Vladislav HorodetskyВладислав Городецький

Biography

Vladislav Horodetsky was the architect who gave Kyiv many of its most iconic and distinctive buildings during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Often called 'the Kyiv Gaudí' for his imaginative, ornamental approach, Horodetsky worked fluently across multiple styles — Art Nouveau, Gothic, Moorish, and Neoclassical — with equal flair and inventiveness. His most famous work, the House with Chimeras (1902–1903), features an extraordinary facade decorated with elaborate sculptures of elephants, rhinoceroses, dolphins, mermaids, and hunting scenes. Today the building serves as a ceremonial residence of the President of Ukraine. Horodetsky also designed St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Cathedral in a stylized Gothic form and the building that now houses the National Art Museum of Ukraine.

Notable Works