House with a Star, Khreshchatyk 25: History of Kyiv's Postwar Tower

The building at Khreshchatyk 25, known as the House with a Star or the Druzhba building, is a three-section, 14-story brick apartment building completed in 1954. It is one of the key buildings on Khreshchatyk: it stands on rising ground and closes the view down Bohdan Khmelnytskyi Street. It is often counted among the Stalin-era high-rises. Its ground floor housed the Druzhba cinema, which opened in 1956.

The complex consists of a central residential block crowned by a tower and a spire with a star, flanked by two nine-story wings. Two 11-story apartment buildings placed symmetrically on either side are part of the same ensemble, and together with the rest of Khreshchatyk's buildings they form a handsome, harmonious architectural whole.

When it was completed in 1954, the building was the tallest in Kyiv, and it held that title until 1981, when it was surpassed by the House of Trade.

The Druzhba cinema opened on February 16, 1956.

The early sketches looked quite different. One version proposed a squat, massive building with a large dome topped by a multi-figure sculptural group.