Many of the buildings in our city are beautiful not only from the front but also from the courtyard.

Sometimes they resemble sunken ships overgrown with polyps—extensions, bay windows, antennas, garages, and attics. Most of them were made in 1990s by apartment owners.

Yet even through them, a warm atmosphere shines through, as if from illustrations of castles in children’s storybooks. The “Red Bank Worker” Building at Alchevskyh Street, 6 was designed by architect Viktor Estrovich and built between 1926 and 1928 for the employees of the People’s Commissariat of Finance of the Ukrainian SSR.

In an era dominated by Constructivism, the house stood out from architectural trends—it was an eclectic design featuring elements of Romanticism and Ukrainian Art Nouveau. Some of the building’s red roof tiles have been preserved.

The plot of land set aside for the building was small, but the architect designed the house to fit as tightly as possible within it. The result was a U-shaped house.

The facade still bears an emblem that is difficult to identify; it apparently belonged to the People’s Commissariat of Finance. It depicts two hands shaking. The building decoration also features bas-reliefs of owls.

Estrovich himself lived in “Red Bank Worker” building (“Chervony Bankovets”) from 1928 to 1941. As a jew, he was executed by the Nazis in 1941 at Drobitsky Yar. A memorial plaque was installed in 2015.