Palace on a pea field. City estate of Razumovsky. History of the palace complex and Razumovsky estate after the revolution
Right in the center of Moscow, not far from the bustling Kursky railway station, is one of the most interesting buildings Moscow, the once magnificent and rich palace of the city estate of Count Alexei Kirillovich Razumovsky. The famous statesman, trustee of Moscow University, one of the founders of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, minister of public education from 1810 to 1816, lived in his Moscow residence for two years after retiring from government service. It was at this time that a unique Botanical Garden, considered one of the wonders of Moscow.
Razumovsky's estate was built in 1801-1803. architect A.A. Menelas, and then in 1842 significantly rebuilt and expanded by the architect A.G. Grigoriev. This is a typical rich city estate of the Yekaterinin era, with an extensive park with ponds, a front entrance courtyard and a central, main manor palace.
The main house is a two-story structure, with a rectangular central part, highlighted by a mezzanine floor with a large arched window, twin columns and lions on extended porticoes, and semicircular wings ending in cubic pavilions.
The state rooms, living rooms and art gallery were located in the central part of the building, and the living rooms were in the wings. The servants lived in the lower ground floor. 
The estate was typical in layout, but not quite typical in “content”. Suffice it to say that more than 4 million rubles were spent on its arrangement, a fantastic amount for those times! The halls were decorated with bronze and expensive tapestries, and decorated with Saxon and Sèvres sets specially ordered for the new house. The library of the count, a famous freemason and mystic, amazed the imagination with the abundance of medieval books.
The park at the estate was not inferior in splendor to the house - greenhouses with exotic plants, a grove of orange trees, four ponds with carp, numerous flower beds and alleys delighted the count's gaze. 
However, maintaining such a rich estate cost a pretty penny. It is known that the count tried to sell the estate to the treasury in order to pay off his debts, but was refused. After the death of Alexei Kirillovich, the eldest son, Peter, inherited the estate, but from his father he adopted only a craving for splendor and extravagance, but not statesmanship. And by the time he received the inheritance, he had accumulated so many debts that the estate had to be immediately sold for next to nothing. In 1828, the Odessa merchant Yurkov became its owner, who gradually sold the unique priceless furnishings to Moscow antique salons.
The glorious Razumovsky family fell into decline as quickly as it had risen to the heights of wealth and power. Pyotr Alekseevich died in poverty in Odessa, and his father’s brilliant estate went, as they say, from one hand to another. 
First, it was bought by the Board of Trustees to set up an orphanage, then it housed a school of paramedics, an almshouse, a seminary, and, from 1901, a nursing home, or more precisely, “the shelter of the Empress Maria Feodorovna for the honored teachers of the institutions of the Empress Maria.”
Despite the numerous owners, the palace and park met the revolution in quite tolerable condition. But with the advent of Soviet power, the misadventures of the estate began, which even survived the capture of Moscow by Napoleon. During the Soviet era, the Institute of Physical Education and its dormitories were located here, as a result of which the ponds, filled up for sports grounds, disappeared from the park. In the 1970s, a research institute settled in the palace physical culture, there were no dormitories and noisy students, but a sauna was built in the central part. You can imagine the effect this had on the condition of the palace! 
A hasty restoration began for the Moscow Olympics, but it was not completed on time, and as a result, the palace was left to the mercy of fate for many years (in fact, to this day). The looting of the building and decorative elements began, accompanied by the usual vandalism of our citizens...
In the 1990s, the authorities remembered the existence of a unique architectural monument, and...transferred it to the Tsereteli Academy of Arts in 1999! The “arts” were not long in coming; soon after this there was a fire, which caused enormous damage to the structure, and the new owner of the building has still not been able to achieve not only a large-scale restoration, but at least conservation and the construction of a temporary roof to replace the completely destroyed one. But in the more or less preserved stone outbuildings on the left side of the estate building, various tenants were not slow to move in. 
It is probably unnecessary to say that according to the lists of the Moscow Heritage Committee, the estate of Count Razumovsky, like the park adjacent to it, is an object cultural heritage(OKN) federal significance. What is this unique object literally rotting alive, no one cares, of course... 
In my story, I repeatedly emphasized the “uniqueness” of Razumovsky’s palace. It's time to finally explain what exactly it consists of. The fact is that the central part of the main building is actually wooden, treated with stone-like plaster. There are practically no wooden buildings left in the capital that survived the Moscow fire of 1812. During the capture of Moscow by Napoleon, Marshal Murat settled in the palace, thanks to which the palace was not damaged at all. However, surviving the bungling of officials and “artists” of various stripes is more difficult than a fire...
IN last years There is a lot of talk about the “reconstruction” and “recreation” of the estate, there are signs of some kind of construction work, workers, wheelbarrows and signs. However, no significant changes have yet been noticeable, which, knowing the ability of our city planners to demolish historical objects under the guise of reconstruction, may even be worth rejoicing at. 
