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Pryvokzalna Square (Railway Station Square)

The establishment of the square started in the 1860s together with the construction of the Kursk-Kharkiv-Azov Railway.

In 1869 the first building of a railway station was built on the site of a former Bishop’s meadow acoording to the design by A. Ton. The same year the first train arrived in Kharkiv.

Later the building of the railway station was reconstructed in 1896–1901 by architects I. Zagoskin and J. Caune.

The present building of the railway station was designed by H. Voloshyn, B. Mezentsev, L. Lymar and constructed in the early 1950s. It is faced with natural stone, bronze moulding, ceramic ornaments. The ceiling is decorated with picturesque dome lights featuring the life episodes of the Soviet state.

In the 1980s a high-rise hotel complex was attached to the railway station, and in the 1990s an amusing monument to a fictitious character of Father Fyodor was put up on Platform 1. Father Fyodor (Theodore) is a character from I. Ilf and E. Petrov’s ‘The Twelve Chairs’, who missed his train in Kharkiv trying to get some hot water at the station. This is exactly the way the sculptor depicted him — trying to catch the train with a kettle in his hand. This picturesque story has taken the fancy of Kharkovites; the figures of other three characters: Kisa Vorobyaninov, Madame Bruns and Ostap Bender are comfortably located in Petrovskogo Street near the Rio Caf?.

The building of the Southern Railway Adminstration designed in the style of Neoclassicism by A. Dmitriyev, D. Rakitin (engineer P. Rottort, 1912–1914) divides the Railway Station Square in two parts. Even today, the building impresses with its proportions and the scope of construction.

Constructed in 1927–1929 as per the competition winning design by A. Mordvinov, the building of the General Post Office (now Railway Post Office No. 52) encloses Railway Station Square from the North. Its dynamic composition and functionality secured this prime example of Constructivism (alongside Derzhprom) world fame.

Another building situated on Railway Station Square is a residential building designed by A. Beketov for the employees of the Southern Railway in 1928.

The Palace for Culture of Railway Employees (designed by A. Dmitriyev, 1932) is located in 83a, Kotlova Street, not far from the Railway Station. The building is designed in the style of Constructivism, the facade is constructed in the form of five concave surfaces, resembling a stretched accordion. The Palace for the Culture of Railway Employees is considered one of the best buildings of the style and time.