The Soviet-era buildings, neoclassical architectural monuments at Sumska Street, 124 and 126 are actually older than they appear at first glance.
These buildings were part of the Metalist housing cooperative. It was built between 1929 and 1935 according to designs by architect Vasily Bogomolov in the constructivist style.
The Metalist buildings occupied the entire block (within the boundaries of Sumska, Myronosytska, Olesya Gonchara and Vesnina streets) and were put into operation gradually.
The sections were not completely identical on the Sumska and Myronosytska Streets side, differing in the number of stories – from a 6-story building at the intersection of today’s Sumska and Olesya Gonchara Streets (completed in 1931) to a predominantly 4-story building on Mironositska Street.
The quarter was heavily damaged during World War II.
In 1946-1957 the buildings were restored and reconstructed according to the design of the architects G. A. and L. A. Yanovitsky and A. D. Motorin.
Architect Oleksander Leibfreid emphasized that the loggias and bay windows were decorated using individual details of Ukrainian folk architecture of the 17th-18th centuries (they are better visible from Vesnina Street).
Although most of the buildings adopted Stalinist Empire neoclassical style features, sections on Myronosytska Street remained in the Constructivist style.
The only exception is the building at Mironositskaya Street, 93A. It is distinguished by a spire that contrasts sharply with the style of the building itself.
City residents speculated that the spire may have belonged to another pre-soviet building, destroyed during World War II and the spire could have been put on Myronosytska Street, 93A during post-war renovations. This is how a “little house with a spire” appeared in Kharkiv, contrasting with the more famous House with a Spire on Constitution Square.
Unfortunately, the numerous glazed and expanded balconies by residents in the 1990s have completely “eaten away” the image of the original façade, and it is now difficult to understand what it originally looked like.
On January 2, 2026, Russian forces launched two ballistic missiles, destroying the Persona Shopping Center on Olesya Gonchar Street and a section of another constructivist architectural landmark at Myronosytska Street, 91. Seven people were killed and 38 injured. The Metalist housing cooperative complex also sustained significant damage: many sections of the building lost windows and doors, the roof was damaged, and the internal structures of the buildings experienced significant stress from nearby explosions.
