Tverskoy boulevard. Profitable house I.M

House 9 on Tverskoy Boulevard stands out from the general row of houses on the odd side. A high apartment building, towering above the trees, at the same time does not look like a bulky, massive building. The decorative simplicity of balconies and bay windows makes the house voluminous, but at the same time light.

The house was built according to the project of the architect Ivan Gavrilovich Kondratenko. In 1906, he received an order from a well-known Moscow homeowner, merchant Ivan Mikhailovich Korovin. This was not the first order received by the architect from a wealthy homeowner; Kondratenko had already built several tenement houses in the eclectic style, and Korovin's private mansion in Vlasevsky Lane. By 1906, Kondratenko had the title of class artist of architecture of the 1st degree. Was awarded two gold and one silver medals and was a supernumerary employee of the Construction Department of the Moscow Provincial Administration. His customers were respected representatives of merchant families.

Korovin's profitable house on Tverskoy Boulevard does not look quite "Kondratenkovskiy", light balconies, graceful lines of windows, bay windows remind of the collaboration between Kondratenko and William Walkot. In 1903, the architect built the house of the Moscow Trade and Construction Joint-Stock Company according to the design of Valkot. Later, after 1910, Kondratenko would move away from the Art Nouveau style, his houses would take on the form of neo-Russian and neoclassical styles. But the house on Tverskoy Boulevard is completely different.

The five-story building is located on the basement. Old-timers recall how in the late 1970s and early 1980s the workshop of "then unknown sculptor Tsereteli" was located in the basement.

Two high entrances lead inside the house, located in the side wings of the building, the middle facade is interrupted by a high arch leading to the courtyard and closed with openwork gates. You can go upstairs by a wide staircase, the entrances are decorated with stucco, the apartments here have high ceilings.

Graceful balconies with wrought iron bars run along the entire length of the facade. Later, long common balconies will become " calling card» constructivism.

In the winter of 1914-1915, in a relatively cheap apartment on the top floor (No. 9), the singer Zinaida Mikhailovna Sinyakova (Mamonova) settled with her younger sisters, who came to Moscow from Kharkov - Maria, Nadezhda, Vera and Ksenia. They began to gather Moscow artistic youth in their apartment. In his autobiographical novel “Protection Letter”, B. Pasternak writes: “In the winter, one of the sisters of S-x, Z.M.M-va, settled on Tverskoy Boulevard. She was visited. A wonderful musician (I was friends with him) I. Dobrovein visited her. Mayakovsky visited her.<…>Mayakovsky rarely appeared alone. Usually his retinue consisted of Futurists, people of the movement. In the farm of M-voi, I then saw the first primus stove in my life. The invention did not yet emit a stench, and who thought that it would spoil life so much and find such a thing in it? widespread ».

L.Yu. Brik expressively recalled the Sinyakovs: “There are five sisters of the Sinyakovs. Each of them is beautiful in its own way. They used to live in Kharkov, their father was a Black Hundred, and their mother was an advanced person and an atheist. The daughters wandered through the woods in chitons, with loose hair and their independence and eccentricity embarrassed the whole neighborhood. Futurism was born in their house. Khlebnikov was in love with all of them in turn, Pasternak was in love with Nadya, Burliuk was in love with Maria, Aseev married Oksana.

The artistic bohemia of the Sinyakovs did not please Pasternak's parents. They were against the participation of their son in these gatherings. “Leonid Osipovich,” wrote E.B. Pasternak, - openly protested when Boris went into this, as he fatherly put it, "cloaca". Romance between N.M. Sinyakova and Boris also did not arouse any enthusiasm in the parents. In the spring of 1915, Nadezhda Mikhailovna fell ill and left for Kharkov; at the beginning of the summer, Pasternak went to her and spent three weeks in the village of Krasnaya Polyana near Kharkov. Romance with N.M. Sinyakova then continued for almost another year, mainly in letters.

