House with Chimeras

Art Nouveau house covered in stone chimeras, elephants, and mermaids — one of Kyiv's most surreal buildings, completed in 1902.

The House with Chimeras in Kyiv is one of the strangest and most captivating buildings in Eastern Europe. Architect Władysław Horodecki had it built in 1902 in Art Nouveau style and covered the facade with a veritable menagerie of stone fantasy creatures: rhinoceroses, elephants, frogs, mermaids, and chimeras crowd the balconies, cornices, and bay windows. Built on a sloping plot near Kyiv's government quarter, the house was originally Horodecki's own residence. Over the twentieth century it changed hands and uses several times — at various points serving the Soviet state as accommodation for official guests. Today it belongs to the Ukrainian presidential administration and is used for official receptions; viewing from outside remains possible.