Architect, provincial engineer, lecturer. One of the leading activists of the Polish community of Kharkiv: head of the Roman Catholic Church, co-organiser and member of the Board of the Polish House, author of the project of the Polish House building.

Six buildings with features of Ukrainian modernism are architectural monuments, the church of St. Nicholas in Kamenskom designed by him - one of the most beautiful examples of sacred architecture in modern Left-Bank Ukraine.

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Marian Józef Zdzisław was born on 15 August 1859 in Vilnius into the family of a hereditary nobleman, Edward Julian and Zofia Charmanski. In 1858 his father, after graduating from the Building School in St. Petersburg, received a position as an assistant architect and was sent to work for the Yekaterinoslav Gubernial Road and Building Commission. Edward Kharmanski started his professional career at a low level and was appointed as a gubernial architect in 1875.

Zdzislaw's secondary education began at the Yekaterinoslav four-class real school, a course of study in which graduates were not allowed to enter universities. For this reason, he continued at the six-class Alexandrovsk real school with an additional seventh class in the district town of Krzemenchuk in the Poltava Governorate. Here it should be mentioned that at home he was taught to read and write in Polish, which was very useful for him in the future.

From 1879 to 1885, like his father, he studied at the Institute of Civil Engineers. Young Zdzislaw Charmanski's first professional experience was in Novocherkassk, the capital city of the Donskoye Oblast in the south of the Russian Empire. Interestingly, he chose this city on his own. What guided them in this choice is difficult to say, what is known is that on 17 September 1885 at the Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Empire, his application was accepted and he was appointed as a junior engineer after the Ministry of the Military. From January 2, 1889, he performed the duties of senior engineer of the Construction Branch of the Donskoye Army Regional Board in Novocherkassk. On December 6, 1887, according to the high authorization, he became a titular councillor. During his service in Novocherkassk, he supervised construction and repairs of various named "official buildings", prisons, hospitals, churches.

On 7 September 1890, he was appointed as a junior engineer at the Kharkiv Gubernial Board. From 1895 to 1917, he worked as a gubernial engineer of the Kharkiv Gubernial Land Board and managed the technical department of the City Board. It is interesting to note that in the summer of 1908 he is admonished in the local press as "architect of the Gubernial Territory".

Zdzislaw Kharmanski served his knowledge and experience for the development of Kharkov with undeniable authority. He was repeatedly elected as a councillor in the Kharkiv city government between 1906 and 1917. From 1906 to 1912 he was elected as a councillor of the Kharkiv City Duma.

He was engaged to work on various committees of the Kharkiv Gubernial Territorial Board and the City Board, in which his work as chairman or member led to the elevation of the life of the city's residents similarly to the standards of European capitals at that time. In the period from 1910 to 1917 he worked in the strategically important municipal commissions for the development of Kharkiv: water supply, tramway, sewerage, street paving. More than once, in order to receive successes in aspects of city development, he was sent by the municipal authority on a delegation abroad or to St. Petersburg to deal with government institutions of the Russian Empire. He seems to have had the ability to do this as a diplomat and experienced professional in any field that was discussed at a high level and in high offices.

First of all, it is worth noting that he was involved in the work of the standing committee of the City Duma on the installation of a water supply system from 1910 to 1917. From 1911 onwards, he directed the activities of the commission on the paving of the city's streets, and also supervised this process, which encompassed all the districts of Kharkiv at that time.

