The Contracts House ( Ukrainian : Контрактовий будинок ) is a trade building in the Podil neighborhood of Kyiv , the capital of Ukraine . The Contracts House received its name because the city's contracts were signed there. It is located on the Kontraktova Square , once one of the Podil's main trading centers. The building is considered one of the important Classical architecture constructions of the city.
11-528: After a large fire destroyed part of the Podil in 1811, the first Contracts House in the neighborhood burnt down. A new replacement building was constructed in 1815-1817 in the Classical style according to a plan made by English architect V. Geste, supervised by architect Andrey Melensky . The Contracts House was envisioned as part of an ensemble , which would include the post office, the magistrate 's quarters, and
22-519: The Contracts House and Gostnyi Dvir, among many others. Nevertheless, some streets remained in the shape they were in before the fire. These are Borychiv Tik, Pokrovska, Pritisko-Mykilska, per.Khoryva. Andrey Melensky Andrey Ivanovich Melensky ( Russian : Андрей Иванович Меленский ; 1766–1833) was a Russian Imperial Neoclassical architect from Moscow who was appointed the city architect of Kiev (now Kyiv, Ukraine) in 1799 and held
33-533: The Contracts House: writers Alexander Pushkin , Nikolai Gogol , and Honoré de Balzac , poets Taras Shevchenko , Adam Mickiewicz , and Denis Davydov . After 1917, Trading Academy and Trade Museum were located in the premises of the Contracts House, and later - various technical schools. When interior furniture was renovated, the furniture for the building was developed by an architect I. Karakis . Since
44-409: The building itself. However, only the Contracts House was constructed. The front and western façades of the building features Doric order columns, and the eastern— Ionic order columns located on a portico . The front façade is topped off with a triangular pediment. The building has a total of two floors, with the second floor used as a concert hall , containing a row of colonnades . All rooms in
55-404: The building were done without any special decoration, with the exception of rooms on the upper floor, which were decorated on the order of Melensky. Since the time of its construction, the interior plan of the building has changed. Although built as a contracts house, the building was not entirely used for this purpose; it was sometimes used as a concert hall . Famous personalities visited or used
66-480: The eve of the French invasion of Russia . The fire's power was strengthened with high winds and the season's severe droughts, from which even the nearby Dnieper River was reported to have been dried out. The city's official version of events regarding the cause of the fire, however, was said to be children playing with fire. More than 2,000 homes, magistrate buildings, 12 churches, and 3 monasteries were destroyed in
77-580: The fire. However, some buildings were spared destruction, including the House of Peter I . Smoke from the fire was reported to have been seen more than 130 km (81 mi) away. In response to the fire, the Director of the Kiev Myshkovsky Gymnasium No. 3 stated: [that it's the] third since the historic city's foundation, and the first since the times of Batyi [Khan]. In 1812, a new plan for
88-537: The mid-1990s Ukrainian Interbank Currency Exchange is operating in the Contracts House, organized with a great contribution made by famous Ukrainian economist Vadym Hetman . 50°27′55″N 30°31′03″E / 50.465311°N 30.517603°E / 50.465311; 30.517603 Podil fire of 1811 50°28′09″N 30°30′55″E / 50.469167°N 30.515278°E / 50.469167; 30.515278 The 1811 Great fire of Podil ( Ukrainian : Велика пожежа , Velyka pozhezha ) occurred on
99-496: The morning of 9 July 1811 in the historical and commercial neighborhood of Podil in Kiev ( Kyiv ), the capital of Ukraine . The fire lasted for three days and almost destroyed the whole neighborhood. Before the fire, Podil was the city's most densely populated neighborhood; out of 3,672 households in the city, 2,068 were located in the Podil. It was speculated that the fire was set by French spies or by their local collaborators on
110-539: The post for some thirty years. Melensky began his career as an assistant to Matvey Kazakov , Vasily Bazhenov , and Giacomo Quarenghi and was involved in the construction of the Catherine Palace on the Yauza River . He was put in charge of the reconstruction of Podil after the great 1811 fire and succeeded in remodeling the district in a provincial Palladian style . Melensky was the first architect to be given
121-455: The reconstruction of Podil was drawn up by architects Geste and Melensky . The plan had redrawn the neighborhood's curved streets into straightaways, thus creating the square city blocks that exist to this day. The fire showed the vulnerability of the city's wooden buildings, some of which would later be reconstructed in stone. Reconstruction after the fire brought about the construction of many architectural landmarks currently standing, including
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