The Contracts House () is a trade building in the

Podil Podil ( ) or Podol ( ), also known in English as the Lower City,Ivankin, H., Vortman, D. Podil (ПОДІЛ)'. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine. is a historic neighborhood in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. It is located on a floodplain terrace ...

neighborhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, the capital of

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. The Contracts House received its name because the city's

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

s were signed there. It is located on the

Kontraktova Square Square of Contracts or Contract Square (, ) is a square in the historic Podil neighborhood of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. The square is an important economic, cultural, and transport center of Podil, containing numerous architectural and hi ...

, once one of the Podil's main trading centers. The building is considered one of the important

Classical architecture Classical architecture typically refers to architecture consciously derived from the principles of Ancient Greek architecture, Greek and Ancient Roman architecture, Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or more specifically, from ''De archit ...

constructions of the city.

History

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 English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

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 The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

's quarters, and the building itself. However, only the Contracts House was constructed. The front and western

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

s of the building features

Doric order The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

columns, and the eastern—

Ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic classical order, orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric order, Doric and the Corinthian order, Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan order, Tuscan (a plainer Doric) ...

columns located on a

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

. 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 A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage (theatre), stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention ...

, containing a row of

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

s. All rooms in 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

. Famous personalities visited or used the Contracts House: writers

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the Grotesque#In literature, grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works "The Nose (Gogol short story), ...

, and

Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly ; ; born Honoré Balzac; 20 May 1799 – 18 August 1850) was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence ''La Comédie humaine'', which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is ...

, poets

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko (; ; 9 March 1814 – 10 March 1861) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure, folklorist, and ethnographer. He was a fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts and a member of the Brotherhood o ...

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. He also largely influenced Ukra ...

, and

Denis Davydov Denis Vasilyevich Davydov (, ; – ) was a Russian soldier-poet of the Napoleonic Wars who invented the genre of hussar poetry, characterised by hedonism and bravado. He used events from his own life to illustrate such poetry. He suggested and ...

. 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 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 Vadym Petrovych Hetman (; 12 July 1935 – 22 April 1998) was a Ukrainian statesman, politician, and banker. He is credited with the creation of the National Bank of Ukraine, Ukraine's central bank. He was assassinated in April 1998 in his ho ...

References

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Bibliography

* {{coord, 50.465311, N, 30.517603, E, type:landmark_region:UA, display=title Buildings and structures in Kyiv Commercial buildings completed in 1817 Neoclassical architecture in Kyiv