AT Soviet time the house was given over to communal apartments, there were at least ten rooms in each apartment, two of them faced the boulevard and had a balcony, the rest went perpendicular to it, and looked out into the courtyard with windows.

Now it is an elite house in the center of the city, it is still the decoration of the boulevard and attracts the curious glances of passers-by.

The sculptor Tsereteli still lives here, this is reported by a sign on the house about the Moscow Museum contemporary art. Also in the house is a store "Notes", which existed in Soviet times.

Photo 1. Tverskoy Boulevard in Moscow in an old photograph

Tverskoy Boulevard - the origin of the name

It was originally called Boulevard, due to the fact that it was the only one in Moscow. In 1796, it was named Tverskoy Boulevard along, to which it adjoined.

History of Tverskoy Boulevard

"Projected plan of Moscow in 1775" contained the initial project for the development of Tverskoy Boulevard.

In 1782, a wall was demolished on this site, but the boulevard itself was laid only 14 years later, in 1796. The architect S. Karin supervised the work.

The alley was first planted with birches. These trees did not take root and lime trees were planted in their place. Over time, maples, oaks, elms, spruces and thuja were added to them.

Gradually, the street was built up with classic mansions of that era, and the boulevard became a favorite place for Muscovites to walk.

In 1812, Tverskoy Boulevard was badly damaged due to a severe fire that broke out in Moscow when Napoleon's army entered the city.

As a result of the natural disaster, noble mansions were badly damaged.

Contributed to the devastation of the area and the French soldiers, who set up camp on the territory of the boulevard. They cut down and used for firewood almost the entire avenue of trees.

After these events, Tverskoy was restored in a fairly short time. In addition to the newly planted trees, it was ennobled with green gazebos and fountains, various bridges.

In the 1980s, a city horse-drawn railway was laid along the street, which was replaced by tram rails in 1911.

At the end of the 19th century, the noble mansions of the classical style are replaced by tenement houses made in the Art Nouveau and eclectic styles.

In October 1917, battles were played out on the territory of the boulevard between the junkers and the Bolshevik detachments. As a result of the battle, a house located at the beginning of the boulevard burned down. In its place, in 1923, a monument to K. A. Timiryazev was erected.

In the 1920s, book markets were organized on the boulevard.

The redevelopment and improvement of Tverskoy Boulevard was carried out in 1946 according to the designs of V. I. Dolganov.

Young trees and flower beds were planted, a cast-iron fence and benches were installed. The development of the cast-iron fence was carried out under the guidance of the architect G. I. Lutsky.

In 1949 the tram line was replaced by a trolleybus line.

In 1950, the monument to A. S. Pushkin was moved to Pushkin Square, its current location.

One of the last significant events in the history of Tverskoy Boulevard was the installation of a monument to S. A. Yesenin in 1995.

The boulevard ring was founded on the site of the wall white city, which was finally destroyed by 1780. The last major reconstruction of the ring was carried out after the Great Patriotic War, in 1947: bushes and trees were planted, benches and a cast-iron fence were installed.

Tverskoy is the longest boulevard in Moscow, its length is 872 meters. Tverskoy Boulevard starts at Nikitsky Gate Square, from which the numbering of houses is carried out, and reaches Pushkinskaya Square. On the left from the boulevard you can exit to Bolshaya Bronnaya Street, Bogoslovsky and Sytinsky lanes. The structure of Tverskoy Boulevard is as follows: it consists of two alleys - the main and side shady.

