Lviv authorities plan to organize an art space in the building of the architectural monument where the railway ticket offices used to be. The first deputy mayor Andrey Moskalenko said this in comment to Tvoemisto.tv.
In April, Ukrzaliznytsia vacated a rented first-floor premises in a building at Hnatyuka, 20. Since Soviet times, railway ticket offices have been operating there.
«The lease is over. Various options for this room are currently being considered,» – Andriy Moskalenko, the first deputy mayor, said. «There were proposals from the Department of Culture to arrange an art space there. Decisions haven’t yet been made, different variants are being considered. Later, we will take it to the commission, the executive committee»,
He added that the city is working to have more art locations in the center of Lviv.
Inna Svystun, the head of the municipal property department of Lviv city council, reported in a comment to Tvoemisto.tv that the premises on the first floor of the house at Hnatyuka, 20 street are the property of the city community.
«Zaliznytsia («the railway») has left the premises. I hope we will use it to satisfy the needs of the city. There will probably be a creative, art space. The room is good, we have few such ones. Any premises can be used for our own needs, to sell, to rent, the city defines the priorities», – she noted.
Inna Svystun did not announce the cost of renting the premises, nor does she remember when the railway rented it.
Currently, at the entrance to the premises of the former railway ticket office it’s stated on the door that tickets can be purchased at the main train station, on Dvirtseva Square, 1, or on the website of Ukrzaliznytsia.
The premises of the first floor of the house at Hnatyuka, 20 street have an area of over 380 square meters. The ownership was registered by the Lviv City Council in 2019.
Let us add that the Gruner House on Hnatyuka street №20-22 was built in 1911. Lviv residents Yakub and Klara Gruner, having received permission to build a new townhouse, ordered the project from the construction bureau of Michal Ulyam. Ferdinand Kassler is the author of the Gruner townhouse project, according to the Center for Urban History
In November 1911, the Gruners received permission to occupy a four-floor building. The house consisted of residential, commercial, and other public premises. The basement housed: 11 warehouses, 12 cellars, 2 corridors; on the ground floor – 3 shops, 1 warehouse, 2 gates, a cinematographic institution consisting of two halls, a covered courtyard, front shops, gatehouses with a room and a hall. On the 1st floor in front there was 1 hall, 11 bathrooms and 2 corridors; on the 2nd-4th floors – 20 rooms, 4 halls, 4 kitchens, 4 baths and 4 cells. A small garden with geometrically planned flower beds was designed from the rear of the townhouse. In 1929, an electric elevator was installed in the house.
Victoria Savitska
Translated by Vitalii Holich
Photo by the author
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