House of Weeping Widow, Kiev

The House of Weeping Widow is an Art Nouveau edifice, architected by Edward Petrovich Bradtmanu, built in 1907. Acknowledged as a masterpiece of local architecture, the house was commissioned by Serhiy Arshavsky, who resided here until the Bolshevik Revolution took place in 1917. In 1918 the house was nationalized and turned into a public office. In 1939 it hosted the headquarters of the Kiev military district.

After World War II, the building became the seat of the Ukrainian Soviet republican government. Since 1992 it has been used consecutively by two Ukrainian presidents as their official residence, and accommodated high-ranking foreign politicians, including U.S. State Secretaries Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice, Presidents of Brazil and Lithuania. Prior to becoming the official presidential residence, the house was renovated and its interior remodelled.

On the outside, it has retained the original look, featuring large doors, grey granite, stucco decorations, artificial stone blocks and labradorite. The upper part of the façade displays a sculpted head of a woman, which gives the house its name – when it rains, the water, pouring down the woman’s cheeks, creates an illusion of a crying face.