The history of Tverskoy Boulevard is very long and rather ambiguous. Its first name was simply Boulevard, the official date of foundation is 1796. Then the boulevard was named Tverskoy after the name of the street that adjoins it. The construction of the boulevard was a promising undertaking, it was even included in the Projected Plan of Moscow in 1775. The wall of the White City, on the site of which the boulevard was subsequently laid, was demolished in 1782, and the boulevard was laid in the summer of 1796. At the head of the construction work was the architect S. Karin, who was involved in both the project and the construction work itself. The first trees planted on Tverskoy Boulevard were birches, unfortunately they did not take root, so lindens had to be planted. Then maples, elms, oaks, Pennsylvania ash, conifers, including prickly blue spruce and thuja, appeared on Tverskoy Boulevard. Soon Tverskoy Boulevard became one of the favorite places for walks of representatives of the Moscow nobility. It was here big number entertainment: fountains worked, bridges were installed, gazebos made of greenery, even busts famous people along the main avenue. During the hours of the promenade, all passages along the boulevard, even Strastnaya Square, were forced by carriages of the walking public.

The leading style of architecture on Tverskoy Boulevard at that time was classicism. It should be noted that the representative nature of the building has largely been preserved to this day. Tverskoy Boulevard was repeatedly sung in both prose and poetry. One of these satirical poets was Prince Volkonsky, who was even arrested for a month for his so-called tabloid poems. In addition, Tverskoy Boulevard is mentioned in the poems of A.S. Pushkin, novels by L.N. Tolstoy, stories by A.P. Chekhov, books by other writers.
The fire that struck Moscow in 1812 did not leave its mark on Tverskoy Boulevard either. Most of the buildings on both sides of it were destroyed. French soldiers, cutting down all the green spaces on the boulevard, made it their place of deployment, setting up a camp here. Gradually, the boulevard was restored, additional trees were planted, benches were installed, bridges and fountains were installed.

At the end of 1880, with the money collected by subscription, a monument to A.S. Pushkin. At the opening of the monument, speeches were made by Dostoevsky and Turgenev, and the foot of the monument was literally covered with laurel wreaths. Subsequently, the monument was moved to Pushkin Square. In the Nicholas era, mulberry trees were planted on the boulevard, late giving foliage. Nicholas I, walking along Tverskoy Boulevard, drew attention to sticking out sticks, what mulberry trees looked like. The emperor quickly responded to such a reaction by clearing the boulevard of mulberry trees.

In the 80s of the 19th century, a horse-drawn line was laid along Tverskoy Boulevard, which was later replaced by a tram. As for the architecture of the late 19th century, at this time the boulevard continues to be actively built up, there are tenement houses made in eclectic and modern style. Tverskoy Boulevard also suffered a lot during the fierce battles of 1917. The clash between the Bolsheviks and the Junkers led to numerous destructions. At the end of the boulevard, a house burned down, on the site of which in 1923 a monument to K.A. Timiryazev.

The beginning of the 20th century was marked by the fact that book markets were held on Tverskoy Boulevard, which became good tradition. Architect V.I. Dolganov initiated the reconstruction of Tverskoy Boulevard, which took place in 1946. Then young seedlings were planted, new benches appeared. The pride of the boulevard was the cast-iron fence, designed by the architect G.I. Lutsky. In 1976, a square appeared on Tverskoy Boulevard, it was laid out on the site of a whole block of houses that had been demolished. It was here near the square on Tverskoy Boulevard that the first McDonald's restaurant in Moscow was opened.

Based on the materials "Lesson in Moscow"

• Tverskoy boulevard

  The Boulevard Ring was founded on the site of the White City wall, which was finally destroyed by 1780. The last major reconstruction of the ring was carried out after the Great Patriotic War, in 1947: bushes and trees were planted, benches and a cast-iron fence were installed.

  We descend along Novopushkinsky Square to the intersection of Sytinsky Lane and Bolshaya Bronnaya Street.

• Saltykov's estate

  Plot No. 27 in the 18th century occupied by the vast estate of Saltykov, it went to B. Bronnaya, Sytinsky lane and to the passage of Tverskoy Boulevard. The buildings stood along the entire perimeter of the site, many of them survived after the fire of 1812, when many residential and outbuildings on the odd side of the boulevard disappeared.

