Ukraine asks Barack Obama to help save its White House
Its paint is peeling, its grounds are scruffy and there are no Secret Service agents in sight, but Ukranian students are hoping that US president-elect Barack Obama will help them save their own version of the White House.
Built for a nobleman as a country estate a couple of decades after the better-known White House, Ukraine's white house slipped into obscurity and disrepair in the bleak post-Soviet era. It now houses Chernomyn School, and school officials say they have appealed to the past two American presidents for funding for renovations without success.
With Barack Obama about to take office, students and teachers are once again trying to raise the $2.1 million needed to repair and repaint the dilapidated structure.
"We want this building to be as good as the real White House, we want to show it to the whole world," said school principal Ruslan Brol, 43.
Mr Brol said the architect who built the mansion in 1820, 20 years after President John Adams moved into the American White House, apparently didn't realise his design was strikingly similar to the official US presidential residence. Both were built in a neoclassical style popular in the 19th century.
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
Built for a nobleman as a country estate a couple of decades after the better-known White House, Ukraine's white house slipped into obscurity and disrepair in the bleak post-Soviet era. It now houses Chernomyn School, and school officials say they have appealed to the past two American presidents for funding for renovations without success.
With Barack Obama about to take office, students and teachers are once again trying to raise the $2.1 million needed to repair and repaint the dilapidated structure.
"We want this building to be as good as the real White House, we want to show it to the whole world," said school principal Ruslan Brol, 43.
Mr Brol said the architect who built the mansion in 1820, 20 years after President John Adams moved into the American White House, apparently didn't realise his design was strikingly similar to the official US presidential residence. Both were built in a neoclassical style popular in the 19th century.