There are so many architectural treasures and gems in the small, compact town of Beregovo that, given its size and number of inhabitants, it is impossible not to be surprised. This is what amazes many guests of the city, first coming on vacation in Beregovo. In the most Hungarian town of Ukraine, all the architectural styles from Romanesque to Secession, which were common in Hungary, are represented. The most striking representatives of the latter are the twin houses or palaces of Meiges and Kubovic.
Secession, a variation of Austrian Art Nouveau, was widespread in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was Vienna that was considered the capital of the architectural style in the 90s of the 19th century, and its artists defined architecture as a form of art. Built in the beginning of the last century at the crossroads of Tinodi and Szechenyi streets, the very similar houses really became a real decoration of Beregovo, which was impossible not to notice.
The houses standing facade to facade belonged to two prominent residents of the town — lawyer G. Kubovich and architect Sh. Meigesh,
who was the chief architect of Beregovo. They are called palaces because in the understanding of the inhabitants of the town a palace is any historical building that belonged to one of the famous people, and in general until the middle of the XIX century the word «palace» or «palace» meant «dwelling of a boyar».
Both two-story apartment buildings were built in the Secession style, and differed from the rest of the buildings in that their architecture featured a combination of different textural effects of plaster, decor with floral and vegetal elements and other elements characteristic of Secession. Today you can see all this only in one of the two houses — the Kubovich Palace, which has remained unchanged since its construction and has never been reconstructed. Despite its unattended condition, the house is of great interest and value — all the elements of the building are more than 100 years old. The fate of the Meigesh Palace was more complicated on the one hand, and more successful on the other.
The radical repair and reconstruction of Meigesh Palace transformed it beyond recognition — during the reconstruction all decorative elements of Secession were lost, and the building is now referred to the Art Nouveau style. As a result, the similarity of the twin houses today lies only in their similar shape and rounded facade, but many guests of the city, despite this, are eager to see these sights of Transcarpathia, known far beyond the city.
During the Soviet years, both houses were organized as communal apartments, today they also house residential apartments.
Of course, to appreciate the architecture of such sights of Ukraine as Beregovo, to make a full impression of the town, you should definitely see the twin houses, just like 100 years ago, despite their very young age still attracting and holding attention.