The history of Shovkovychna Street

Shovkovychna and Lypska Streets can be called “dormitory streets”. Here one won’t find neither fashionable shops, nor loud restaurants, but due to its central location and a great amount of greenery, they can be rightfully considered to be ones of the most prestigious streets for dwelling.

Shovkovychna Street got its current name from a mulberry garden that grew once at this place and was cut down according to the general-governor Levashov’s order at the beginning of the XIX century. It used to be called Levashevska Street, as there was the residence of the governor exactly here. Lypky started to be under development with fashionable buildings after his order in thirties of the XIX century. In the Soviet times this street was named after Karl Libknekht. And at the beginning of the XIX century it was called Aptekarska (Ukrainian word “apteka” is a chemist’s shop in English), because there used to be one of the first chemist’s shop in this street.

Many buildings in this street have both interesting history and architecture. For example, there is a building №25 with the lyceum of foreign languages “ Klovskyi” in it. In its yard archaeologists found remains of the annalistic Klovskyi cloister of the XI-XII centuries, founded by the former pecherskyi Father Superior Stepan. The building №19 with its Gothic forms, thrilling the imagination, belonged to the Baltic baron Ikskul-Hildenband. The present-day building facing the building №26 was built in 1970 for the first secretary of the central committee of the Ukrainian communistic party V. Scherbytskyi.

One of the nicest buildings in Shovkovychna Street is № 17/2. The building was probably constructed by V. Nikolayev in 1901 in the style of the Venetian Renaissance. It was named “ a chocolate building” because of its brown colour and belonged to the timber merchant and patron S. Mohyl’ovets, who was keen on dog breeding, that’s why sculptures at the building are in the form of dogs’ muzzles. After the revolution such people dwelled here: a famous politician of the Ukrainian revolution times I. Kistyakivskyi, who became a minister at hetman’s times, the head of Council of Peoples Commissars in 1918-1923 Kh. Rakhovskyi and also a number of scientists. Since 1960 there used to be the Palace where marriages were registered. Then this nice building was given for children’s picture gallery.

Across the street there is one more building № 15/1, built in 1912 by the architect P. Aloshyn. This building with its mighty forms resembles a medieval Romanic castle, where every detail is worked up diligently and even to the smallest window. This building was erected for an entrepreneur and public figure M. Kovalevskyi. According to the legend, he was not married for a long period of time, searching the right person, and found his future wife during the regular travel. That’s why one of the rooms, where Ministry of Foreign Affairs is situated, is designed as a compartment of a railway carriage, where, as it is said, the first meeting of the couple happened.

On the opposite side there is a refined building №14, built in 1912 for the entrepreneur M. Shestakova, N. Tereschenko distant relative. There used to be Institute of Marxism-Leninism. Institute of Jewish Culture under Ukrainian Academy of Science was situated in the similar building №12, not so generously decorated and so greatly rebuilt in 1930s.

According to the materials of the book “My city – Kyiv” written by V. Kyrkevych

Real estate agency “Teren Plus” offers long-term and daily rent apartment service at 20 Shovkovychna Street, 30 Shovkovychna Street and 32/34 Shovkovychna Street.