The Kharkiv Hippodrome building is one of the most interesting Art Nouveau buildings in Kharkiv. Its current address is Ipodromu Sq, 2.

The Kharkiv Hippodrome, one of the oldest in Ukraine, has been running its history since 1848. At that time, horse races were held at the Horse Market during horse fairs in the eastern part of Kharkiv. Since the 1860s, the hippodrome has moved to the northern part of the city (Sokilnyky).

Competitions, in which horses from the best horse breeders of Kharkov Governorate participated, became a regular and most popular entertainment for the public. In addition to the racetrack, there was also a second track for harness races.

The history of the racecourse has seen its ups and downs. Despite the introduction of the horse betting in the 1870s, the popularity of horse racing declined sharply in the 1880s, with horse racing being discontinued in 1882 and harness races in 1885. They were revived only in 1896.

In 1907-1914, the stands of the horse racing track were built by architect Zdysław Harmanski. They have survived to this day.

The other elegant wooden buildings of the hippodrome (on both tracks), unfortunately, have not survived.

In the 1910s, the first Kharkiv aviators demonstrated their airplane flights on the harness races track. This track was closed in 1926. Its territory was later absorbed by the Kharkiv Aircraft Plant. The original horse races track survived as well as the hippodrome that worked in Soviet times.

Since the 1990s, the racetrack has slowly faded away, and betting races have no longer been held there since the early 2000s. In 2010-2012 horse track was used for motor sport but the tragic car crash incident halted these races as well. However, horses continued to be housed and trained in its stables and on the track and riding lessons were held. In 2007–2014 the Hippodrome building was used by nightclubs “Tourbillon” and “Oplot” (the last was specialized on MMA fighting events).

On April 29, 2024, the Kharkiv Hippodrome was damaged by guided bombs attack from Russian aviation. According to the monitoring group HeMo: Ukrainian Heritage Monitoring Lab, windows were damaged, the wooden elements of the roof and grandstand structures were damaged, and the facade decoration was damaged as well.