In Velyka Berdychivska Street, a little bit away from the roadway, there is an elegant house, covered with thick lace trees

Built in the early twentieth century in the Art Nouveau style, a small house does not cause a special interest in people. Is it just that one artist painted a wall by an unknown artist. Painting is lucky, but here it is inappropriate.
At this place there was a large mansion of the Mezentsevs family, consisting of several houses. One of them, more interesting in architectural terms, in 1943, German invaders undermined the retreat, replacing a powerful charge. Apparently, they had the reasons: during the war there was organized an officer casino. The invaders hid some secrets so that they did not get into Soviet military or intelligence. The second house remained intact.
The history of the family of Mezentsev is worth the attention of the supporters of regional studies. It begins with Sergei Mikhailovich, who has given justice in Volyn over 30 years of life. He was an ordinary person, educated, had good relations with his colleague Peter Kosach, the father of Lesia Ukrainka, who worked as a judge of Novograd-Volynsky District and headed the local “Congress of Peace Mediators”. Official Serhii Mezentsev set the stage for a judges’ dynasty. In the peaceful institutions of the region his sons served – Boris and Evgeniy.
The high social status made the Mezentsevs quite wealthy. They owned estates in Zhytomyr, Novograd-Volynsky, Emilchin. They owned an alcohol factory, a paper mill. Until now in Novograd-Volynsky the palace belonging to the Boris Mezentsev family has survived.
Eugene Mezentsev worked for some time in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, served as ambassador to Austria, and then until the last served as world justice judge of Zhytomyr district. It was here that in the period from 1872 to 1909, the philanthropist Baron Ivan Maksymilian de Choudoir, who had friendly relations with Mezentsev and Kosach, was known in Zhitomir as an honorary judge, and communicated with his son, Eugene, Volodymyr.
Volodymyr Yevgeniyovych Mezentsev continued the dynasty of lawyers, became a prominent figure in Zhytomyr: a judge, a lawyer, a true state councilor, he owned six foreign languages, had a mansion on the Great Berdychiv. His wife Lidia, a virgin Nex, from a wealthy family of Lutheran Germans, brought up in patriarchal traditions, was a wonderful and affectionate mistress. He has a lot of talents and a great inner culture, musical and vocal abilities. The couple married the talented people of the city. Among them are composers Viktor Kosenko and Mikhail Skorulsky, artists Alexander Kantserov and Dmitry Antonov, teacher, poet and philanthropist Konstantin Roche, revered Burchak Abramovich Priest and many others – all were welcome guests at their home.
In the Soviet era, the real estate of Mezentsev was rebuilt in favor of the “laboring people”. Nowadays, Novograd-Volynsky Palace has been used by the military since 1919 to date: during the Second World War, the headquarters of the mechanized corps, commanded by the famous military commander Konstantin Rokosovskyi, was stationed here.
Zhytomyr estate gradually turned into multi-apartment communal housing. The owners, who had four children, gave three rooms in another apartment and moved to the outskirts of the city. Probably, with sadness they passed near their house, recalling the words of Marina Tsvetaeva:
“From under the eyebrow
On the day of my youth I met,
The house is like my youth
It says to me: Hello”
Volodymyr Evgenievich left the earthly world in 1942. Hit the wheel of a German car. His burial place was preserved at the Vylsk cemetery, where Lydia’s wife was later buried.
But the history of the famous Zhytomyr family did not end there …
Sergey Sobchuk
Member of the National Union of Local History of Ukraine
Anna Sobchuk, co-author
Translated by Aliona Matushevich