Post-war Khreschatyk. Price is the question

Text: Semyon Shirochyn

Before the creation of a modern avenue with greenery and a promenade, the old Khreshchatyk was much narrower: its double width (if you take the distance between the red lines) was only 32 meters. The street was inferior to Shevchenko Boulevard, it could be compared with Volodymyrskaya, Chervonoarmiyskaya and Saksagansky. In addition, the buildings of pre-war Khreschatyk were extremely dense, which is characteristic of the quarters of the late XNUMXth and early XNUMXth centuries.

This was facilitated by both the high price of land and the high demand for real estate in the city center: in some preserved pre-war quarters, the building density reached 60–70%. With such indicators in the houses, there are not only problems with the ventilation and lighting of the premises, which is unfavorable from the point of view of sanitation, but also the danger of the spread of fires increases significantly. Some architects directly claim: the death of pre-war Khreschatyk from a fire is a direct consequence of the density of its buildings.

The face of old Khreschatyk was constantly changing: plots of land were bought and sold, new owners demolished old buildings to build new ones, bigger and taller.

An economic boom is also a construction boom. And the main street of Kyiv in the 1870s is not at all similar to Khreschatyk in the 1890s, and even more different from Khreschatyk at the beginning of the XNUMXth century.

But the situation changes with the beginning of the First World War. The relative stability of Khreshchatyk's face until the end of the 1920s was the result of the crisis, when the Soviet authorities simply did not have the funds for new construction. At the beginning of the 1930s, the construction of new facilities and the redesign of old ones unfolded: the buildings of the post office, the Center of Central Market and state institutions were erected, the Grand Hotel and the Radio Theater were rebuilt, and the construction of a residential building designed by the architect Karakis at the pre-war address Khreshchatyk 29 began.

 

War

Kyiv was surrendered to the Germans without a fight. The first significant destruction occurred a few days after the arrival of the enemy: houses occupied by the German administration on Khreshchatyk and nearby streets began to explode following a radio signal. 16 structures were blown up directly, but the explosions caused fires that could not be extinguished due to the malfunctioning water supply. The situation was aggravated by dense construction. After the fire, the Germans blew up part of the burning buildings to protect themselves from an emergency collapse.

The next wave of destruction covered Kyiv in 1943: street battles took place, and the retreating Germans set fire to the city behind them (the entire left-bank building was destroyed, including the old wooden churches).

According to calculations of 1944, during the war, Kyiv lost 39,2% of its housing stock. The total number of destroyed and damaged buildings in the seven central blocks was 324 units. It is this number that publications like to misinterpret, claiming that it is the number of houses that were irretrievably lost from the explosions.

According to calculations from 1944, during the war, Kyiv lost 39,2% of its housing stock

The truth is that both completely destroyed houses, from which only heaps of bricks remained, and unusable buildings due to damage, but suitable for reconstruction, were taken into account. No wonder the chief architect of Kyiv, Vlasov, claimed that "every box that can be restored must be restored." As a result, out of these 324 "irretrievable losses", more than 200 buildings were restored and still adorn the capital of Ukraine.

However, not all losses are the result of explosions and hostilities. In 1944, a decision was made to expand Khreschatyk for post-war reconstruction. About 30 damaged buildings, but completely suitable for restoration, were demolished. For the most part, it was the first line of construction on the odd side of Khreschatyk that was most affected. Therefore, it should not be surprising if in the photographs of 1944 there are houses that are "officially" considered lost in 1941.

Ginsburg House

Despite the fact that pre-war Khreshchatyk was a chaotically built-up street, there were truly unique architectural creations among the lost. One of them was the "Ginzburg Skyscraper" - the highest residential building of pre-war Kyiv (8-12 floors), built in 1910-1912 according to the project of architects Minkus and Troupianskyi. And although, for the sake of justice, it should be mentioned that the building was officially located at 14-18 Instytutska Street, its silhouette became an integral part of Khreschatyk.

Ginzburg's house was blown up on September 24, 1941, but the explosion did not completely destroy the house. The fragment that remained whole was dismantled already in the post-war period for the construction of the modern hotel "Ukraine" in its place.

 

City Duma

Another well-known and no less interesting building was the City Duma, erected on the modern Maidan (on the opposite side of Khreschatyk) in 1876 by the architect Shile. From the very beginning, the two-story building was added in 1900. In Soviet times, it housed the city executive committee of the CP(b)U. In 1940, it was even planned to add another building to the height of four floors.

The decision to expand Khreschatyk for post-war reconstruction was made in 1944

During the war, the Duma suffered from fires, but the walls survived, which left the possibility of reconstruction. However, the plans for the creation of a new Khreschatyk provided for an open space here, so the Duma building — perhaps the only one on the even side of the street — was dismantled, despite the possibility of restoration.