  On Sytinsky Lane we go out to the odd side of Tverskoy Boulevard and head to house number 25

• House of Herzen

  In this house, in the corner room of the second floor, on March 25, 1812, Alexander Ivanovich Herzen was born and lived until September 1812, the illegitimate son of a Moscow master, landowner Ivan Alekseevich Yakovlev and Henrietta Wilhelmina Louise Haag from Stuttgart. Subsequently, as an adult, Herzen came here to visit his cousin, Alexei Alexandrovich Yakovlev.

  We pass to the neighboring house number 23

• Chamber theater

  Since Catherine's time, house number 23 has been decorating Tverskoy Boulevard. Significantly rebuilt, having changed many owners, main house The city estate today is occupied by the Drama Theater. A.S. Pushkin. The theater building is notable for its modest and laconic façade: the first floor is rusticated, the two upper floors, separated from the first by an extended canopy, are decorated in a single constructivist style. At the level of the third floor there is an inscription “Moscow Drama Theatre. A.S. Pushkin.

  We continue to move along the odd side of the boulevard, cross the Bogoslovsky lane and stop at house number 19

• House of K.M. Svyatopolk-Mirskoy

  Residential building number 19 stands at the corner of the boulevard and Bogoslovsky lane. On the map of Khotev in 1852, this is a complex square building with an intricate courtyard, owned by merchant Anisya Yakovleva. In the second half of the XIX century. possession is recorded on Cleopatra Mikhailovna Svyatopolk-Mirskaya. A photograph of 1896, dedicated to the coronation identities of Nicholas I, has been preserved, it shows a rich two-story house on the semi-basement, with a beveled corner and rusticated walls, architect A.A. Martynov.

  We go back a little, along the transition we get to the alley of Tverskoy Boulevard and approach the monument to Yesenin

• One of the last monuments erected on Tverskoy Boulevard was the monument to S.A. Yesenin, opened in 1995 on the centenary of the birth of the poet.

  We return to the odd side, we approach the house number 17, we enter the courtyard through the gate in the arch

We return to the street and go to house number 13

• House of the Golokhvastovs

  The plot of house No. 13 on Tverskoy Boulevard belonged to the Golokhvastov family in the 19th century. A.I. recalled Pavel Ivanovich Golokhvastov. Herzen in the novel "The Past and Thoughts". A relative and friend of the Herzen family, Golokhvastov saved them from the fire of 1812, inviting them to his estate: “Come to me, my house is stone, it stands deep in the yard, the walls are capital.” old house described as a beautiful building with a facade decorated with a magnificent four-column portico, on the sides of the site there were outbuildings, but the fire did not spare the old stone building. The house had to be restored.

  We pass a few meters and look at a small mansion at number 11

• House of actress M.N. Yermolova

  The address "Tverskoy Boulevard, 11" is known throughout Moscow as the address of the great Russian actress Maria Yermolova. There is a museum in her memory in the building. The actress lived in this house from 1889-1928. The rooms remember the sound of her steps. V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, K.S. Stanislavsky, F.I. Chaliapin came here. The actress was visited by A. Lensky, A. Yuzhin.

  We continue to move along the street and approach the house number 9

• Profitable house I.M. Korovin

  House 9 on Tverskoy Boulevard stands out from the general row of houses on the odd side. A high apartment building, towering above the trees, at the same time does not look like a bulky, massive building. The decorative simplicity of balconies and bay windows makes the house voluminous, but at the same time light.

  We approach the intersection of the boulevard and Malaya Bronnaya street, look at house number 7

We go along the boulevard to Nikitsky Gate Square and stop at house number 1

On the transition we return to the boulevard itself, we approach the monument to K.A. Timiryazev

• In October 1917, fierce battles took place on Tverskoy between the armed detachments of the Bolsheviks and the junkers, which caused a house to burn down at the beginning of the boulevard. In its place in 1923 a monument to K.A. Timiryazev was erected. Granite figure in the mantle of an honorary doctor University of Cambridge carved from a single piece of Swedish granite. And during the war of 1941-1945. a large bomb fell on the square, and shock wave the monument was demolished from the pedestal. Later it was returned to its place, but you can still see potholes from fragments on the pedestal.

