Kharkiv Fire Department №4

In the XIX century, fire stations were designed with watchtowers (called ‘kalancha’ in Ukrainian) to counteract large-scale fires in all Ukrainian lands in the XIX century. The building had 3–4 floors so that the guards could detect fires and give a signal to firefighters in time. This kind of fire department was common in many cities in Europe, the United States and Russia of that time.

This is how Kharkiv fire department №4 with the watchtower worked. It was also called the fire station ‘on Zaikivka’ according to the district name it was located in. The building was constructed according to the project of the architect Hryhorii Stryzhevskyi between 1884 and 1886 in Kvitkynska Street.

On March 28, 2022, the building helping save the city and its residents from fires for more than 130 years came under fire from the Russian artillery, damaging the facades, windows, and roof of the architectural monument of Kharkiv.