The Chocolate House (the dark brick-red color in which the walls are plastered became the basis for its name) is the unofficial name of the mansion of Semyon Mogilevtsev (Russian timber merchant) in which famous figures of science, socio-political and government life subsequently lived. Built in 1899-1901, next to Ikskyul-Gildenbanda House.
In 1934, part of the house’s premises underwent reconstruction; the consultant was the architect Pavel Aleshin (in Kyiv there are such buildings of his as Kovalevsky’s mansion, Doctor’s House No. 1 and No. 2). The walls and ceilings are decorated with high-quality wallpaper, lined with glazed tiles with careful selection of patterns, and artistic mastic-alfraine finishing on the walls and ceilings was made using molding using natural paints, bronze, gold and silver.
Until 1934, the house retained its residential purpose, then it was transferred to the NKVD, and in 1948 to the Administration of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR. Before the war, the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries was located here. From 1960 to 1980, the mansion was used as the city Wedding Palace.
In 1983-1986 and 1991-1993, the interior and façade of the house were partially restored. In 1986, the building was transferred to the Children’s Art Gallery. On April 2, 2009, the mansion was transferred to the Museum of Russian Art, since 2017 it has been called Kyiv Art Gallery. The reorganized Children’s Art Gallery, opened on February 17, 2010, hosts art exhibitions, classical music concerts, children’s parties, lectures on the history of art for children and adults, excursions through the halls of the mansion, creative evenings and other cultural events.
The plans include completing the restoration of the building, opening a children’s art school, a museum of a private collection, and a museum of one painting. Next to the house there is house with chimeras, house of the “weeping widow”, Kovalevsky mansion, Liberman’s mansion and Franco Theater.
Where is the chocolate house (Mogilevtsev’s mansion)?
Shelkovichnaya street, 17\2