Vul. Mateika, 4 – research institute building

The building is situated near the southern boundary of the Ivan Franko park, on a sloping plot between Mateyka and Novakivskoho streets. It stands on a high foundation and has two floors and an attic tier. Its core, the main three-façade block in the north-western part of the parcel, adjoins Mateyka street; a wing, elongated to the south, is added to this block.

The villa palace’s western boundary wall borders on three townhouses (situated on Mateyka street 2, Lystopadovoho Chynu street 7, and Novakivskoho street 1) which form the west end of the block. From the east, the building was bordered by a territory which was once free of houses and planted with flowers and a garden; later the Dnister multistoried hotel was constructed there. The façade of a small auxiliary structure (the former stable and cart shed) faces Novakivskoho street.

The palace on Mateyka street 4 is an example of the late Neo-Baroque architecture. Compared to the neighbouring houses, it is notable for its Baroque-style dynamics of masses and façades asymmetry. The building’s prismatic foundation is transformed due to projections of avant-corpses on the north and south façades, as well as due to a logia built into the north-eastern corner, with a vast balcony terrace over it. The silhouette’s expression is reinforced by a high roof of complicated construction, covered with tiles of different colours and supplemented with high chimneys, and by a dome which crowns the north avant-corps. The horizontal division is accentuated by cornices laid above both the ground floor and the second floor on a broken perimeter.

The façade wall is covered with stripes of rustic stone on the ground floor level and with pink facing brick between the second floor windows. Differently shaped two- and three-section windows are asymmetrically scattered along the façades; they have arched tops or rounded angles, the second floor windows have also shaped frameworks and are crowned with moulded cartouches. From the side of Mateyka street, the main façade’s left part is shifted away from the pavement and is enclosed with a forged grating. External stairs lead to the corner logia. On the right of the regulation line, there is the north avant-corps where one can see the main portal and a big oval window; there are windows, flanked with massive volutes, and a small balcony on the attic half floor level. This part of the villa is covered with a dome.

The building’s interior structure is notable for its expressly flexible planning. The ground floor area is chiefly occupied by two large halls which served as a lounge and a dining-room earlier. The second floor was once occupied by personal rooms of the former villa residents; these premises have been adapted for offices of the Western Scientific Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The entryway is connected with the vestibule by wide wooden stairs; there is a staircase leading up to the second floor in the depth of the vestibule. An auxiliary staircase has been arranged in the south avant-corps. A corridor passage leads from the vestibule to the wing premises which were once occupied by servants. Now there is a private apartment in this part of the building.

Some valuable decoration details have been preserved in the building’s interior which can be dated to the late 19^th century, in particular, the entryway stained glass windows and carved decorations of the staircase.