Of great and even special importance for the development of the city was the work of Zdzislaw Kharmansky in the commission for the construction of the sewerage network in Kharkiv, of which he was appointed chairman on 5 May 1911. In order to familiarise himself with the experience of European cities, he travelled abroad on several occasions. On 24 April 1911, together with engineer Czerkies, he attended a "water supply" convention in Warsaw. This business trip, as the newspaper Yuzhnyi kraj wrote on 22 April 1911, was directly related to the establishment of the sewerage system in Kharkov, so that in addition to the proceedings, he had the opportunity to familiarise himself with the "Warsaw sewerage system". At the end of April and beginning of May 1911, with the permission of the Minister of the Interior of the Russian Empire, he viewed the sewers in Germany, France, Great Britain, namely the cities of Berlin, Frankfurt on May, Hamburg, Dresden, Paris, London. At the beginning of February 1914, Zdzislaw Charmanski, after another five-day visit to Warsaw to deepen his knowledge of the operation of its sewers, did a great interview for the local press. At this point, it can be surmised that the contacts made with his Polish colleagues allowed him to go to Warsaw in 1919 and, with their support, find suitable employment. At the end of July 1914, thanks to the - one can safely say - titanic - activities of Zdzislaw Charmanski, the complex system of sewerage networks in Kharkov was built. It was to be ceremonially opened at the beginning of August that year. On 1 August, the First World War broke out and this event was postponed.

He also participated in the activities of the commission for the development of the city's tramway network, and on more than one occasion considered problems related to the laying of the tramway at meetings of the Technical City Council.

In the period February-March 1912-1913, "member of the city cultivation" Zdzislaw Charmanski, like Boleslaw Michalowski at one time, was head of the city temporary flood control commission. He was very active and varied in special committees, including: for the construction of the Red Cross infirmary (1906), for the construction of the Kharkiv City Merchant Bank (1908), for the construction of the city pawn shop (1908), for the construction of the city barracks for sappers (1908), and for the construction of the Kharkiv City Merchant Bank (1908). Construction of barracks for sappers on Sumskaya Street in Kharkiv (1910), for sanitation (1910), for the construction of a building for a real school, the so-called "Slovenian school" (1911), a competition commission for the design of transformer boxes located in the streets and squares of the city.

He acted as chairman on several special committees. One such, for example, was the commission for the study of underground passages under the old town, which was active between 1913 and 1914. He supervised the construction and carried out assessments of the condition of various bridges, and was involved in other "road and water activities".

In various ways, Zdzislaw Charmanski was involved in a number of projects that aimed to develop the city. For example, on 22 January 1904 he took part in a meeting chaired by Mayor Alexander Pogorielka of City Duma councillors and invitees on the burning issue of building a market on the city's central shopping square - the Blagoveshchensky Market.

Despite his professional and design activities, he became involved in teaching, having been as a lecturer at the Kharkiv Emperor Alexander ІІІІ Technological Institute since 1911. Initially, he taught a course in architectural drawing for students of two academic groups of the 1st year of study, and from 1914 - architectural design for students of the 2nd year of study.

During the Kharkiv period, Zdzislav Kharmanski was an active participant in the social life of the city: he was elected as an honorary member of the Kharkiv Gubernial Board of Trustees of children's shelters under the patronage of Empress Maria; as a member of the council of the city Red Cross Society. Here it is noteworthy that in May 1911 he was already as a member of the city council of this Society. He was a member of the Kharkov Branch of the Imperial Russian Technical Society. At the end of February 1914, together with his fellow councillors, he submitted a report to the Assembly of the City Duma to support the initiative of the Kharkiv Agricultural Society to establish an Agricultural University, to seek funds for its establishment, also to receive assistance on the part of the local authorities. Unfortunately, the First World War arose as an obstacle to the realisation of this and other projects.

Zdzislaw Charmanski participated in the fate of the establishment of the School of Fine Arts, which, thanks to him and his vote, was built in Kharkov according to the design of architect Konstantin Zhukov in the Ukrainian folk style. First of all, it is worth noting that in early May 1911, as a representative of the City Hall, he was elected a member of the Guardian Council of the School of Fine Arts. He was among a group of well-known activists, artists and university professors, who included professors Dmytro Bagalij, Mykola Sumtsov, artists Mykola Uvarov and Sergiy Vasylkivskyi, social activist Sergiy Rajeski, Speaker of the gubernial nobility Alexander Golitsyn, and another Polish architect, Viktov Velichko.

He served as starosta of the local Roman Catholic church. From 1907, he was as a candidate for trustee of the local church, and also - among the founders and members of the social organisation Polish House, a centre of Polish social and cultural life in the city. He built it and its headquarters, which were built at the expense of donors, some of whom made very generous donations. The Polish House was ceremonially opened on 30 October 1908. On 27 December 1909, a meeting of those interested in becoming members of the Polish House was held, at which Jan Wilga was elected president, and Zdzislaw Charmanski and Robert Kunicki, a lecturer at the Veterinary Institute, were elected as board members.

