Restoration of the "House with snakes and chestnuts" in Kiev

Project title: Restoration of a non-residential building on the street. Velyka Zhytomyrska, 32 in the Shevchenkivskyi district of Kyiv - monuments of architecture and urban planning of local significance, security № 316-Kv
Location: Ukraine, Kyiv, street Velyka Zhytomyrska, 32
Design area: 2,500 sq.m.
Status: restoration work (2021)
Degree of participation: restoration project
Author's team: PE "VD-Building Engineering": N. Gagan, V. Demenkov (chief designer), O. Romanchuk
KARM "Arche Vista": A. Aza (chief architect of the project), Y. Bilyakov, L. Gudkova, S. Ignatushko, S. Mikhailov, M. Parshikova, A. Proshchenko (scientific supervisor of the project), T. Chinarova.

Summary:

House №32 on Velyka Zhytomyrska Street in Kyiv, "House with snakes and chestnuts" got its name due to the sculptural composition with reptiles that decorate the bay window on the facade, and numerous friezes with chestnut leaves. The building was erected in 1910-1911 as an apartment house of the Kyiv merchant Sofia G. Chokolova designed by architect Ignatius Kazymyrovych Ledokhovsky.
Sofia Chokolova owned the building before the nationalization of the city's private estates by the Bolshevik government, which took place in the early 1920s.
In Soviet times, the fourth floor was added and part of the decor of the main facade of the building was dismantled (attic with wavy decor and figured decorative finish of the risalit, a massive dome with a concrete relief above the bay window and a concrete parapet was dismantled). The exact data of the reconstruction period are not known, but, most likely, the superstructure was made in the 30s. During 1993-94, individual rooms were renovated, which led to the almost complete destruction of their decorative decoration. All tiled stoves and parquet were destroyed. During the repairs and redevelopment, the volumes of the original premises were changed, new partitions were installed, as a result of which the compositions of the stucco ceilings of the ceiling were divided and found themselves in different rooms. In some rooms, the decor of the ceilings was completely lost.
Based on the results of the survey of the building in 2019-2020, a project was developed and priority anti-accident works were carried out. Reinforcement of foundations and load-bearing structural elements of the building was performed. During the same period, a restoration project was developed and approved in accordance with current legislation.
In accordance with the project, the silhouette of the main facade of the building will be restored (the brick superstructure will be dismantled). Restored elements of the decor of the main facade lost in the Soviet period: an attic with a wavy decor and a figured decorative finish of the risalit, a dome with a concrete relief above the bay window and a concrete parapet. Restoration works include restoration and restoration of lost elements of facade decor and interior stucco.