Kharkiv is everywhere. You only need to look around to see this for yourself—and you don’t even have to be in Kharkiv to do so. It’s not just the place names, but also the buildings constructed or decorated by people from Kharkiv. Recently, we recalled “Beketov’s Kyiv,” and we also recalled Mykola Karazin’s magnificent murals in the Odessa Stock Exchange building (now the Philharmonic).
Now let’s take a look at the Dnipro. For example, in the central part of the city on Voskresenska Street (originally called Klubnaya), there are buildings designed by Kharkiv architects Oleksander Ginzburg and Viktor Estrovich located right next to one another.
The building at Voskresenska Street, 6 is a true masterpiece of Art Nouveau, designed by Oleksander Ginzburg in 1912–1913.
Originally, it was the Public Assembly’s theater club; after the revolution, a railway workers’ club was established in the building, followed by a drama theater and a youth theater. Since 2001, the theater club has housed the Dnipro Regional Philharmonic.
The building was far ahead of its time—its design hints at the emerging style of Constructivist architecture, and in some ways, even Art Deco…
After the building opened, there were plans to build an ice rink on the roof, but the idea never came to fruition.
The theater club’s main auditorium had a capacity of 1,400, and in 1914, Igor Severyanin performed there to great acclaim.
Just a little further up, at the intersection of Voskresenska Street and Dmytra Yavornytskoho Avenue, stands the branch of the National Bank of Ukraine. Its address is Voskresenska Street, 13.
It was designed by another talented Kharkiv architect, Viktor Estrovich, and built between 1910 and 1912.
Surprisingly, this building has retained its original banking character and interior details—until 1917, it housed a branch of the St. Petersburg Commercial Bank.
Even more surprising is the fact that Estrovich did not even enter the competition to design the bank; instead, the competition was won by a design by Polish architects G. Girshberg and M. Fain.
Incidentally, third place in the competition went to a project by architects Rzhepishevsky and Vasilyev, who are no less well-known to Kharkiv residents; during the same period, they built the Merchant Bank and the Astoria Hotel on Pavlivska Square.
Nevertheless, the St. Petersburg Commercial Bank chose Viktor Estrovich’s project, and it essentially became his “ticket to success.”
From 1921, the building housed the State Bank; since 1991, it has been a branch of the National Bank of Ukraine.
The coats of arms of St. Petersburg can still be seen on the facade.
Incidentally, it is worth noting that the Kharkiv branch of the St. Petersburg Commercial Bank has also retained its original interiors, as it has not changed its original banking function since the time of its construction. Today it is Oschadbank; the building was designed by architect V. Velichko in 1913 and blends well with the Beketov-style architecture on Constitution Square.
