This luxuriously decorated house was erected around 1878 and is known to every Chernihiv local. Although there is no documented information about its first residents, the list of Chernihiv city house owners from 1908 states that it was owned by a priest’s wife Yevlampiya Mytkevych. Andriy Karnabeda, a famous local historian and architect, wrote that according to an oldtimer Lozovskyi, this house alongside a group of later demolished neighboring buildings was owned by priest Mytkevych, a relative of Leonid Mytkevych, a well known local artist and teacher. “Still, this estate could also belong to Mykhailo Mytkevych, whose son worked in the Department of Land Management of the Regional Executive Committee before World War II”.
According to Karnabeda, the surviving house used to be a part of a former housing estate, which also included a similar in size and composition house No. 14. This other house was located to the east of No. 12. There also used to be an individual wing in between the two.
The architectural complex survived until the beginning of the Second World War, but in August 1941 the wing burned down as a result of German bombings. After the war the houses were used differently. House No.12 functioned as a kindergarten well until 1984, when it was handed over to the Chernihiv Regional Artists Organization. House No.14 remained residential for several more decades and was later demolished.
Fortunately, house No.12 survived to this day. In 2013 it was restored and transformed into a restaurant. Today, it is one of the few wooden estates of Chernihiv, which are in good condition.
For more information on the wooden architecture of Chernihiv and ready walking routes please visit https://demer.cn.ua/en/