[club1543502|And once again, about Sumskaya Street, 19...4 photos

Today, my role is not an easy one: I have to inform our readers that the information contained in T.V. Tikhomirova’s article about the income property owned by the “Zhizn” Insurance Society is not entirely reliable. What were the reasons for this? Probably, it was due to a lack of professionalism on the author’s part – after all, we are amateurs here – as well as an excessive trust in printed materials rather than in actual documents. There are many other possible factors as well… However, there is also a compelling reason that justifies much of what happened: the article that was published was not an originally prepared piece for publication, but rather text that had simply been stored away in an archive folder at the Korolenko Library’s “Ukrainika” department. If the author had had more time, it is very likely that these details would have been checked several times before being made public. Once again, we would like to thank Tatyana Viktorovna for her dedicated work… As always, the role of our editorial board was played by Yevgeny Viktorovich Solovyov. His thoughts and analysis are presented below. The plot on which the building is located originally consisted of two separate plots, numbers 21 and 23, both owned by the same person – the Kappels. The first photographs of this plot date back to the 1860s. There is a photograph that was published in the appendix to the second volume of D.I. Bagaley’s “History of Kharkov.” On this photo, one can see a two-story wing on the north side of the property; this wing later became part of the three-story income property. The original features of this building, which dates back to the mid-19th century, can still be seen on the rear facades of the property. In the 1890s – approximately in 1896 – the Kappels built a two-story house in the brick style within the courtyard. The architect who designed this building is unknown. Based on certain architectural elements, it is similar to the barracks of the Tambovsky Regiment located on Voenna Street, which were constructed in 1900 according to the plans of architect M.I. Dashkevich. However, these similarities alone are not sufficient to determine the exact author of this building. Since the property consisted of two separate plots (numbers 21 and 23), it was always referred to by the combined number 21-23 or 21/23. At the turn of the century, around 1900, the Kappels sold this combined plot to the nobleman Mikhail Orestovich Likhonin. Shortly thereafter – between 1902 and 1905 – Likhonin built a three-story income property on Sumskaya Street according to the designs of architect M.I. Dashkevich. This new building was constructed by adding one more floor onto the existing two-story house and extending it three stories in height on the south side. Three-story extensions were also added along the north and south boundaries of the plot. The requirements of this reconstruction process had a significant impact on the building’s layout and design. Since Dashkevich had to adhere to the dimensions of the existing structure, the front facade of the new building has a relatively “low” profile. For the aforementioned reasons, it was not possible to create an entrance to the courtyard that formed a right angle with the facade; however, this difference is barely noticeable visually. Around 1910–1911, Likhonin sold this income property to the “Zhizn” Insurance Society for Income and Capital. Later on, he built another income property on Pushkinskaya Street according to the designs of architect V.V. Velichko. In 1980, the building was restored, but many decorative elements were lost – such as the cornices, the decorations on the balcony columns, and the balustrade on the upper level. In the historical studies of Kharkov’s architecture, this building at Sumskaya Street 19 is mentioned in connection with the possibility that it was designed by architect N.A. Shtakenshneider in the late 19th century. However, these hypotheses have not been corroborated by any documentary evidence. Source: ngeorgij.livejournal.com #Kharkov #Kharkiv #1stolica_history