Menacing mermaids, giant frogs, sea monsters and wild animals - this is the image that appears to the eyes of people walking along Bank Street in the centre of Kyiv. These unusual creatures adorning an equally unusual building became part of the Ukrainian capital thanks to Wladyslaw Horodecki - an architect known as the Polish Gaudi.

A tragic chapter in the history of Kyiv's 'House of Chimeras' is being added by events unfolding in recent days before the eyes of the whole world. One of Kyiv's most recognisable symbols has become the scene of speeches by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky encouraging his countrymen to heroically defend the capital and all of Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.

Legend had it that the House with Chimeras, as it was referred to, was created by Horodetsky to honour the memory of his daughter, who had taken her own life in the waves of the Dniester (or in another version: the Mediterranean). After this dramatic event, the distraught father designed and financed the construction of a modernist pearl with a touch of art nouveau style, which still amazes, fascinates and shocks today. However, the house - surrounded by an atmosphere of mystery - was built for completely different reasons. To this day, it is an advertisement for the architect's skills and an example of the innovative use of cement and concrete, produced, incidentally, by a factory owned by Horodecki himself.

Why chimeras?
The popular name of Horodecki's building brings to mind mythological chimeras - creatures with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a snake. In this case, however, this is a mistaken association, as we are not talking about these fairytale creatures, but about decorative architectural elements. In architecture, chimeras are all carved animals, monsters and masquerades that decorate buildings. These can be found on the façade of the house at 10 Bankowa Street, as well as inside. The building is "inhabited" by the most exquisite specimens of both real and fantastic beings - there are not only elephants, lions, rhinoceroses, eagles, frogs and partridges, but also mermaids and sea monsters. The decorations are an emanation of Horodecki's interests, who was an avid hunter and pursued his passion in areas including present-day Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Siberia and Africa.

Vibrant Architect
It is said that one should not judge a book by its cover and an artist by his work, but in the case of The House with Chimeras, an exception should be made to this rule. For it seems that the Kyiv building perfectly reflects the personality of its creator, as it was - like his work - one of a kind.

Leszek Dezydery Władysław Horodecki (this is his full name) was born in 1863 into a Polish noble family in Podolia (in what is now Ukraine). From an early age, he showed artistic talent, so his parents sent him to the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersburg, from where he graduated in 1891.

The road to his career was not strewn with roses. However, Horodecki was so determined to make a name for himself among Kyiv's artistic community that he took on any job, often completing projects without any remuneration. This is why his creative output includes such surprising works as... city toilets. His hard work was not in vain, and with time he managed to achieve his desired goal - he became one of Kyiv's most respected and recognisable architects. In addition to the aforementioned toilets, he also designed churches, hospitals, factories, gymnasiums and villas, and among them - the House with Chimeras.

His oeuvre includes such stylistically distinct buildings as the Roman Catholic Church of St. Nicholas in the style of refined neo-Gothic, a Karaite cienesa with elements of Moorish architecture and the classically styled headquarters of the National Art Museum of Ukraine.

Privately, Horodecki also liked to surprise. It is said that he always presented himself impeccably, wearing only the best and most fashionable suits. He was one of the first in Kyiv to own a car, but did not shy away from hiking, during which he was usually accompanied by a capuchin monkey. Such extravagance cannot be found even today! Horodecki's love of exotic travel, in which he spent, intermittently, almost 15 years, completes the picture. In this context, it should come as no surprise that the design of one of the world's most unusual buildings came from his hand.

From Podolia to Tehran
Horodetsky's fame remains alive in the present Ukrainian capital to this day, and is also remembered by one of the main streets named after the Polish architect since 1996 (the former Nikolayevska Street, later Karl Marx Street).

Horodecki's career did not end in Kyiv, however - after the Bolsheviks seized power, he left the city for Warsaw. A memento of his activity as an architect in independent Poland is, among others, the impressive water tower in Piotrków Trybunalski, which has been preserved to this day, the building of the former casino in Otwock or the Municipal Baths in Zgierz - one of the favourite film sets of Polish directors, as we can see, for example, in the comedy "C.K. Dezerterzy" by Janusz Majewski.

In 1928 Horodecki, at the invitation of the American company Henry Ulen & Co, with whom he had worked in Poland, went to Tehran, where he took up the post of chief architect of the Persian Railway Syndicate. There he succeeded in designing, among other things, the palace of Reza Shah Pahlavi, a hotel and Persia's first railway station. Unfortunately, the Polish Gaudi did not complete all the tasks entrusted to him by the Persian authorities, nor did he return from his last trip - he died suddenly of a heart attack in 1930. His grave (bearing a modest inscription in Polish - 'professor of architecture') is located in Tehran in the local Catholic Dulab cemetery.

Chimerical work
Horodecki's house owes its 'chimerical nature' not only to the sculptural decorations (made according to the Polish architect's drawings by his collaborator and friend, the Italian sculptor Emilio Salya, also known as Elio Salya). One could also risk saying that the building has a truly capricious character and played quite a trick on its creator, thwarting his ambitious plans.

The very location of the House of Chimeras was controversial, as Horodecki chose a cliff in the centre of the city. His contemporaries did not believe that it was possible to erect any building in this place, but the Polish architect led everyone astray. At the time, he applied solutions that were innovative in construction and masterful in form, using concrete.

The unusual building was erected in just two years (1901-1902), and Horodecki financed its construction himself with money borrowed for the purpose. He planned to turn it into a villa with luxury flats, the rental of which would bring him a fortune. Unfortunately, his plans came to nothing and in 1912 the architect was forced to mortgage the house.

The subsequent history of the building was a tumultuous one - it housed, among other things, a sugar factory, the headquarters of the armed forces, council flats and a clinic. As a result, the edifice suffered a lot of damage and only underwent restoration work in 2002.

Today, the Chimera House has regained its former splendour and, since 2004, has been designated as one of the presidential residences. Therefore, it is extremely rare to visit its interior, and enchanted tourists are left only to admire the fancy façade.

The Curse of Horodeck
The turbulent fate of the House of Chimeras has been explained by Kyiv residents in many ways. One of the more popular theories is that the architect placed a curse on the building. By forcibly bidding farewell to his greatest creation, the artist cursed all its future owners and occupants, heralding misfortune for them both in their private lives and in business. However, Horodecki's curse seems to have been halted in recent years - perhaps the honourable function the building now serves has finally satisfied the ambitions of both the architect and all the chimeras that 'inhabit' this unusual property.