Ukrainian Club Building

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Ukrainian Club Building is a historical building located at 42, Volodymyrs'ka Street, in Kiev, Ukraine. Constructed in the times of Russian Empire, it was used for many purposes, namely as the meeting place of the Ukrainian Club, Rodyna, and the Ukrainian Scientific Society. In addition, the Ukrainian Central Rada, a representative body formed in 1917 in Kiev to govern the Ukrainian People's Republic, was founded in the building^{[citation needed]} in March of 1917. The first floor of the building now houses the escalators leading to the Kiev Metro station, Zoloti Vorota. The building is a property of Kiev City. Along with a few municipal offices located there, a part of the building is currently subleased for office space by a set of political, civil, and small business organizations.

[edit] "Ukrainian Club" meeting place

The Ukrainian Club (Ukrainian: Український клуб, tranlsit.: Ukrayins'kyi klub), was a union of national public figures of Ukraine headed by Mykola Lysenko. The club's meetings were attebded by the Ukrainian writers Ivan Nechuy-Levitsky, Lesya Ukrainka, her mother Olena Pchilka, Maxim Rylsky - then a gymnasium pupil, and the actors Mariya Zankovetska and Mykola Sadovsky. In addition, Mikhail Kotsubinsky, Panas Mirny, and Ivan Franko visited the club during their stays in Kiev.

In 1912, the Kiev City Council had closed the Ukrainian Club, accusing it of subversive activity. But soon, another Ukrainian society, Rodyna, was arranged in the same building where the former Ukrainian Club met. When the city's administration gave permission to organize the Rodyna club, it was assumed that the stress mark was on the first syllable meant motherland, Rodina. However, the members of the club always called it Rodyna (translated as family in Ukrainian).