[club1543502|Harwick House mit Chimärenstraße]4 Fotos

79 Chernyshevskaya Street. Surely everyone has heard of this famous creation of architect V. Gorodetsky – the unique mansion in Kyiv on Bankovaya Street, known as the House of Chimeras. This house earned its name due to the sculptural decorations on its facade and inside, which feature mythical creatures from both land and marine worlds, as well as elements related to hunting. However, few people know that Kharkov also boasts several houses adorned with similar chimera sculptures. Although they are not as well-known as their Kyiv counterpart, and do not contain as many such decorations, they are just as interesting. The first such house in Kharkov was built 11 years after the one in Kyiv, in 1914, in the same Art Nouveau style with elements of English Gothic architecture, just like Gorodetsky’s mansion. The architects behind this building were V. Pokrovsky and P. Velichko. It is located in a quiet area of Kharkov’s center, at 79 Chernyshevskaya Street. There is still some confusion regarding the origin of the street’s name: it was originally named after the owner of the estate that used to stand at the site of the current building at number 1. During the Soviet era, it was renamed in honor of the Russian writer N. G. Chernyshevsky, despite his having no connection to this city. Recently, the street was given its historical name back, but not all street signs have been updated accordingly. V. Pokrovsky, who served as the chief architect of the Kharkov Diocese, designed this six-story mansion, which was originally intended to serve as a private women’s gymnasium for his sisters. The women’s gymnasium operated until 1920; afterwards, the building housed the No. 62 eighth-grade school, which was closed in 1962 due to its dangerous proximity to a nearby tuberculosis clinic. From 1973 until its closure in 1995, the building was used as an evening school for working youth. For nearly fifteen years, the house stood abandoned and boarded up; later, it was donated to the Theater Faculty of the Kotlyarevsky University of Arts. For several years, the building underwent restoration work, with students playing a crucial role in this process. The final repairs and restorations were carried out in the 1990s, during which the original facade, adorned with bizarre sculptures of chimeras, was carefully restored. According to encyclopedias, the word “chimera” originates from the Greek language and means “goat”; it refers to a mythical creature with the head and neck of a lion, the body of a goat, and a snake’s tail. This creature was said to be born from the union of Typhon and Echidna. In the Middle Ages, gorgons were often considered chimeras as well. In modern times, the term “chimera” is often used to refer to monsters and mutants of all kinds, as well as unrealistic dreams and fantasies. Sculptural representations of fantastic creatures are a common feature of Gothic architecture, especially in cathedrals like Notre-Dame de Paris. The Kharkov mansion is unique because it is not only adorned with chimeras but also with the heads of its creators, architect Pokrovsky and his assistant Velichko. In this way, the Pokrovsky sisters honored their brother, the designer of this building, and his close collaborator. Interestingly, these changes to the original design were made at the sisters’ own initiative, without their brother’s knowledge. The sculptures of the architects—young Velichko on the right, depicted as a medieval scribe, and Pokrovsky wearing glasses on the left, portrayed as a professor—can still be seen today from beneath the second-floor balcony. Originally, Velichko held a stylus in his right hand to write in the book he held in his left hand; during the recent restoration, the stylus was broken, but students creatively replaced it with a cigarette, which is now used in place of the missing writing tool. The upper columns of the facade bear two sculptures of bent-human-like creatures; these once had no names, but they are now called “Gorlums” due to their striking resemblance to the fictional character Gorlum from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings.” Modern students of the theater faculty have established a tradition of carefully maintaining the nails on the “gorslem’s legs” by regularly painting them with nail polish. In addition to the previously mentioned creatures, the facade of the house is also decorated with ordinary-looking wolves, salamanders, and knightly emblems.