The photo was taken from behind the bars of the estate in 1996. It was closed to the public at that time.
City estate of Razumovsky- estate and park in Moscow (Basmanny district, Kazakova street, 18). At the estate on the banks of the Yauza there is a park with an area of approx. 40 hectares (protected area - 29 hectares). IN Soviet time Sports grounds were built on the territory of the park. The nearest metro stations are Kurskaya and Baumanskaya.
Story
Manor
Count Alexey Kirillovich Razumovsky.
The wooden palace was erected by A. A. Menelas for Count Alexei Kirillovich Razumovsky in -. The central part of the house is made of wood, the side two-story wings are made of brick. They have arched gates leading to the courtyards. This wonderful masterpiece of Russian architecture is a striking example of urban estate construction. The wide space of the courtyard separates the main building from the street and allows you to see this monument in all its splendor. The central entrance part is designed with exceptional artistic expressiveness: a semicircular niche, turning into a semi-dome at the top, is separated by light, graceful columns that highlight its depth. A strictly designed pediment expressively completes the composition of the entrance.
The house of A.K. Razumovsky was once surrounded by a grandiose park. This park, which reached the Yauza River, was famous as “a place that, with the charm of unartificial nature, would make him (the visitor) forget that he was in the city.”
The too expensive maintenance of the palace and huge debts weighed down the count, and several times he asked Emperor Alexander I to buy the estate for 850 thousand rubles, of which 800 thousand were immediately spent on paying debts.
During the years of the USSR
The institute itself resumed its activities in 1946: the pedagogical and sports faculties were restored, the school of trainers resumed recruitment, and research circles were created at the departments.
After VNIIFK became the tenant, the transformation began into a building convenient for housing VNIIFK laboratories, and a bathhouse-sauna was built in the central part of the main house for the personal use of management. The bathhouse operated for more than 10 years, during which time the plaster flew off the facade and the brick walls began to collapse.
When preparing Moscow for the 1980 Olympics, the palace was included in the list of Olympic venues and by the end of 1979 the premises were completely vacated. Began construction works, which could not be called restoration. They didn’t make it in time for the Olympics and work was stopped for many years.
Russia
Current state of the estate
Approximately from the mid-1990s, the State Committee for Sports began to be compacted in connection with the further move-in of the Academy of Arts structures into the building.
A few months later, in July 1999, a fire occurred, significantly damaging part of the main building.
Since the fall of 2008, the estate building has housed
(Russia, Moscow, Kazakova st., 18-20)
Several years ago I worked in the publishing department of the Watercolor School of People's Artist of the Russian Federation S.N. Andriyaki, in Gorokhovsky Lane. It goes without saying that the neighborhoods adjacent to the place of duty came into my field of vision. Historical buildings are still preserved in this area of the capital. In quiet streets surrounded by greenery you can find architecturally interesting mansions and urban estates. On Kazakova Street, one might say next door, the city estate of Razumovsky turned out to be a pleasant discovery.
“The estate on this site has been known since the 17th century, when it belonged to the Danish merchant David Bachart. In the 30s of the 18th century, under Counts G.I. and M.G. The Golovkins had a regular park here. Elizaveta Petrovna donated the estate to A.G. Razumovsky. In 1799—1802 gg. for his nephew, Count A.K. Razumovsky, a new complex with a park area is being created on both banks of the Yauza (project by architect N.A. Lvov (?), management by A.A. Menelas).
On the left bank, a landscape park is located on the site where in the 1720-1730s. there was a terraced park of the estate of V.F. Saltykov, later Golovkin.
Since the 1830s The manor is used by various institutions. In 1842, it was rebuilt by the architect A.G. Grigoriev for the Orphanage. In the 1920s it was occupied by the Institute of Physical Culture. The lower sports field of the institute was located on the site of a huge pond, drained back in XIX century. The left bank part of the estate since the 1930s. used as children's park.
Architectural ensemble located on the high right bank of the Yauza. From here the park territory descends to the river. On the upper and lower terraces, areas with old trees have been preserved. In the left bank part of the estate one can read the layout and artificial relief of the first third of the 18th century.
The main house is one of the magnificent examples of classicist architecture in Moscow.”
This brief information I learned from the wonderful book by I.K. Bakhtina and E.N. Chernyavskaya “Country estates in Moscow” (illustrated catalogue).
I would like to note on my own that the Razumovsky Palace, which had been in disrepair for a long time, has finally been repaired and is once again delighting Muscovites and guests of the capital with its beauty.