 

House of Defense

It is impossible not to mention the Defense Building, which was located on the modern European Square on the site of the Dnipro Hotel. Originally built at the end of the 5000th century as the Slovianskyi house, it was an example of the "gingerbread" pseudo-Russian style and was designed to house Europe's largest concert hall for XNUMX people.

In 1936, the architect Linetsky rebuilt the building, changing its stylistic appearance in favor of post-constructivism. Before the war itself, the House of Defense functioned here, performing propaganda functions for the popularization of the army.

The building survived the war, but in 1941 it was destroyed by explosions and fires. During the street fighting in 1943, the building was damaged by fire. At the same time, in the photo chronicle of 1944, you can see the surviving wooden front door on its facade! And in this condition, the building was demolished in 1944-1945.

 

Contest

The destruction of Khreshchatyk opened up a unique opportunity for city planners — to design the central street in the form of a coordinated grand ensemble. Before that, similar projects were implemented exclusively in undeveloped urban spaces. Novy Khreshchatyk also had an important political significance: this street had to fully demonstrate the Stalinist architectural idea.

In 1944, a competition was announced for the restoration of Khreschatyk, which lasted three years. The best architects of the Union took part in it, who proposed about twenty projects that included a viaduct across the street, multi-level interchanges with tunnels, campanile towers, "antique" pantheons, pompous theaters and baroque city councils.

16 structures were blown up directly, but the explosions caused fires. The situation was aggravated by dense construction

As a result, laureates were determined, prizes were distributed, but none of the developments were implemented. The fact is that the competition was considered as a mechanism for finding ideas. But the best of them were applied: this is the use of relief in the ensemble of the street, and the creation of a solemn staircase, and the location of buildings on the odd side with deviations from the red line, and the overlapping of Lutheranska Street.

 

Pantheon

An important, but little-known aspect is the presence of a memorial component in competitive projects. It should be noted that the competition works were created in 1944, even before the Victory. Most often, memorials to war heroes were designed in the form of the Pantheon. Such buildings are in the projects of Vlasov, Gelfreikh, Tatsiya, Orekhov, Kasyanov and Pushkarev, Chechulin, in the project "Golden Star" (Grauzhys, Stepanov and others), "Victory" (Novikov and others), "Cantata" (Zhoga and others) .

Architecturally, the memorial was most often interpreted as a rotunda with a colonnade, although there are other forms of it among the projects. Zabolotny's project has the "Home of the Patriotic War", Tkachev and Alabyan's projects have a pyramidal arch, Levinson's brigade has an obelisk in the "Kyiv" project.

 

Campanile

Another interesting unrealized idea that was in the competition entries is the campanile. The projects envisaged several places where the campanile is dominant. For example, it was planned to be located on the squares and next to the city council (by analogy with the town hall towers).

The campanile is in the works of Gelfreich (Bessarabian Square), Zabolotny (along the Trade Union building), Alabyan (at the corner of Horodetskyi and Khreshchatyk), Tkachev (on the site of the modern Ukraina Hotel), in the Golden Star project (on the site of the modern Post Office).

In the second round of the competition (1946), the campanile is present both in Tatsius (Besarabska Square) and in Vlasov (on the corner of Horodetskyi and Khreshchatyk). Most often, the authors envisioned the function of a clock tower for the campanile. The exception is the architect Goltz, who intended to place a museum and an observation deck in it.

 

Viaduct

One of the tasks of the competition was to increase the carrying capacity of the streets in the center of Kyiv. The ideas of tunnels and two-level overpasses were proposed. However, the idea of ​​organizing a viaduct across Khreshchatyk was visually the most vivid. It was supposed to connect Lypky and, flowing into Irinynska Street and Verkhnye Misto Street, relieve the central street in this way.

Many architects saw in the viaduct a visual "cutting" of Khreschatyk and dubious usefulness in terms of traffic flows

In the first round of the competition, this opinion appears in the projects "Cantata" and "For the Motherland". Many architects saw in the viaduct a visual "cutting" of Khreshchatyk and dubious usefulness in terms of traffic flows. But this idea was to Khrushchev's taste, so it surfaced in further design until 1947. The viaduct was worked out in particular detail in the projects of the second round — in Tats and Vlasov. In 1947, the Architectural Council voted to refuse its construction.

 

Post-war construction

The competition made it possible to select not only ideas, but also architects. Under the leadership of the architect Vlasov, in the second half of the 1940s, large-scale work on the further design of Khreschatyk began. Such responsible and comprehensive work, in his opinion, could not be entrusted to one person, therefore different groups of architects worked on different buildings. Real construction of the new Stalinist Khreschatyk began in 1949 and lasted until 1960.

Novy Khreshchatyk became one of the famous images of Kyiv and its business card, along with houses and ancient churches and buildings of the beginning of the XNUMXth century. The main street of the capital is not only a single ensemble and an example of a solemn post-war style, but also a well-thought-out space.

