Kharkiv's modern landmark is the building of the former Merchants' Bank and also the Astoria Hotel. It is one of the first so-called skyscrapers in this city. It was also one of the first to be built using the then innovative reinforced concrete structure. It was built according to the design of architects Alexander Rzepiszewski and Nikolai Vasiliev.

Kharkiv - economic development and merchant bank
. At the beginning of the 20th century. Kharkiv, located in the historical region called Slobodskaya Ukraine, was one of the main financial-economic, cultural and scientific-educational centres in the south of the Russian Empire. The city's dynamic economic development was accompanied by rapid population growth (over 230,000 people lived here in 1910) combined with extremely intensive development. During this period, Kharkiv merchants were experiencing a real financial boom. In order to confirm their status, they decided to erect a new majestic building on the site of a small merchant bank building, in the heart of the city, on Pavlovskiy Square (now Market Square, from 1919 to 2013 Rosa Luxemburg), corresponding to their position and the requirements of business life at the time.

Competition for the Merchants' Bank building in Kharkiv
In 1909, at the request of the merchants, the Imperial Society of Architects in St Petersburg announced a nationwide competition to design the new Merchants' Bank building. The second prize was won by young architects from St Petersburg, Alexander Rzepiszewski and Nikolai Vasiliev. In the opinion of the competition committee, it was a project whose 'Overall approach to planning is quite good. [...] The facades are interesting and artistically executed, although too ornate'. Kharkiv's clients, having seen the verdict, chose Rzepishevsky-Vasiliev's project with its richly decorated façade for implementation. The authors of the project were invited to Kharkiv to supervise the construction. Vasiliev remained in St Petersburg and had a lot of work to do in the northern capital, while a new ten-year Kharkov period began in Alexander Rzepishevsky's life in 1910.

Architect-innovator - Aleksander Rzepiszewski
Three such stages can be distinguished in the professional life of the Polish architect: "St Petersburg" (1899-1910) - the time of studies and first attempts in the field of architecture; "Kharkov" (1910-1920) - the period of development of talent, emergence of the best realisations; "Moscow" (1920-1930) - attempts to adapt to the philosophy of constructivism in architecture and the new Soviet reality.

Aleksander Rzepiszewski was born in 1879 in the town of Izmail in the Bessarabian Governorate into the family of Jan Rzepiszewski, a clerk. His ancestors were probably participants in the November Uprising (1830-1831), who were forced to leave their homeland after the defeat of the independence uprising. Rzepiszewski studied at gymnasiums in Akerman and Odessa. Initially, he was a student at the mathematics and physics department of the Imperial Novorossiysk University in Odessa, but soon took up studies at the architecture department of the prestigious Institute of Civil Engineers in St Petersburg. He graduated from the university (1903) with a gold medal and a reputation as one of the most talented students. He then excelled in the architectural profession while studying at the School of Fine Arts in Paris (1904-1906). During this period he travelled around Europe, sketching the sights of Nuremberg, Venice, Paris and Brussels.

During the Kharkiv period, Rzepishevsky not only successfully pursued his professional activities as an architect and engineer, but was also active in the social life of the city. He was known as one of the initiators of the so-called company tenements. Among the owners of flats in these buildings were doctors, artists, members of the liberal professions and tradesmen. In the memoirs of his daughter, the well-known Soviet dancer and actress Halina Glan, he is described as follows: "Father was a man full of life. Art was the meaning of his life. He usually woke up at 5 a.m., by 6 he was already working - designing, painting, drawing. Then he would tour construction sites, carefully supervising the work. He also found time for sport - tennis, skating, fencing. After lunch, he liked to engage in music. And in the evening, talented young people and masters would gather in his studio. They devoted their time to painting and music".

