Bykovsky's house will be restored on Podil in Kyiv for 3.3 million hryvnias: what is known about it

Kyiv Scientific and Methodological Center for Protection, restoration and use of monuments of history, culture and protected areas plans to hold an auction on May 6, 2024 and find an executor for restoration works.

Urban legend connects the building with the name of the Russian emperor Peter I. It seems that he stayed at Bykovsky when he inspected the construction of the Pechersk fortress and after the Poltava battle. However, there is no documentary evidence for this. However, it is known that when the estate was bought by the Kyiv magistrate, a school was set up in it, and over time a correctional facility was organized: they kept the mentally ill, drunkards and brawlers. Nowadays, the landmark building is planned to be restored for UAH 3.3 million. This is known from the announcement of April 19 on the Prozorro website.

The Kyiv Scientific and Methodological Center for the Protection, Restoration and Use of Historical, Cultural and Protected Areas plans to hold an auction to find a contractor on May 6 this year. The works will take place at the address: Kostyantynivska Street, 6/8.

If the bidding goes through and the agreement is signed, then by December 10, 2024, the basement must be repaired, the old heating system dismantled and a new one installed with water purification filters and decorative radiator screens. Also, the alarm system will be removed in the landmark building, and a modern surveillance program will be purchased and installed. Separate funds are provided for the purchase of an electric stairlift. In addition, the technical task for the contractor provides for the installation of thermal insulation of the foam walls, the laying of new paving slabs and the installation of drainage.

What is known about the Bykovsky building

On the website “Kyiv digital” there is information that the tenement house, also known as the house of Peter I, is one of the oldest monuments of civil masonry architecture in Kyiv. It was built on the border of the 17th and 18th centuries. A special feature is that the estate is designed to be viewed from all sides.

The first owner of the building was the Kyiv Viyt (city headman – ed.) Ivan Bykovskyi. Later, the descendants of Bykovsky sold the building.

“At that time, she was in a miserable condition. Ivan Hryhorovych-Barskyi, a well-known architect of that time, carried out restoration work, added a two-story extension, a gallery-loggia between the towers and a baroque porch. After the repair, the premises were handed over to one of the Kyiv workshops,” the official “biography” of the building says.

In 1799, a correctional facility was built here, i.e., mentally ill, drunkards, brawlers, and politically hopeless were kept here. In 1799-1803, the famous Ukrainian composer Artem Vedel was declared insane by the authorities in the building under arrest.

The building was damaged by a fire in Podil in 1811, and the estate was restored only in 1820. Later, a parish folk school and an orphanage were set up in the building.

During Soviet times, the tenement house was divided into communal apartments. At the end of the 1970s, after restoration, the building housed the funds of the Kyiv History Museum. Since 2019, the museum “Kamyanitsa of the Kyiv Viyt” has been opened in the building.

By Order No. 1364 of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine dated November 22, 2012, the estate was granted the status of a historical monument of local significance (protection No. 897-Kv). the national reserve “Sofia Kyivska” found a contractor who was ready to perform emergency emergency work in Gostinny Dvor for UAH 33.2 million. This historical place has been under state protection since August 26, 2021, but it was able to allocate only UAH 10 million to preserve the monument. The Kyiv City Council is ready to spend money to save Gostiny dvor, but on the condition that it be handed over to the city.

Kyiv City Council reminded the Ministry of Culture of the promise to transfer Gostinny Dvor to communal ownership.

“Kyiv authorities have repeatedly appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine regarding the transfer of Gostinny Dvor to the community in order to be able to carry out the necessary work to save it object, which is the dominant feature of Kontraktova Square and should once again become a decoration of ancient Podil,” said Klychka's deputy Hanna Starostenko on April 18 during a visit to Gostinny dvor.