Duvanovskaya Street in Yevpatoria

Duvanovskaya Street is the main pedestrian street that connects the Old Town of Yevpatoria with the new resort areas of the city, as well as with the beach area of Yevpatoria. Here you can see houses built in the early 20th century. Many houses are built in the Art Nouveau style, but there are also mansions in Moorish and medieval style. 

The Duvanovskaya Street promenade stretches 650 meters from the Theater Square to Gorky Embankment. The street is named after the mayor of Yevpatoria, Semyon Ezrovich Duvan. He was a Karaite by nationality and twice headed the city administration in the early 20th century.  

The therapeutic mud of Lake Moynaki and Lake Saki became known throughout the Russian Empire by the end of the 19th century, but there was no opportunity for the arrival of numerous tourists, since Yevpatoria was a small eastern city with narrow winding streets. Semyon Duvan planned the lands to the west of the Old Town of Yevpatoria for allotments, which he began to sell for the construction of villas and sanatoriums. Within a few years, Yevpatoria has become one of the most famous balneological resorts in Russia. 

In the north of Duvanovskaya Street is the Pushkin Theater. It is the largest theater in Crimea. Various theater troupes come here every summer. Shakaevsky Garden, founded at the beginning of the 20th century, is located next to the theater. Near the theater you can see a monument to Mayor Semyon Duvan, who has done so much for the development of the city.  

The names of the former owners of the mansions on Duvanovskaya Street are unknown to the general public, but some houses continue to be called by their proper names, for example, Villa Lux or Villa Sphinx. One of the most beautiful buildings on Duvanovskaya Street is the mansion of Yufuda Gelelovich, which now houses the collections of the Yevpatoria Museum of Local History. Near the sea, Duvanovskaya Street intersects with Gorky Embankment.