Alexander Rzepiszewski is regarded as one of the most interesting and recognisable architects of Kharkiv in the early 20th century. His realisations, innovative in terms of the materials used and the technical solutions applied, lent originality and elegance to the city. "Rzepishevsky windows", "Rzepishevsky roofs", "Rzepishevsky spires", "Rzepishevsky skyscrapers" are terms that confirm his ability to incorporate innovative buildings into the urban space. The architect designed around 40 buildings in St Petersburg, Moscow, Ekaterinoslav (now Dnipro), Odessa and other cities of the Russian Empire. The largest number of Rzepishevsky's architectural realisations is in Kharkov: he built 27 buildings erected between 1911 and 1915 (of which 25 have survived and 17 are listed as architectural monuments).

The consequences of unexpected love
Following the occupation of Ukraine by Bolshevik forces and the declaration of Kharkiv as the capital of the Soviet republic in January 1919, a wave of terror gripped the city. Aleksander Rzepiszewski decided to emigrate with his family. He went to the Crimea to arrange the formalities for his departure. There, he accidentally met a woman for whom he had lost his head and - following a gust of his heart - went with her as his second wife to Moscow.

In the Soviet capital, he worked as chief architect for the "Mosdrew" company, and designed sanatoriums and boarding houses around Moscow and in Yalta. Between 1926 and 1928, the era of the so-called late NEP (Russian: Новая экономическая политика, Novaya ekonomicheskaya polityka, or New Economic Policy for short), he designed three buildings in the centre of Moscow on Sadovoye Kolco Street.

In 1930, due to his improper 'bourgeois' and Polish origins, he was arrested as an 'enemy of the people' and spent six months in prison. Two months after his release he died of a stroke. Alexander Rzepiszewski's burial place in Moscow remains unknown.

Architecture of the Merchants' Bank building
The six-storey building of the Merchants' Bank and the Astoria Hotel was the largest and most representative realisation of the architectural duo Rzepishevsky-Vasiliev. The project was innovative in terms of construction. For the first time in Kharkiv, a reinforced concrete load-bearing structure was used, which allowed a flexible solution to the building plan. The building was composed as a complex functional complex. It housed shops and a post office on the ground floor, bank and museum offices on the first and second floors, and a hotel on the upper floors. The individual floors were connected by a parade-like, three-run staircase.

The architecture of the early modern building bears witness to the search for new ways and possibilities associated with a type of building development that has not been used on Kharkiv soil before. The picturesque yet monumental silhouette is emphasised by the corner tower topped with a domed roof. The building attracts attention with its freely but symmetrically composed façades, unusual rhythm of semi-circular bays of different heights, expressive profile of the mansard roof and stone rustication covering a large part of the façade in an irregular arrangement. The artistic expressiveness of the building is emphasised by the elaborate masks and powerful atlantes irregularly distributed on the façades. The architecture of the building impressively combines the modernity of the structure with the archaism of the sculptural details, the functionality of the architectural elements with the sophistication of their form, and finally the tectonic structure of the façade with the decorativeness of the sculptural detail.

Difficult cooperation between Rzepiszewski and Vasiliev
During the course of construction, Alexander Rzepiszewski made some changes to the design, which was probably the reason why the Rzepiszewski-Vasiliev tandem broke off their collaboration. The quarrel between the architects spilled over into the local press. In one issue of the newspaper Yuzhnyi Krai, Vasiliev publicly announced that he had stripped his partner Rzepishevsky of his mandate to construct the new building. Rzepishevsky, in turn, denied the report.

In the public memory of Kharkiv, however, the construction of one of its landmarks is associated exclusively with the Polish architect Aleksandr Rzepiszewski.

Further fate of the Merchants' Bank building
In the second half of the 1930s, the building housed the only car showroom in Kharkiv, where Soviet prominents could buy a luxury ZiS car. Later, the building was renamed "Melodia" and housed a music shop of the same name, selling records and all kinds of musical instruments. On the other hand, in recent years the Kharkiv branch of Prominvestbank was located here.

The historic premises of the Merchants' Bank and Hotel "Astoria" are listed in the state inventory of historical monuments of Ukraine.