  We look opposite, on the even side of the boulevard

• TASS building

  The building of the new TASS building, which appeared on Nikitskaya Square in 1977, was called one of the most successful architectural projects 1970s The building took the place of the old Moscow buildings. Here stood the corner residential building No. 2 and the building of the former Tver public school, which was located here from the first half of XIX in. House 2 housed a maternity hospital, Kindergarten, small shops. He remembered the battles of 1917 and terrible explosion 1941, when a German shell hit the square. M. Sabashnikov and K. Paustovsky wrote about him in the memoirs.

• Korobkova's house

  House number 6 on Tverskoy Boulevard is better known as the house of Korobkova, or the house of the St. Petersburg Insurance Society, although the building was also owned by the Partnership of the Yaroslavl Big Manufactory, and in 1917 it went to the hereditary nobleman A.M. Konstantinov.

  We pass a few meters to the house number 6

• "House of Song"

  Now, looking at houses 8, 10 and 12 on Tverskoy Boulevard, it is difficult to determine where one ends and the other begins. They look like a single whole, but when house number 8 was built in 1910, it was the most high house on the even side of Tverskoy Boulevard.

Tverskoy Boulevard always inexplicably attracts me and pulls me to be here with or without reason. Maybe this irresistible attraction is hidden in the very name of the boulevard and the collective unconscious of the Russian people who lived here, walked along the boulevard, encourages us all to touch our national origins, to learn something important, albeit unconsciously, but still to learn and accept in ourselves. Or maybe you just want to be in the heart of Moscow and become one with it, to feel how it is ... In general, Tverskoy Boulevard called me to him and on this autumn day, which was already ending, twilight began to thicken, the late autumn sun had just village and only its fading glow remained in the sky. The boulevard looked deserted, deserted and detached. But in this autumn silence and stopped time, Tverskoy seemed to be waiting and wanted to say something and hear something in response ... This post will be just a sketch of the autumn Tverskoy Boulevard, preparing for winter, about to freeze in its long winter and unsteady dream...

I did not set myself any specific tasks to shoot something specific - the angles will be only those that for some reason I wanted to shoot. We will walk from Tverskaya to Nikitsky Gates. In parallel, I will talk a little about those historical objects that will catch my eye ...

02.

