Władysław Horodecki

Władysław Horodecki (born Leszek Dezydery Horodecki; ; ; – January 3, 1930) was a Polish architect active in the Russian Empire and later in the Second Polish Republic. He is best known for his contributions in the urban development of Kyiv, with buildings such as the House with Chimaeras, the St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Cathedral, the Karaite Kenesa, and the National Art Museum of Ukraine. His ancestors were big landowners in the Podolia region. He was born in the estate of the Gluziński family, and then his parents moved with him to the estate of the Horodecki family in Zhabokrych, from Szołudki. He designed a number of buildings, mainly in Kyiv, Cherkasy, and Podolia.

As a result of World War I, both Poland and Ukraine gained independence, and then Poland repelled the Soviets in the Polish-Soviet War in 1920, whereas Ukraine, including Kyiv, fell to the Soviets, thus Horodecki moved to Warsaw, Poland. In Poland, Horodecki headed an American Project Bureau, "Henry Ulan & Co." Some of his designs were built including a water tower and trade rows in Piotrków Trybunalski, a meat factory in Lublin, a bath house in Zgierz, and a casino building in Otwock.

Persia

In 1928, on the invitation of the same company, Horodecki moved to Tehran, becoming a chief architect of the Syndicate on the Design of Persian Railways. He designed in particular the building of the Tehran railway station. In 1930 he died and was buried at Doulab Catholic Cemetery in Tehran. His epitaph is inscribed in Polish with only the phrase Profesor architektury. Niech mu obca ziemia będzie lekka., which translates into English as "Professor of architecture. Let the foreign soil be light for him."

Remembrance One of Kyiv's streets, designed by Horodecki, (between Maidan Nezalezhnosti and House with Chimaeras) was named after him in 1996 as vulytsia Arkhitektora Horodetskoho. The street had been called ulitsa Nikolayevskaya, and in Soviet times it was known as vulytsia Karla Marksa, after Karl Marx.

In 2004, a statue honouring Horodecki was unveiled in Kyiv at 15 Khreshchatyk.

In 2011, Horodecki's bust made of white marble was unveiled in the town of Nemyriv, close to the architect's birthplace in Szołudki. The monument features Horodecki's name as well as his years of birth and death.

In 2013, a 5-hryvnia commemorative coin depicting Horodecki was issued in Ukraine on the 150 anniversary of the architect's birth.

Works