I quote from “The History of Russian Art” by I.E. Grabar: “The greatest architect of Moscow in the 18th century, and at the same time the greatest in Russia, was Bazhenov’s contemporary and collaborator in the Kremlin palace - Kazakov. This mysterious man, who received all his education in Moscow from the book. Ukhtomsky and his successor Nikitin and who had never been abroad, possessed such an architectural genius that he can only be compared with the giants of the Renaissance. Having begun his activity during the reign of Elizabeth, in the era of the most unbridled Baroque, he gradually went through all the stages of classicism up to and including Alexander’s, but at the same time remained highly individual, was always and in everything, first of all, himself and created his own “Cossack style”, which determined the entire future direction of Moscow architecture.
Razumovsky Palace on Gorokhovoy Pole (archive photos) from the book by Yu. Proskurovskaya “Palace on Gorokhovoy Pole”, M., 2015:
1. Razumovsky Palace on Gorokhovoy Pole. Mezzanine plan of the main building. Copy 1830
2. General plan of the palace of Count A.K. Razumovsky. Project 1800–1801
3. Estate of A.K. Razumovsky in Moscow, plan, 1805
4. Living room in the main house
5. Living room with ceiling lamp
6. Residential apartments of the palace on Gorokhovaya Pole
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8. Greenhouse in the Razumovsky Palace
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11. Church of the Ascension on the Pea Field. Photo from N.A.’s album Naydenov "Moscow. Cathedrals, monasteries and churches", 1882
12. Razumovsky Palace on Gorokhovoy Pole, facade, ~ 1917
13. Eastern wing of the Razumovsky Palace in Moscow. Photo from the 1960s.
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15. Fragment of the park facade with the staircase of the Razumovsky Palace on Gorokhovoy Pole
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If we compare St. Petersburg buildings of the same era with Moscow ones, then one cannot help but notice in the latter a certain intimacy, warmth and, as it were, even good nature, while the former give the impression of prim, official, cold, sometimes gloomy and seemingly angry. This feature of Moscow architecture is especially strongly expressed in the work of Kazakov, who knew how to bring the irresistible charm of his own soul and personal, intimate, warm feeling even into such ceremonial palaces as the Pashkov House, now the Rumyantsev Museum. For any other author, such a plan would inevitably feel cold and would not enchant with such tenderness as this true miracle of architecture, this one-of-a-kind house in Europe. Few people know, even among old-timers of Moscow, another one he created. architectural masterpiece, the palace of Count Razumovsky, which now houses a branch of the Nikolaev Orphan Institute.
M. F. Kazakov. Palace of Count Razumovsky on Gorokhovoy Pole in Moscow. (Nowadays a department of the Nikolaev Orphan Institute). - Around 1790
Its middle part, the only one remaining almost undamaged, with an amazingly unexpected entrance built in a huge niche, is simply incomparable in its wealth of ingenuity and flight of imagination. During the entire reign of Catherine and Paul, as well as in the first decade of the 19th century, not a single significant building was built in Moscow without the participation of Kazakov, who either built it himself, or made drawings from which others built, or, finally, limited himself to advice that was highly valued by his contemporaries. And studying all the buildings he built, you cannot help but be amazed at the endless variety and flexibility of his spontaneous talent. He created a school of numerous students who built all of Moscow and a significant part of Russia with buildings of the Cossack style, which inspired architects for almost a century.”
Count A.K. RAZUMOVSKY, 1748-1822, eldest son of Count Kirill Grigorievich from his marriage to Ekaterina Ivanovna Naryshkina, born September 12, 1748; The hetman tried to give his sons a solid and versatile education, and the education of Count A.K. Razumovsky was completed by a long trip abroad, during which he listened to lectures in Strasbourg and visited Italy and England. Enrolled at birth in military service, he was promoted by Peter III to captain and renamed chamber cadet; in 1775 Razumovsky was granted full chamberlain status, but already in 1778 he retired and lived as a private citizen in his magnificent village near Moscow. Gorenki. On June 28, 1786, he was promoted to privy councilor and appointed senator, but his pride, offended by Catherine’s refusal to appoint him president of the College of Commerce, again prompted him in 1795 to retire into private life. Alexander I appointed Razumovsky on November 2, 1807, a trustee of Moscow University, with promotion to actual Privy Councillors, and on April 11, 1810, the Minister of Public Education. Razumovsky, however, soon became tired of the new activity and on May 26, 1812, asked for leave, much to the displeasure of Alexander I. The Emperor’s coolness and eye disease prompted Razumovsky in 1814 to ask for resignation, to which the Emperor agreed “beyond his will.” Razumovsky spent the last years of his life in Little Russia, in Pochep, where he died on April 5, 1822. His remains, after the sale of Pochep to Count Kleinmichel, were transferred to the Spassky Novgorod-Seversky Monastery; over the grave of Count A.K. Razumovsky has a tomb with an inscription in which he is given the title “poor helper, patron of sciences.” From his marriage to Countess V.P. Sheremeteva, Razumovsky had 2 sons and 2 daughters, and from the daughter of his bereitor, M. M. Sobolevskaya, he had 5 “pupils” and 5 “pupils” who received the surname “Perovsky”.
