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Pushkinska Street

The street was established in the early 19th century and was called Nimetska(German) Street, as it was inhabited by foreigners — professors, lecturers and craftsmen, mostly Germans, invited to Kharkiv by V. Karazin to work at the University. In 1899 it was renamed on the occasion of A. Pushkin’s 100th birthday.

The street was built up in the mid 19th-early 20th century. The buildings in this street were mostly residential estates, educational, research and medical institutions. 25 of them are monuments of architecture, but many more can be of special interest to visitors.

Pushkinska Street starts from Konstytutsii Square, near Radianska Underground Station. This site offers a view of the V. Korolenko Kharkiv State Scientific Library (18, Korolenko Lane). It was built in 1901 in accordance with the design by A. Beketov especially for Kharkiv Public Library which was founded in 1886 by scholars and public figures of Kharkiv and was situated in rented premises. The reading hall of the library was designed in such a way that it had good acoustics and could be used as a concert hall. Well-known poets, writers, composers performed there. The library was named after the prominent writer V. Korolenko in 1922. Since then it has been receiving a copy of all the books published in the country. The contents of the library include about 7 million volumes and cover all the branches of science. Of major value are the manuscripts and editions published in the 15th–16th centuries which are kept in the Rare Books Department.

In the 1930s and 1970s the new buildings were constructed to house the book depository of the library.

A residential house in 3, Pushkinska Steet is a former lodging house designed by A. Rzhepyshevsky in 1914. It was the first building where the principle of the free-pattern planning was introduced: using movable partitions, the tenants could easily change the planning of the rooms.

5, Pushkinska St. was built for the DonUgol (Coal of Donbas) Trust in 1925. It combines the features of Modern and Constructivism, the most popular styles in Kharkiv in the 1920–1930s. The facade is decorated with two figures of miners sculptured by I. Kavaleridze. The building now houses the Yuzhghiproshakht Company.

Kharkiv Synagogue (12, Pushkinska St.) is the only one preserved of the five Judaic temples in the city (the Jewish community has existed since the foundation of the fortress). The Synagogue is designed by a St. Petersburg architect Y. Hevirts who used both the motifs of the Eastern architecture and the forms of Roman style. After Soviet power was established in Kharkiv, all the valuables were confiscated from the Synagogue, and in 1923 it was closed. For almost 70 years it housed a working club, children’s cinema, sporting society, which of course damaged the interior planning of the building. When in the 1990s the building was retrieved by the Jewish community, the Synagogue was restored and then put on the list of the cultural monuments of Ukraine. It is also the second largest synagogue in Europe after the Budapest Synagogue.

Located in 14, Pushkinska Street is the building of the Elie Metchnikoff Institute of Microbiology and Immunology of the Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine. It was designed by A. Beketov for Kharkiv Medical Society. Earlier a hospital and bacteriological station were built there, which explains a slight turning of the street: the architect wanted to preserve the existing buildings, and that is why the new building was designed in this way. When drawing the design, the architect consulted the medical staff to locate various laboratories, cabinets, a library, patients’ day rooms, an auditorium, editor’s office of medical journal, etc. in the most rational and convenient way. The facade of the building is decorated with memorial plaques commemorating prominent scientists who used to work here at different times. Opposite the street is a monument to Elie Metchnikoff (sculptured by S. Hubanov).

Designed by A. Ginzburg in 1907, a former lodging house in 19, Pushkinska Street at the corner of Theatre Square is a fine example of the Decorative Modern.

Being one of the oldest buildings in the city, the so-called Provision Warehouse is situated in the close proxi­mity to Poetry Square. It was constructed in 1787–1788 in accordance with the design by P. Yaroslavsky (a graduate of Kharkiv College) in the strict forms of Russian Classicism. The building was used to store the city provisions of crops. Today it houses a supermarket. The architectural outlook of the square is completed with another building designed in the style of Classicism — the Land Bank (designed by V. Pushkarev, 1958). A monument to M. Kotsyubynsky, a famous Ukrainian impressionist writer, is situated in a park in front of the bank.

62, Pushkinska Street, a private mansion of the early 20th century, has been home to the Regional House of Folk Arts for several decades already. The house is especially picturesque with decorative towers and a wrought metal fence considered one of the most beautiful in Kharkiv. After the 1917 Revolution, the house was used as a hall of resid­ence: in 1923–1926 O. Dovzhenko, a famous Ukrain­ian stage director and writer, lived here, which is commemorated on a memorial plaque on the facade. An interesting fact is that when he was not, yet, famous and worked as an ordinary caricature artist in the Visti newspaper, the room which he shared with another artist was called ‘majlis’ — the guests were seated on boxes put along the walls; the same boxes served as beds for the tenants.

N. Barabashov, a famous astronomer, lived in 67/69, Pushkinska Street.

The monumental two-story building in the style of Neorenaissance in 77, Pushkinska Street is a former Commercial College (now — the main building of the Yaroslav the Wise National Law Academy). The building was constructed in 1891; it was the first project designed by A. Beketov, which was implemented in our city.

The same side of the street features a fundamental construction of 1930 — a complex of students’ halls of residence with a well developed infrastructure: halls of residence, Palace of Students, barber’s and hairdresser’s, canteens, caf?s, gyms, etc.

The building of the M. Sytenko Institute of Spine and Joint Pathology (80, Pushkinska St.) was designed by M. Piskunov in the early 20th century as a lodging house for a merchant Kompanshchik, and was later reconstructed as a hospital for miners which became basis for the future institute. Close to it is a building of the X-ray Academy designed by V.  Estrovich in the 1930s. It now houses the S. Hrygoryev Institute of Medical Radiology. Like many buildings of that time, it was designed in the style of Constructive Modern. Built in 2004, the contemporary Palace of Students of the National Law Academy stands out in the row of other buildings in this part of the street.