The house at 25 Khreshchatyk Street (popular names: house with a star, friendship) is a three-section (2 sections of 9 floors and one of 15 floors) brick residential building, built in 1954. The architecture of the house is designed in the style of Stalinist high-rise buildings. On the ground floor of the house until 2010, there was a two-hall cinema “Druzhba”, opened in 1956. The building was built on the basis of a structural frame scheme, without a load-bearing middle wall. The architects were Anatoly Dobrovolsky (Ukraine Hotel, Khreshchatyk and Shulyavskaya station, Boryspil airport, Northern Bridge, Vatutin’s mansion), Alexander Malinovsky (house of trade unions, house of the Kiev council) and Pyotr Petrushenko (Lesnoy residential area). When it was built in 1954, the building was the tallest building in Kyiv and held its position until 1981. The successor was a 25-story trade building, which was built in 1981.
The complex consists of a central 15-story residential building, topped with a tower and a spire with a star and framed by two 9-story “wings.” Also, a single complex with a high-rise building includes two 11-story residential buildings, symmetrically located on the sides of the high-rise; together with the neighboring buildings of Khreshchatyk they create a beautiful and harmonious architectural ensemble. Initially, this building looked different in the sketches. One of the options involved constructing a squat, massive structure with a large dome, which was crowned with a multi-figure sculptural group. It was planned to place up to 16 figures on the parapet. The staircase that led to the house from Khreshchatik and the retaining wall were also supposed to be supplemented with sculptures.