Count A.K. Razumovsky was a man of difficult character, stern, gloomy and unsociable. These qualities were supplemented by others, determined by the aristocratic environment in which the game of happiness placed the Razumovskys. This, as Wiegel put it, “stuffed with French literature,” the shepherd’s grandson considered himself a “Russian Montmorency” and looked with excessive pride at mere mortals who were not rewarded by “fits of happiness.” He did not trust people, he simply did not like to see them, preferring to sit in his office, however, despite his distrust of people, he was always under someone’s influence: he was a Voltairean, a Freemason, and a friend of the Jesuits. Razumovsky was not insensitive to “honor and praise”; at the age of 25, he was not averse to taking some position that corresponded to his merits, such as the president of the Chambers - or Manufacturers - Collegium, and lost his temper when he met only “the constant grief at the Court”, consoling themselves with the fact that in the higher spheres “they value only bodily advantages as dignity. But at the same time, he was characterized by, in the words of his father, “damned laziness” and he soon became bored with official activities. He was considered an expert in botany, and his garden in Gorenki and greenhouses were recognized as the “miracle of Russia.” But this capricious amateur planted his gardens only to kill idle time, and was not capable of serious scientific work, like his brother, mineralogist gr. Grigory. As Vigel put it, Razumovsky “made the same use out of his knowledge as out of wealth, he enjoyed them without any benefit to others.” In addition, he was also obsessed with the passion of producing expensive and unnecessary buildings. Selling for 400,000 rubles. a comfortable house on Vozdvizhenka, he spent a million rubles on the construction of a palace on Gorokhovoy Pole. Insane extravagance, combined with ransom scams, ruined his enormous fortune, and in the last years of his life he besieged Alexander I with requests to buy his house on Gorokhovoye Pole for the treasury. As a minister, he left behind, as Wiegel put it, “no memory.” Under him, the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum was opened, many circulars were published, but the minister personally only owned the opening ceremony of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum and the rules for monitoring the temperature in the premises of this institution, written by him in his own hand...
(From a portrait of Guttenbrunn, 1801; located in the Museum of Emperor Alexander III)
In the center of Moscow on Kazakova Street 18 there is a building that was once a rich palace of a city estate. This palace belonged to the famous statesman Count A.K. Razumovsky.
Construction of the palace
The palace was built from 1799 to 1802. The building was designed by architect A.A. Menelas. He worked under the guidance of architect N.A. Lvov, who is considered the founder of this palace. During the Patriotic War with Napoleon, the estate was well guarded and was not damaged.
Estate decoration
The palace is a two-story building, next to it there is a park with ponds. The interior of the building featured double columns and lions on the porticoes at the front entrance.
State halls, living rooms and rooms with big amount paintings were in the center of the building, and living rooms were located in the side parts of the estate. The layout of the building was nothing special, but a lot of money was spent on the interior.
The interior halls were made of bronze and decorated with expensive tapestries, as well as custom-made Saxon dinnerware. The window sills were made of valuable and expensive stone. In the library of Count Razumovsky there was great amount medieval literature.
Unusual park with orange trees
The park next to the estate also stood out for its beauty and unusualness. In a large area of the park there were several ponds with carp swimming there, a large number of alleys with flowers blooming there. There were even orange trees in the park. While walking through the park, you, like the inhabitants of that time, will enjoy observing this non-artificial wildlife.
The sad fate of the Razumovsky Palace
Despite all the beauty of the park and palace, maintaining the estate was expensive for the count. He tried more than once to sell the estate to cover his accumulated debts, but each time he failed.
In 1822, after the death of the count, less attention was paid to the estate. By inheritance, the count's eldest son, Pyotr Razumovsky, becomes the new owner of the building. The debts grew more and more, and in 1828 the estate had to be sold for next to nothing to the merchant Yurkov. The new owner began to sell off all the valuables of the estate using Moscow antiques. Later, the count's son Peter also died of poverty.
Metamorphoses of the count's estate
In 1833, the estate was bought by the Board of Trustees, creating a shelter there for officer orphans.
In 1842, the estate was rebuilt and expanded by the architect A.G. Grigoriev. Later, elderly people began to move in there.
In 1918, by order of V.I. Lenin, the Moscow Institute of Physical Culture was opened in the estate. Dormitories and classrooms for students were built inside. Instead of ponds, sports grounds were built in the park.
The fate of the building after the fire and today
The building changed its owners more than once and was used for different purposes. In 1999, there was a fire that caused significant damage to the building. The surviving parts of the building began to belong to the Ministry of Sports and Youth Policy in 2008. The part damaged by the fire began to be restored, and this moment these works are still not completed.