Unlike Kyiv, Kharkiv did not have much luck with various experimental buildings constructed in the 1960s and 1970s based on individual designs. One such exception is the 24-story residential building at Poznanskaya Street, 2 (Microdistrict 602), which has become one of the visual symbols of Saltivka.
Built using frame-panel technology, the building was the tallest residential building in Kharkiv (69.5 m to the roof) for 25 years, from 1979 to 2004.
It actually has 20 residential floors, since the top floor is a service floor, and the first three originally housed a fashion studio, a consignment shop, a milk bar, and other establishments.
The apartments (there were 180 of them) were originally equipped with intercoms that looked like an extra telephone with a button instead of a dial and even bidets in the bathrooms. The building was equipped with a smoke extraction system, where smoke is drawn out through internal shafts in the event of a fire. The building also featured two additional internal fire escapes.
According to one legend, apartment 173 on the 23rd floor was set up as the “Ears of the KGB,” i.e., a room for eavesdropping on residents.
In some places, the original vertical sun visors have been preserved on the windows, though they were mostly lost when residents glazed their balconies.
Before residents began glazing the balconies and covering the walls with insulation, the building had a more attractive appearance.
According to rumors, the building’s original design was intended for the “Intourist” hotel, but was later revised. The project’s architects were A. Zavarov, Z. Chechin, V. Kadin, and G. Pilak.
During the Romanian earthquake on August 30, 1986, people from the upper floors ran out into the street in their nightgowns, as the tremors were felt particularly strongly there.
But the residents of the building faced their greatest stress on June 12, 2025, during the Russian bombing of Kharkiv with Shahed-136 kamikaze drones, in which the 24-story building, especially its lower floors, sustained significant damage.
