The building at Kulykivskyj Descent, 8/10 is a prime example of a victim of the housing boom of the 1920s.

The mansion was built in 1906 for the merchant Pyotr Vasilyevich Markov, based on a design by Oleksiy Beketov.

In the 1910s, the building in the courtyard was expanded according to a design by M. F. Piskunov.

In the 1920s and 1930s, when Kharkiv became the capital of the Ukrainian SSR, the city’s population grew significantly in a short period of time. There was a shortage of housing, so many buildings were hastily expanded with additional stories. The additions did not match the style of the original buildings at all; more precisely, the additions often lacked any style whatsoever, although some view them as examples of Constructivism or Functionalism.

At present, the interwar-era addition completely detracts from the building’s appearance.

The house has lost a significant portion of its decorative elements and entrance area.

You’d be better off not going into the courtyard, lest you find yourself both laughing and crying at the sight of all those “tsar balconies.”

The building was damaged by a Russian missile strike on February 5, 2023. Parts of the building’s facade and its windows were damaged.