victims of repression were exonerated at the initiative of their relatives, but their lives could never be restored.

During the war, most of the apartments were occupied by German soldiers, but the building itself was not damaged.

Today’s residents are, for the most part, no longer connected to cultural figures —”Slovo” has become an ordinary apartment building.

Its facade, like the surrounding area, needs repair.

Unfortunately, the architect’s vision is difficult to discern due to the proliferation of enlarged or glazed balconies, but this is a problem that is common throughout the country since 1990s.

The facade of the Slovo Building was damaged by Russian bombs in March 2022.