The elevator in the house on Proreznoy Street is the smallest elevator in Ukraine, as it has an area of 0.5 square meters and is designed for only 1 person. In order to ride in it together, you need to be either very slender, or squeeze in excess and snuggle up to each other. A personal elevator was installed in the house by the Minister of the Food Industry of the Ukrainian SSR Nikolay Petrovich Sanov, although the design of the house in 1890 did not provide for the placement of an elevator shaft there.
—The minister was quite fat, so it was difficult for him to climb the stairs to his upper floor, says Yury Serdyuk, an old resident of the house. — A party worker ordered the installation of an elevator even at the time (the end of the 1940s), when his wife Lyudmila Trofimovna was pregnant, so that it would be easier for the woman to get up to the apartment, and later, over the years, the elevator came in handy for the customer himself…
— The official himself had a hard time getting into the elevator, Yuri Vasilievich continues his story. — I had the impression that the cabin and ropes could not withstand it…
Until the 1950s, the top party elite lived in the house – 2 families occupied 5 floors. In the fall of 1941, during sabotage by Ivany Kudra’s group (Soviet intelligence officer) in the center of Kyiv, this house was also damaged. It was renovated in 1949, after which officials moved into it.
Even now, the elevator is in working condition, except that when entering it, you now have to forcefully close the doors behind you, otherwise it will not start moving. The only drawback of the elevator, apart from its miniature size, is too much noise when the engine is running. According to the company “Ukrliftservis” there are no similar elevators in Kyiv, as there are state standards for them: the height is 210 centimeters, and the width and depth depends on the location.
Where is the elevator for one person?
Ulica Proreznaya, 11