The building was designed in the
Art Nouveau style, which was at that time a relatively new style and featured flowing, curvilinear designs often incorporating floral and other plant-inspired motifs. Horodecki featured such motifs in the building's exterior decor in the forms of mythical creatures and big-game animals. His work on the House with Chimaeras has earned him the nickname of the
Gaudí of Kyiv. One part of the building's foundation was made of concrete piles, and the other as a continuous foundation. Usually, these two approaches do not mix well but Horodecki somehow succeeded in overcoming this technical problem. The Italian sculptor
Emilio Sala was responsible for both the internal and external sculptural decorations, such as
mermaids, dolphins, and frogs on the roof of the building, sinking ships and hunting trophies on the exterior walls, and exuberant interior decorations, such as grand stairways and
chandeliers depicting huge
catfish strangled in the stems of
lotus flowers. The exterior sculptures created by Sala were made out of
cement. Production of the cement was by the «For» company of which Horodecki was the co-director. Cement was used exclusively as the primary building material by the request of the company's head director, Richter. At the time of the building's construction, cement was not popular as a building material, so its use was employed as publicity for both the house and the building material. File:Architectural details on House with Chimaeras 2007-2.JPG|Elaborate cement decorations, featuring deer and
rhinoceroses File:Elephant on House with Chimaeras.JPG|The building features various carvings, such as this elephant-head
gargoyle File:Architectural details on House with Chimaeras 2007-3.JPG|One of the many figurines seen around the building
Floor plan The House with Chimaeras was designed in such a way that the tenants would occupy the whole floor, each floor had all the necessary household rooms ranging from private kitchens to small powder rooms. The open floor plan and extra rooms featured throughout the building are characteristic of the houses of the wealthy of the early 20th century. In total, the building has an area of . On the lowest level of the building, which is located deep in the hill, were two
stables, two rooms for
coachmen, a shared laundry, and two separate apartments. Each of the two apartments consisted of a foyer, a kitchen, one bathroom, and a storage room. The first of these apartments had two residential rooms, and the second three rooms. Each floor above the lowest level was designed to house a single apartment only. The apartment on the second floor consisted of six residential rooms in addition to a foyer, kitchen,
buffet, three servant's rooms, a bathroom, two toilets, and two storage rooms. There were also four
wine cellars on the same level. The cellars belonged to the apartments on the upper levels. On the third floor, the apartment consisted of eight residential rooms, a foyer, a kitchen,
dish washing room, two rooms for servants, a bathroom, and two toilets. This apartment was placed slightly lower than the level of
Bankova Street, from the front entrance. The grandest apartment, which belonged to Horodecki, consisted of a
study, a
great room and a
living room, a
dining room, a boudoir, a
bedroom, a children's room, a room for a
governess, a guest room, three rooms for servants, a kitchen, dishwashing room, bathroom, two toilets, and two storage rooms. On the floor above was an apartment similar in size and design to Horodecki's apartment. The apartment on the top floor had one less room; to make up for this, there was a connecting terrace which provided a panoramic view of the city. ==Legends==