Bankova St. – a general stripped of his land
The main street in Kyiv today – Bankova, where the Presidential Administration is situated, could have been named Tsarevodarska. Back in the early 1870s the estate of General Fedir Trepov was situated on this street. When the City Council (Duma) decided to unite Institutska and Liuteranska streets by paving a new road through the general’s estate, the general objected to such an idea. Having been granted the personal consent of Tsar Alexander II to pave the street, the Duma stood its own ground and in 1874 Trepov’s estate was divided into two sections.
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| Lypky - a wealth of architecture combined with magnificient vistas PHÎÒÎ: archunion.com.ua |
By the way, back in those times the city authorities were forced to pay compensation for “alienation of property for public needs”. The general was convinced that compensation was not worthy and demanded that he be given at the very least the right to rename the street. Emphasizing that the estate was at one time presented to him as a gift from the tsar and insisting that the street be named Tsarevodarska, this time Trepov’s initiatives failed. The street was named Bankova as it began from the building of the State Bank on Institutska St. Among the locals the street was more commonly known as Tsarevodarska and even Trepovska.
Institutska – street of young lasses
The main street in the Lypky district in pre-revolutionary times was Institutska. The residencies of the governor and governor-general, the building of the State Bank and the stock exchange were situated on this street. At the beginning of the street ran between the Old City and Pechersk and was named after the church Joanna Zolotousta-Ivanivska. From the local building in which the architect of the plan for extension of the road Vikentiy Beretti later settled the road turns into Ivanivska St. Some time later it was renamed Institutska honoring the construction of the Institute of Noble Damsels. In short, it was precisely for this reason that district residents dubbed it Damsels’ St.
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| National Bank headquarters built between 1902 and 1934 at 9 Instytutska St. PHÎÒÎ: novomirgorod.ucoz.ua |
Luteranska – district of Podil Refugees
As for the second artery in Lypky named Luteranska St., which Bankova runs into, it was named due to a major fire in Podil in 1811. At the time the victims of the fire, who were mainly German Lutherans, densely populated the so-called Count’s Hill that descends into Luteranska St.
Within a year a wooden church with a pastor’s manse next to it with a portrait of Martin Luther on the facade was built on what locals named German Hill. After the street was paved down to Khreshchatyk, the Lutheran community automatically named the street accordingly.
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| House with Chimaeras, an Art Nouveau masterpice on Bankova PHÎÒÎ: novomirgorod.ucoz.ua |
Shovkovychna – where there was once a garden
Another famous street in the Lypky district named Shovkovychniy started from the Count’s Hill or German Hill. At the start of the 20th century this street became known as Aptekarska as one of the first drugstores in the city was located on it. In the 1830s the street was re-laid according to the re-planning of Lypky and was given a new name due to the destruction of the Shovkovychniy (Silk Tree) Garden. Later on it was given the name Levashovskiy in memory of Governor-General Vasyl Levashov, who personally took up large-scale re-planning of the district in the 1930s.
Mechnikova – Dog’s Trail
In its time Mechnikova St. carried the most interesting name Dog’s Trail or simply “Sobachka” (Doggie). It was a narrow trail going from Pechersk to the Bessarabskiy Market and at the time was truly the shortest and most convenient path to the market. Up until the Soviet era this locale was a typical vacant lot with the 3-storey building of the Women’s Medical Institute situated on it.
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