Three photo exhibitions are currently taking place on Tverskoy. This one, in particular, is about the "Baikal Trophy 2015" expedition, which started on Russia Day on June 12 in Bratsk and finished in Irkutsk on June 28, 2015.
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The estate of Rimsky-Korsakov, Tverskoy Boulevard, 26. In this place was the northern part of the city estate of I.N. Rimsky-Korsakov - one of the favorites of Catherine II. There were 6 buildings in total. After the war, the prince decided to rebuild his possessions and, for this, the famous architect Osip Bove was invited. The buildings were not demolished and organically singled them out as centers of an extended architectural facade composition. According to contemporaries, Rimsky-Korsakov's house was known as one of the most beautiful buildings in Moscow.
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The new building of the Moscow Art Theater, Tverskoy Boulevard, 22. Previously, there was the house of the Kologrivovs, acquired in 1819 for the Moscow Chief of Police, then (in mid-nineteenth century) passed into the ownership of the police (later - the mayor). In this house, during the reception, the Moscow mayor P.P. Shuvalov.
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The second outdoor photo exhibition is "City. Renewal" and is interesting from the point of view of how architecture in the city changes, under certain and specific conditions, in particular, how Moscow and its previously abandoned territories and industrial zones change.
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Here is a monument to the poet Sergei Yesenin, installed on Tverskoy Boulevard in 1995. In the foreground - buildings at 17 Tverskoy Boulevard (left) - an apartment building with outbuildings (1879, architect S.S. Eibushits) and 19 Tverskoy Boulevard (right) - an apartment building (1870s, architect A. A Martynov). An outstanding Russian surgeon N.V. lived in this house since the late 1880s. Sklifosovsky.
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To the right of the Moscow Art Theater - the residential building of the RZhSK of educational workers "The First Step" (1928-1931, engineer N.S. Zhukov; 1941) at Tverskoy Boulevard, 20.
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Mansion of P.P. Smirnov is located at Tverskoy Boulevard, 18. It was reconstructed in 1901-1905 according to the project of the architect F.O. Shekhtel. It is one of the key monuments of Moscow Art Nouveau and one of the most famous buildings of this architect.
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The Smirnov mansion is rightfully considered one of the the best works Shekhtel. Pyotr Smirnov arranged concerts and charity auctions here. Given the fact that Tverskoy Boulevard remained the only boulevard in the city throughout the 19th century, the mansion has always remained at the center of attention of Moscow public life...
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Tverskoy Boulevard, 15, building 5. This is an outbuilding of the city estate that once stood here (1810, 1886, architect V.I. Myasnikov) - the so-called "Mikhoels House". Built in 1810, rebuilt in 1886. The actor, artistic director of the GOSET Theater Solomon Mikhoels, as well as the writer-translator Vsevolod Ivanov lived here. Yesenin and Tyshler were here. This example of post-fire Moscow (1812), like the entire estate, from the end of the nineteenth century until October revolution was owned by the Kirikov family.
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I could not find anything about the history of this building at 14 Tverskoy Boulevard, Building 4, where the East-West Hotel is now located ... except that it was built in the Russian style)
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This nice building at Tverskoy Boulevard, 14, Building 1 is identified by directories as the "administrative building of the ITAR-TASS agency", but here is the business center "Tverskoy Boulevard-14", where you can still rent an office on the sixth floor and in attic)
24.

The building was built in 1997-1998. architect D. M. Deev and, in fact, is a new thing.
25.

This is probably the brightest building on Tverskoy now, which is why I wanted to post a picture with it in cover photo this material. Just opposite this building grows the so-called "Pushkin oak", fenced with a low chain. He is more than two hundred and thirty years old, he is older than Tverskoy Boulevard itself and once grew up near the city rampart. Gilyarovsky especially welcomed him)
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This is the home of the famous Russian actress Maria Yermolova at 11 Tverskoy Boulevard. There is now a museum named after her. Yermolova lived here from 1889 to 1928. There are two buildings at the heart of the estate, one - the main house, located along the red line of the boulevard (building 1), and an outbuilding, on the left, facing the street (building 2).
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Profitable house N.P. Lamanova (1908, architect N.G. Lazarev).
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Tverskoy Boulevard, 9. Here was built a profitable house of the famous Moscow homeowner, merchant Ivan Mikhailovich Korovin. The house was built according to the project of the architect Ivan Gavrilovich Kondratenko. He received an order for this building in 1906.
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To the left of the "Yermolova House" is a rather curious house on Tverskoy at number seven. Known as "Romanov's House" or "Romanovka" - a house of furnished rooms, where students of the Conservatory and the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture lived. Composer V.S. Kalinnikov rented an apartment here. N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, M.A. Vrubel, K.A. Korovin, F.I. Chaliapin.
31.
The main part of the building belongs to XVIII century. As of 1753, it was owned by collegiate adviser S.E. Molchanov. Subsequently, the estate passed to Privy Councilor N.N. Saltykov, who presented it to his daughter, who married Prince Ya.I. Lobanov-Rostovsky. AT early XIX century, the house was owned by the Minister of Internal Affairs D.I. Lobanov-Rostovsky. After a fire in 1812, the house was bought and rebuilt in the Empire style by the historian D.N. Bantysh-Kamensky.Since 1824, the estate was owned by P.B. Ogaryov. The childhood and youth of his son, poet and thinker N.P. Ogaryov.
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Well, in conclusion - Nikitsky Gate Square. Evening and autumn twilight...
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Well, that's probably all. Although there is no snow, it is dry, but everyone and everything has been waiting for it for a long time and resigned themselves to the inevitable departure of summer and golden autumn ...