10 January 1911 marked the 15th anniversary of Zdzisław Charmański's assumption of the post of gubernial land engineer. To mark the occasion, colleagues sent a welcome telegram to Italy, where he was then on holiday: "We welcome the highly esteemed Zdzislaw Julianowicz on the significant day of his 15th anniversary of service. We sincerely wish to see your cordial attitude towards us for many, many more years".

For his service he was honoured with numerous awards, including the Order of Saint Stanislav ІІІ degree, Saint Anne ІІІ degree, silver medal of the memory of Emperor Alexander III, had the title of collegiate assessor, court counsellor.

In his private life he went through a series of tragedies, caused by the death of close people, and then his escape to Warsaw in 1919 after the Bolshevik invading army entered the city did not add to Charmansky's health and mental peace either. During the Kharkov period he was married twice, both wives died: the first in 1913, the second in 1918, leaving him three children. With his first wife Varvara Yevgeniyeva, daughter of a collegiate councillor, of the Roman Catholic faith, they had a son Viktor, who was born on 14 February 1894. Charmanski's first-born son's godfather was his 'warm friend' Boleslaw Michalowski.

After his second wife Maria Frolowa, he raised daughters Zofia (1914-2001) and Ewa (1916-1942). The Charmański family lived in a single-storey building No. 70, built by the head of the family, on the corner of Puszkińska and Jumowska Streets (not preserved).

From the beginning of 1919, the ordinary world for 60-year-old Zdzislaw Charmansky was destroyed! Kharkiv was occupied by the Russian invading army after the third attempt since 1917. He left everything that fulfilled the meaning of life in Kharkov: his professional work, his built career, his social recognition, his friends, his family nest, his parents' graves, and set off with his children in exile towards his historical homeland - to Warsaw. Born far away geographically from his historical homeland under the conditions of Bolshevik aggression against the Ukrainian People's Republic, he could not come to terms with the system of views that the new aggressive reality brought with it, and so he returned to the land of his ancestors. At that time, many Poles left the Ukrainian cities, which were in the occupation zone of the Red Russian army, whose soldiers behaved in a similar way to the Putin army, which entered Ukraine almost a century later as invaders, rapists and bandits. It is important to realise how it was possible to arrange a new way of life for Zdzislaw Kharmanski after all the rivulets had been severed from the former reality.

The Warsaw period in his life was much better in terms of adaptation to a new life than for other Poles returning to their homeland at this difficult time. How Zdzisław Charmański got the opportunity to work as an engineer in various institutions is an unanswered question. He may have had contacts from his business trips to Warsaw during the Kharkiv period. He worked as a road engineer for the Warsaw district. He was a member of the Union of Road Engineers of the Ministry of Public Works. It is known that on 29 September 1922 he applied for recognition of Polish citizenship. In the same year, Zdzisław Charmański's professional career took him to a new level - directorship at a technical college in Vilnius. During the short period of his stay in Warsaw, it is not known exactly whether he engaged in the practice of architecture, but it can be assumed that he directed his energies towards work on a technical and official level.

In November 1922, he was appointed as the first Director of the State Technical School in Vilnius. He was instrumental in establishing and developing it to a high level, making it a significant technical college in Vilnius and one of the largest in the country during the Second Republic. One of his first issues was the search for a building for the university, as it initially had no permanent premises. Another strand of his activities was to fill the School with scientific and didactic life, creating decent working conditions for lecturers and training for students. From 1922 to 1924, he simultaneously served as head of two faculties - mechanical and road engineering. He was also known and respected among the intelligentsia of Vilnius.

In his personal life, the 63-year-old Charmanski found a new love, which became 42-year-old Maria Downarowicz. On 13 March 1923, they were married at St Aleksander's Parish Church in Warsaw. In Vilnius, the Charmański family lived at 11 a-15 Rzeczna Street.

