At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, there were two hotels in Kharkiv with similar names—”The Palace”. Both were severely damaged by Russian missile strikes in 2023 and 2025.

Palace Hotel, Kotsarska Street, 9

This architectural landmark was built in 1913–1914 by Moisey Dikansky’s construction firm, commissioned by Kharkiv merchant Vladislav Lyandau, who owned the plot of land on this street. The building is designed in an eclectic style, with elements of Neoclassicism and Art Nouveau. Interestingly, Landau appointed another merchant, the scandal-ridden Viktor Zhatkin, to manage the hotel.

The hotel promoted the following advantages:

• 100 hygienic and comfortably furnished rooms;
• running water in all rooms;
• electric lighting;
• local and long-distance telephone service on every floor;
• elevator, bathroom, and hair salon;
• hydronic heating;
• a “top-notch” restaurant attached to the hotel;
• a car and a carriage are dispatched to meet all trains.

Fun fact: the sidewalk near the former hotel still features “light strips”—grilles with transparent glass blocks that provided light to the basement levels (pedestrians could walk over these grilles).

In 1919, the hotel housed the counterintelligence unit of Denikin’s White Army. From 1920 to 1927, Red Army commanders were stationed there, after which it was converted into a dormitory.

After World War II, an additional floor was added to the former “Palace” Hotel, while preserving its original style and decor. The building housed the dormitory of the Technical University of Agriculture (since 2021, the State University of Biotechnology).

On October 22, 2025, the building was severely damaged by a strike from a Russian “Shahed”-type drone, which pierced the wall of the dormitory’s eastern facade and caused significant damage to the adjacent 19th-century historic building (Katsars’ka St, 7), which housed a private kindergarten.

Although 48 children were evacuated to the basement in time before the strike, one person was killed and seven were injured on the street.

The building also housed the Museum of Childhood, which sustained serious damage.

Kharkiv Palace Hotel, Nezalezhnosti Ave, 2.

The first 5-star hotel in Kharkiv was built in 2010–2011 based on a design by Sergey Babushkin’s Kyiv-based architectural firm.

The hotel was built as part of the city’s preparations for the UEFA Euro 2012 football championship, commissioned by Alexander Yaroslavsky, owner of the DCH industrial and financial group. Its construction cost $126 million.

The hotel’s 11-story main building featured a vast atrium with panoramic elevators, a massive 24-meter chandelier, and a lobby with a grand piano. A two-level underground parking garage was located beneath the hotel.

Although many local historians and architects reacted very coldly to the “intrusion” of a high-tech building into the architectural ensemble of Freedom Square that had taken shape between the 1920s and 1950s, the hotel has become a landmark of Kharkiv.

The hotel, with 171 rooms, was a frequent choice for celebrities, wealthy foreign tourists, and clients of Kharkiv-based IT companies. The Kharkiv Palace featured several conference halls (where conferences on various topics were frequently held) and meeting rooms, shops, and a spa center with a swimming pool. Also worth noting are several restaurants, one of which (the Sky Lounge) offered one of the best panoramic views of downtown Kharkiv from its terrace.

The Kharkiv Palace housed a small museum dedicated to Euro 2012—a soccer event that left a lasting impression on the people of Kharkiv.

Among the unusual exhibits in the lobby was the jacket Arnold Schwarzenegger wore in the movie *Terminator 3*.

On December 30, 2023, Russian forces fired an Iskander ballistic missile at the hotel. The direct hit caused severe damage to the hotel, destroying the reinforced concrete floors on several levels. The Kharkiv Palace Hotel has ceased operations.