Sources: Wikipedia - Tverskoy Boulevard

In Moscow, beautiful legends about mansions are very fond of. And even if his true story is known to many, it is still distorted for the sake of a beautiful lie.
Tverskoy Boulevard cannot boast large quantity buildings in modern style. And this mansion, which stands almost in the middle of it, attracts Special attention walking.


The gaze of passers-by always stops at the balcony with a bizarre forged ornament, reminiscent of a ship sailing on the waves. True, now the lattice of this balcony is covered by the ugly letters of the Empire restaurant. For many years, local historians have been fond of telling that this mansion was presented to his mistress by vodka Petr Petrovich Smirnov. And none of them like to tell the truth. But his history has nothing to do with this fiction, slander, erected for the sake of a red word, on good man, a caring family man, for a woman with a difficult fate, like everyone else at that time.

At the mansion interesting story. Back in the 1760s, it was mentioned as belonging to the horse guard captain Vasily Vasilyevich Istlentyev. In 1763, the house passed to the chamberlain lieutenant-general Alexander Grigoryevich Petrovo-Solovo.
After the fire, it belonged to Count Vladimir Grigoryevich Orlov.
In the 19th century it had many owners and many rebuildings.
The result was a solid "Empire mansion", which in its internal structure has retained traces of different eras from different levels floors, a labyrinth of rooms and services.

And on November 28, 1900, the merchant Petr Petrovich Smirnov bought this mansion from the hereditary honorary citizen Nikolai Petrovich Malyutin for 299 thousand rubles for his family. He had already been happily married to Yevgenia Ilyinichna Morozova for seven years by that time. They raised three children: Tatyana, Arseny and Alexei. In 1900, another daughter, Olga, was born.

Pyotr Petrovich was the son of Pyotr Arsenyevich Smirnov, the creator of the famous Moscow vodka factory in Sadovniki, and his second wife, Natalya Alexandrovna Tarakanova.
Petr Petrovich himself, in his youth, was engaged in the tea trade in St. Petersburg and moved to Moscow only in 1893 at the insistence of his father, who sought to involve his son in the family business.
On the next year(1894) the “Association of a vodka factory, warehouses of wine, alcohol and Russian and foreign wines P.A. Smirnov" in Moscow with a fixed capital of 3 million rubles, where Petr Petrovich became one of the directors. His family grew up in parental home there was not enough room for them all on Pyatnitskaya, and Peter decided to buy a new house for them.



He invited the then famous Fyodor Shekhtel as an architect. The Smirnovs were already familiar with him. He built for their family. Petr Petrovich set him the task of creating a decent and beautiful home for a family while maintaining a multi-level bizarre internal device mansion. But Smirnov wanted his house to become an adornment of the boulevard and stand out from the rest of the building. Therefore, Shekhtel paid a lot of attention to the street facade, while his courtyard facade was extremely simple.


The dominant feature of the boulevard facade was, of course, a large forged balcony-ship, as if floating above the passers-by. It opened into the front hall.


The second dominant feature was a high attic with elongated stained-glass windows and a cartouche with the owner's monogram. The first floor was the utility floor, and on the second, Shekhtel made a magnificent suite of front rooms and living rooms for Evgenia Ilyinichna and Pyotr Petrovich. The children's half was located in the attic. Servants lived in the courtyard buildings, there was a stable that overlooked Maly Gnezdnikovsky Lane.

