According to one legend, Emperor Paul I, enraged at our city, intended to burn Kharkiv to the ground and plow up the very spot where he stood, then sow it with grass. On the road that would run through the new field, he planned to erect a stone pillar and inscribe on it: “Here stood the city of Kharkiv.” Only the emperor’s death prevented this plan from coming to fruition.

For many years now, I have had the impression that the city authorities are persistently and systematically following the wishes of the late Russian autocrat, bringing to life his unfulfilled vision for Kharkiv.

We rush through life too quickly. We’re all running somewhere, complaining about how imperfect the world is. Yet at the same time, we desperately long for a miracle that simply has to fall into our laps.
And in doing so, we completely forget that if we just stop for a moment and look around, wonders we’ve never seen before will reveal themselves to us.

There is a magnificent mansion located at Sviatodukhivska Street, 10 (formerly Proletars’ka Street).

Not even the scars left by time could mar his proud and majestic appearance.

But what years, wars, and regimes have failed to destroy, we are capable of destroying today through our indifference and inaction. There are times and situations when even silence is a crime.
Take a moment to look at the photos of this beautiful house, find the time, and simply pay it a visit.

And ask yourself this question: “Do you want this house to be destroyed?”
After all, it might be gone by tomorrow, but in its place, we could easily erect a stone pillar bearing the inscription: “Old Kharkiv once stood here”…

P.S. According to information provided by Andriy Paramonov, this Art Nouveau mansion was built in 1908 and belonged to the bourgeois couple Dmitry Evgrafovich and Ekaterina Vasilievna Krasiy.