Many of us love Kharkiv. Indeed, how could one not love a city where, just by walking around, you can come across so many beautiful early 20th-century buildings, such as the mansion at Sumska Street, 96.

Working with the collections and files at the Kharkiv Regional State Archives sometimes yields surprising and completely unexpected discoveries for researchers. While working on one of the files related to the life and activities of First Guild merchant M.G. Dikansky, I discovered not only facts that challenge our understanding of a part of Kharkiv’s history, but also equally surprising photographs.

For this reason, I am pleased to present, for the first time, previously unknown and unpublished photographs of the mansion located at Sumska Street, 96. To avoid detracting from the pleasure of admiring this beauty—which belongs not to me, but to the people of Kharkiv—I will not include any logos in the photos.

I would also like to note that the history of this delightful mansion is just as fascinating as the photographs themselves. Documents I found in the archives clearly indicate that M.G. Dikansky, a merchant of the First Guild, owned this mansion for several years, but was by no means its architect…
So, to be continued…