The main staircase was made of white marble, its balustrade resembled an oncoming wave - a favorite technique of the master. On the second floor of the stairs, a huge window with faceted glass was made, which shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow in sunny weather. In the lobby, guests were greeted by large ceremonial portraits of the owners of the mansion. All the halls of the front suite were made in different styles. The son of Peter Petrovich later recalled that he studied history and art history in these halls.



The grand dining room was Romanesque, with wood-paneled walls, a barrel-vaulted ceiling, and a massive fireplace with two squat columns. Light entered the dining room through a triple lancet stained-glass window.

The large living room, where the hosts arranged large receptions, musical and theatrical evenings, was made in a classical style, richly decorated with stucco, painted in greenish color. In the painting of the ceiling, Shekhtel placed the monogram-monogram of the SPR - Smirnovs Peter and Evgenia.

A special front room was the huge Egyptian Hall, for which a special extension was even made from the courtyard. The hall was decorated with drawings from papyri in golden beige tones.



Two powerful Egyptian columns separated the hall from the corridor. This hall was built specifically for art exhibitions.

The owners preferred realistic painting, which did not go well with the Egyptian decor of the hall, according to Ilya Repin. For Pyotr Petrovich, Shekhtel made an office in the Gothic style, and for Evgenia Ilyinichna, an elegant boudoir.



The dominant feature of the boudoir was the sailing ceiling, all decorated with stucco ornaments of roses.
In the design of the pink living room, Fyodor Shekhtel applied a then-new lighting technique - light bulbs in the form of blooming buds were inserted into the stucco molding of the ceiling with floral motifs around the perimeter.


In this stucco molding, graceful female figures in tunics were depicted from two corners.

In all rooms there was beautiful furniture, paintings and other little things dear to the heart. A large winter garden was made with outlandish plants and a small menagerie.


Tatyana Smirnova in the Winter Garden.
Children's rooms were decorated based on Russian fairy tales. The house had English batteries, water heating with its own boiler room. There was forced ventilation.

In this mansion, Petr Petrovich and Evgenia Ilyinichna in 1902 had their last child, their son Anatoly. And in 1910, after a short illness, quite young, Pyotr Petrovich Smirnov suddenly passed away. He had a banal follicular tonsillitis, complicated by edema and suffocation. There were no antibiotics then and the heart could not stand this disease. Evgenia Ilyinichna was left alone with five children. She had to continue her husband's trading business and raise children. Their financial situation became much more complicated with the introduction of Prohibition and the state monopoly on vodka. But contrary to all rumors and later fabrications, the family of Evgenia Ilyinichna lived in this mansion until the revolution.
They didn’t rent it to any club and she didn’t want to open any cinematograph here. The eldest daughter and son by that time had created their own families and lived in a house on Pyatnitskaya. Evgenia Ilyinichna met the revolution in this house with three younger children. The house was occupied by the junkers, who were firing from the house at the hands of the Red Army soldiers who were storming the neighboring mansion of the city administration.
The post-revolutionary fate of the family is very sad. Evgenia Ilyinichna, trying to save her family, married an Italian business partner of the Smirnovs and left with him for Japan. But they were not allowed to take the children, and they remained in Russia. Alexei and Anatoly died in the 1920s. Tatyana and her daughter managed to leave for Paris in 1926. Son Arseny wandered a lot Central Asia where he died in the middle of the 20th century.
In Soviet times, the mansion housed a people's court and military prosecutor's office, court hearings were held in the Roman Hall. In the 1990s most The mansion was given to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation. In 1994, it was pushed aside by placing the Melodiya company here, which was urgently evicted from the Anglican church of St. Andrew's Church in Voznesensky lane 8 (it was then occupied by Melodiya). Now in the right wing of the building and in the courtyards there is the Moscow branch of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation. And the main halls, restored in 2006 by a construction company, are occupied by restaurants replacing each other every year. Last year it was the "Shekhtel club", now the restaurant (house of receptions and celebrations) "Empire" ...
Which disfigured the OKN balcony.