As part of the reconstruction, the exit of the Passage to Khreshchatyk, which was planned at the beginning of the XNUMXth century, was realized, reflected in the arches of the building on the opposite side. A well-thought-out high-rise accent opposite Khmelnytskyi Street, the decoration of the beginning of Proriznaya Street, a selected fan of streets at the end of the Maidan.

A vivid example of the fight against excesses in architecture is the distorted hotel on the Maidan, from which the tower with the spire and all the decorations were "cut"

Free spaces finally appeared on the new Khreschatyk, which are now, unfortunately, partially distorted and lost: the square opposite Proriznaya, where the metro pavilion was later erected, and the spaces in front of the hotel on the Maidan, now "decorated" with the glass "dam" of the shopping center.

The fight against excesses in architecture, which was started by Khrushchev at the end of 1955, did not allow to fully realize the idea. The most vivid example of this is the distorted hotel on the Maidan, from which the tower with the spire and all the decorations were "cut".

In addition, the projects of the buildings of Ukrkoopspilka, the hotel on European Square (which was also originally supposed to be topped by a tower) were simplified, and the design of Besarabska Square was not worked out, so Shevchenko Boulevard begins with two indistinct buildings (Shevchenko Boulevard, 2 and Velyka Vasylkivska, 2).

 

Khreschatyk, 13–17

Despite the incompleteness of a number of projects, they managed to realize a large number of beautiful buildings on Khreschatyk. The first of them was the building at 13/2 Khreshchatyk Street, the creation of architects Vlasov, Dobrovolsky and Pryimak. Here we can note a whole series of techniques characteristic of the "Stalin empire".

See also: War and Peace by Lebbeus Woods

The color scheme of the building is distinguished by a solemn combination of colors: red, yellow and light beige, almost fleshy. The facade of the building is decorated with ceramic tiles - at that time still experimental, but firmly established in the early 1950s. The architects made the plinth in red granite, and the roof was covered with red tiles.

In the architecture of cornices and pediments, you can see the influence of Ukrainian Baroque, which returned to fashion in the late 1940s. The Passage and the second building of the project - 13 Khreschatyk Street - are decorated similarly to house number 17. The Passage arch is lavishly decorated with colored ceramic tiles, and until 1998 it was flanked by sculptures.

 

Khreschatyk, 25

One of the most famous buildings in Stalin's Khreschatyk is the "House with a Star", number 25, built in 1954 according to the project of architects Dobrovolskyi, Malinovskyi, Priymak, Sozanskyi and others. With 13 floors, this building was the tallest in Kyiv for a while.

In addition to the distinctive architecture of the stepped silhouette characteristic of Stalinist high-rises, decorative ceramic tiles and a tower with a spire, the building is distinguished by its location on a slope, deep from the red building line. A monumental granite staircase decorated with stylish lampposts leads to the house.

 

Khreschatyk, 11

The concert hall of the conservatory, located at 11 Khreshchatyk Street, was built in 1956–1958, the authors of the project were architects Katok, Krasny, Liberberg. As you know, before the war, the conservatory was located in Music Lane. There was also a concert hall built in 1936 by the architect Karakis.

Novy Khreschatyk became a concentration of the creative thought of the best architects

In the post-war period, restoration of the building was planned, in 1950 Karakis was even entrusted with this project. However, funds for the renovation were never allocated, and in the same 1950 it was decided to locate the conservatory in the former Continental Hotel on Horodetskyi Street.

Close to the former hotel, the building of the concert hall was built, embodying many characteristic features of Stalinist architecture: in addition to many classical elements, the principle of synthesis of arts, unity of architecture, sculpture and painting is followed here. On the ceiling in the lobby is a panel depicting a cloudy sky and a gazebo overgrown with leaves, and the ceiling of the concert hall is decorated with a massive chandelier, which is surrounded by relief images of various theaters of the Soviet Union, including the operas of Yerevan, Kyiv, Odessa, Tashkent, the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg.

The pre-war building of the concert hall was reconstructed in 1959 as the Architect's House, which is still in use today.

The Second World War was the impetus for serious changes in the appearance of the main street of Kyiv. The destruction deprived us of a number of interesting and memorable buildings, but at the same time it opened up new opportunities — the street became more spacious, as well as stylistically and conceptually more complete.

The restored Khreschatyk became a concentration of creative thought of the best architects, the most advanced ideas, the newest materials were used here, and the strongest minds of the era participated in its creation. It was supposed to become the best street in Kyiv, and many ideas were realized. Unfortunately, some of the listed ideas were distorted: the monumental arches were built up with shops, the sculptural decoration disappeared. Nevertheless, all these shortcomings cannot deprive Khreschatyk of the solemnity it gained in the process of post-war reconstruction.

 

Text: Semyon Shirochyn

/Published in #00 volume Pragmatika, March 2018/