On 6 August 1925, Zdzisław Charmański died suddenly and was buried in the Ross Cemetery in Vilnius. He was remembered by his colleagues and pupils as "an energetic and dedicated headmaster of the School", and also - "the first headmaster and builder of the State Technical School".

The most important period for the development of the architectural karijera for Zdzislaw Charmansky was the Kharkov period, during which he built his most numerous works. At the end of the 19th century, he carried out many private commissions; unfortunately, not all of these realisations have survived to this day. He carried out various projects individually, as well as in collaboration with other Kharkiv architects. Almost twenty buildings of various purposes were constructed in the city with his participation, six of which are now protected as architectural monuments. His buildings stood out against the backdrop of the city's turn-of-the-century buildings and, as pearls, are scattered in Kharkiv's urban space.

Two periods of Zdzislav Kharmansky's work can be distinguished in his architectural work. At the end of the 19th century, he carried out many private commissions, but not all buildings have survived. At the beginning, he adhered to the stylistic forms of Neoclassicism, Neo-Baroque and Neo-Renaissance. In his works from the early 20th century, however, he already took up the Art Nouveau style, which was quite sparing in terms of detail, as well as the Early Modern style and that associated with the national current of 'Ukrainian Art Nouveau'.

Among the first designed administrative buildings in Kharkov - the hospital and cele-separatics in Kharkov Prison (1890-1892), the reconstruction of the orphanage building (24 Pushinskaya Street) and the construction of the private hospital Moisey Fabrykant (5 Teatralny Street).

From the end of the 19th century, he carried out many private commissions, but not all of the buildings have survived to the present day. The construction of the stone grandstand of the Trot Hippodrome, for which bricks and concrete were used, was completed in June 1914. It was a two-storey building with a spacious hall in the middle with ticket offices. The Kharkiv Hippodrome grandstands, built in the Neo-Romantic style, were considered to be an ornament of Kharkiv and was the best building with similar functions. Today, it is a monument of local significance (May 1 Square, 2).

Among the buildings with public functions, it is worth noting the building of the Commercial Society of the Russian-American Rubber Manufactory "Triangle" (Poltavsky Shlach Street, 35), built in 1910; among the residential buildings, it is worth noting the Neroslev house with a shop (Poltavsky Shlach Street, 55), the construction of which was completed in 1914.

Between 1909 and 1911, he turned to the trend of Ukrainian Art Nouveau for the first time, designing - also for the first time in his career - a complex of buildings with a scientific and experimental function, i.e. a rural farm station (Kharkov Agricultural Selection Station, Kharkov Heroes Avenue, 142). The design of this complex was a joint venture with the Ukrainian architect Eugene Serdyuk (1876-1921), considered one of the creators of Ukrainian architectural modernism. According to Kharkiv architectural historian Denis Vitchenko, it was Serdiuk who proposed the stylistic layout, while Kharmansky took care of the structural side of the project and the paperwork at the municipal office.

Zdzislaw Charmanski is the designer of the St Nicholas Church in Kamenskom, which promises to remain as one of the most beautiful monuments of sacred architecture in the Neo-Gothic style in Left Bank Ukraine. The architect received an invitation from Ignaty Yasyukovich, the 'Ukrainian Henry Ford', director of the South-Russian Dneprovsky Metallurgical Society in Kamenskom. The temple was built, thanks to the generosity of patron Yasyukovich and the local Poles, employees of the South-Russian Dnieper Metallurgical Society, in no time at all - in 1895-1897. The temple was built from Kyiv yellow tisle, on the model of a Gothic cathedral-fortress with counterfoils of the side facades and window hatches.

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Zdzislaw Kharmanski lived 29 years in Kharkov, having made a name for himself as a talented architect, responsible worker, active participant in the life of the mista and the local Polish community. He was a hard-working clerk, a talented university teacher, but only the period of his life in Kharkiv allowed him to develop his talent as an architect. His buildings are an interesting page in the history of city construction at that time. They were built according to the principles of a new philosophy emerging in Europe at the time - the philosophy of modernism with national characteristics, in this case Ukrainian architectural modernism.