U.S. ambassador's residence: a meticulously restored building (03/29/98)

U.S. ambassador's residence: a meticulously restored building

The residence of the American ambassador to Ukraine, at 5 Pokrovska St. in the historic Podil district of the capital, is a meticulously restored house built in 1808 by the leading Kyiv goldsmith and merchant Samson Strelbitskyi. It is located next to the Pokrovska Church, at the foot of Andriivskyi Uzviz.

The building was restored between 1994 and 1997, while William Miller was ambassador to Ukraine. During the restoration, workers found below its present foundations the remains of five earlier buildings dating back to the 11th century. They also found many artifacts - pieces of masonry, pottery, ceramics, stonework, metalwork and glass - which now are on display in the meeting room of Pokrovska 5 and at the Ancient Kyiv Archeological Museum in the Podil district.

More than 75 Ukrainian craftsmen worked on the restoration, using, whenever possible, materials in use in 1808: local oak for floors and woodwork, granite and other stone from local quarries for fireplaces and steps. Some of the chandeliers on the main and second floors were made in Lviv between 1775 and 1810; others were recreated in 1995 by craftsmen of the Pecherska Lavra Monastery. Most of the hardware are reproductions of those in use at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home, which was built in that period. And the pigments used to paint the main floor reception rooms were copied from the 1808 layer of interior plaster.

The fountain with a bas-relief by contemporary Odesa sculptor Mikhail Reva on the eastern wall of the garden terrace is a gift from Ambassador Miller and his wife, Suzanne. Mrs. Miller designed the garden, using Ukrainian plants from the Kyiv University Botanical Garden, the National Botanical Garden of Kyiv and the Alexander Garden in Bila Tserkva.