In days gone by, the Grand Hotel stood at the corner of Serhiivskyi and Pavlivskyi Squares.

According to numerous travel guides of the time, it had about 100 rooms. Room rates were among the highest in Kharkiv—starting at 2 rubles.

Unfortunately, during the WWII, this magnificent building was razed to the ground. However, the Grand Hotel in Kharkiv is associated with many interesting stories and mysteries.

One of them is this…

In 1910, the French vice-consul, Ludovic Rabieux, lived there. Given that the specific address of the vice-consulate in Kharkiv is not listed, we can assume that it was located there as well. In the 1911 Kharkiv calendar, the address of the aforementioned consulate is listed more precisely as “Temporarily at the Grand Hotel.” The new French vice-consul, Marinass Kavallas, apparently resided there as well.

Unfortunately, it is still completely unclear to us why one of the oldest diplomatic missions in Kharkiv took such a step, especially since it had been located at a more or less permanent address since 1901. It is equally unclear why this particular hotel was chosen. However, the fact remains that for about two years, the French Consulate was located at the Grand Hotel.