In 1911, Countess Natalia Uvarova, the daughter of Kyiv businessman Fyodor Tereshchenko, bought a plot of land with mansions on Lipskaya Street, formerly Katerininskaya. By order of the Countess, the old mansions were demolished and a new house was built in their place. The mansion was designed by architect Pavel Gollandsky. The house is decorated in the Empire style, the facade is decorated with Doric columns and a small balcony above the entrance. The Uvarovs’ luxurious mansion on Lipki corresponded to the family’s high position in society. They were even visited by Princess Ksenia Alexandrovna, the sister of Emperor Nicholas II.
Natalia paid maximum attention to the interior decoration of the mansion, carefully choosing all the details, even the handles for the doors. In the lobby, a white marble staircase leads to the hall, where interiors with artistic modeling and paintings, carved doors and Bohemian glass in the windows have been preserved. When the sun rises on Lipskaya, the rays are refracted, and a real mosaic of sunbeams is reflected on the floor. The interior of the main staircase of the mansion, made of birch, has still been preserved. Balls and receptions were held in the main hall, which was also called the golden hall. On the ceiling of the hall, two cupids play with a light fabric against the background of a pink-blue sky with gray clouds.
The hall is decorated with stucco in the shape of musical instruments – lyres, pipes, violins. From the front hall a door leads to a beautiful garden with a terrace and columns. Once upon a time, the Uvarovs’ estate was decorated with a luxurious park. Now most of it is built up. On the façade of the mansion on the garden side there is a sculpture of the goddess of hunting Artemis with a doe. Artemis blesses the marriage and acts as the mother’s protector during childbirth. The sculpture is associated with the activities of Countess Natalya Uvarova, under whose patronage one of the maternity hospitals in Kyiv was located. At times, the Countess herself worked as a midwife in the maternity hospital. Marble fireplaces have also been preserved in the Uvarov mansion. They are still in working order. The interior of the countess’s boudoir – a golden room decorated with images of cupids – has survived intact to this day.
At the beginning of 1917, the Uvarovs, like Polyakovs, sold the estate to the famous owner of apartment buildings, commercial adviser Nikolai Popov. But he did not remain the owner of the estate for long… In 1918, the mansion was requisitioned by the Germans. Field Marshal Hermann von Eichhorn, commander of Army Group Kyiv, lived in the former Uvarov family nest. In the 1930s, the mansion housed the NKVD, and after the war, until 1987, the KGB. Over the years, thousands of those arrested by the State Security Committee passed through the mansion. In 1987, the mansion was transferred to the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, which is housed there to this day. Also in the former Uvarov mansion there is now an institute of national memory and several offices of various companies.
Where is Uvarova’s mansion?
Lipskaya street, 16