The main building of Kharkiv University, originally built as the House of Projects, is one of the three “Kharkiv skyscrapers” that once formed the Constructivist ensemble of what is now Svobody (Freedom) Square in the 1930s. The building is located at Svobody Square, 4.

The House of Project Organizations was built between 1930 and 1932 based on a design by Sergei Serafimov and Maria Zandberg-Serafimova.

Sergey Serafimov is best known as one of the creators of the Derzhprom project.

The construction and design firms located in the building served the needs of construction projects throughout the Soviet Ukraine.

The 14-story main building was topped with a “floating” slab. The House of Projects was constructed of reinforced concrete, although its floor beams were made of wood.

Residents of Kharkiv who remained in the city during the German occupation claimed that the Soviet authorities burned some of the design documents—which they had not had time to evacuate—right inside the building, causing it to suffer severe fire damage. In 1942, the right wing of the building was blown up. The circumstances of the explosion remain a mystery—the Soviets may have detonated a radio-controlled mine planted during the retreat. The “floating” slab on the roof was destroyed in 1942, reducing the building’s height without the slab from 68.5 to 66 meters. But even as a charred skeleton, the House of Projects remained Ukraine’s tallest building until 1954; it was taller than the Derzhprom.

In the 1950s, the building underwent a major renovation in the Stalinist Empire style and lost its Constructivist appearance. The walls were finished with ceramic tiles. One version of the renovation even included a spire, but due to a lack of funding and the Khrushchev’s campaign against architectural excesses, these plans were never realized.

The renovation of the building, designed by I. Ermilov, N. Komirny, I. Zhilkin, and V. Kostenko, V. Livshits, and V. Lipkin was carried out primarily by Kharkiv students (the building was transferred to Kharkiv University in 1950) and was completed by 1963 when classes began in the building.

The building’s floor area was increased from 50,000 to 60,000 square meters.

In 1958, a monument to one of the university’s founders, Vasily Karazin, was moved to the Main Building of the university.

Also, in the late 1940s, a clock and a barometer were installed on the building.

The colonnaded portico in front of the university entrance was built in the 1990s.

A landmark event in the building’s history was the opening of the “ErmilovCenter” contemporary art center in 2012. The exhibition space, located on the ground floor, has become one of the main attractions of the city’s cultural life.

The main building of the University houses the Kharkiv National University History Museum (opened in 1972)

The building also houses the Kharkiv National University Museum of Archaeology, whose exhibition hall opened in 2015.

The interiors of the Main Building of Kharkiv National University are adorned with stained-glass windows, bas-reliefs, and murals depicting prominent scientists (artists G. Tishchenko and A. Pronin).

The windows of the university’s main building were damaged as a result of Russian missile strikes on March 1, 2022, and January 2, 2024. During the latter attack, more than 550 windows were shattered.