Excursion to the mansion of the Abamelek-Lazarevs. What the historical mansions that Smolny Step occupies look like: pay for tickets
It was built at the beginning of the 18th century for Vice Admiral Martyn Petrovich Gossler. From January 1727 he was director of the St. Petersburg Admiralty office. Gossler's house burned down in 1736 in a fire in Morskaya Sloboda, which destroyed all the buildings in the area.
In 1736-1737, the architect G. Kraft built a new stone mansion here for Count Fyodor Andreevich Apraksin, nephew of Admiral F. M. Apraksin. The house was built in the late Peter the Great Baroque style. Initially, there was a gate to the left of the mansion. The wife of F. A. Apraksin was Countess Alexandra Mikhailovna Sheremetev, the granddaughter of Field Marshal B. P. Sheremetev.
Local historian V. Izmozik in the book “Millionnaya Street” writes that the next owner of the mansion was Gustav Biron, the brother of the favorite of Empress Anna Ioannovna. In the middle of the 18th century, the architect G. Kraft owned the site. The historian G. Zuev in the book “The Moika River Flows” does not mention Biron and Kraft when listing the owners of the site. He claims that after the death of F.A. Apraksin, the territory went to his son Alexander Fedorovich Apraksin, who in 1773 sold it to chamber cadet Vasily Semenovich Vasilchikov.
Under V.S. Vasilchikov, the main manor building was rebuilt according to the design of Antonio Rinaldi (presumably). It was then that, instead of a covered porch, a marble four-column portico appeared here. The walls were smoothly plastered, after which the house acquired its current appearance. The owner of the mansion was married to the daughter of Count K. G. Razumovsky, Anna.
Vasilchikov in 1776 sold the plot to the ex-wife of Duke Peter Biron, Evdokia Borisovna. She died two years later, the territory passed into the possession of her brother, Prince N.B. Yusupov. Three years later, the prince sold the mansion with all its furnishings for 45,000 rubles to Princess Ekaterina Petrovna Baryatinskaya. In 1789, the house was given to Senator A.I. Divov from her.
In 1795, Divov's house was purchased by the treasury. Catherine II gave it to the youngest of the Zubov brothers, Valery. Three years later, the plot was in the hands of Princess Maria Grigorievna Golitsyna. In 1802, house No. 22 came into the possession of Count Viktor Pavlovich Kochubey, who from that time headed the Department of Internal Affairs. In subsequent years, he was a member of the State Council and the head of a number of other government institutions. After his resignation in 1807, Kochubey sold the mansion to Prince Vasily Vasilyevich Dolgoruky. Ten years later he sold it to Prince Alexei Borisovich Kurakin. In the 1820s, the British Ambassador lived in Kurakin's house.
In 1822-1872, house No. 22 was owned by Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Potemkin. He lived in apartment No. 3. During his time in the building there was a house church of the Presentation of the Lord. N. Tsylov's atlas shows that by 1849 the building on the Moika side had four floors. Thanks to Potemkin’s wife Tatyana Borisovna, the house on Millionnaya Street became one of the centers of charity. After Potemkin, the site belonged to Count Nikolai Pavlovich Ignatiev, who was the Minister of Internal Affairs in 1881-1882.
The next owner of the mansion in 1904 was Prince Semyon Semyonovich Abamelek-Lazarev. At the same time as this plot, he also bought the neighboring plot of house No. 23 on the Moika embankment. They are connected to the building on Millionnaya Street by passages through the courtyard wings. The prince bought this mansion after he was forced, under the terms of his father's will, to leave his house on Nevsky Prospekt (No.). It passed into the possession of the Armenian Church. The part of the building overlooking the Moika River (house No. 21) was thoroughly rebuilt according to the design of E. S. Vorotilov in 1907-1909. Apparently, its new appearance reminded the new owner of the very house on Nevsky from which he moved. The question of the possibility of using items from house No. 40 on Nevsky Prospect to decorate Abamelek-Lazarev’s new house was discussed on April 30, 1908 at the council of the Armenian church diocese of St. Petersburg. The interests of the prince were represented by the architect A. I. Tamanov. The Council decided:
“Based on attention and deep respect for the old glorious family of the Lazarevs, one should respect the wishes of the representative of Prince Abamelek-Lazarev - architect A.I. Tamanov, because objects from the interiors of the living quarters of the princely house are of particular interest to him as a memory of his ancestors. As for the question about possible compensation in money for the taken items, the Council considers it inconvenient to transfer items dear to the prince into money and decided to offer him to replace the taken items" [Cit. from: 2, p. 357].
A register of transferred items was attached to the minutes of the Council:
"1. Inlaid parquet floor from the dining room - 15 sq. fathoms. 2. Parquet floor of multi-colored wood from the office - 21 sq. fathoms. 3. Molded cornices with modules from the office and dining room - 35 linear fathoms. 4. Round tiled stoves from dining room. 5. Fireplace with mirror - terracotta from the dining room. 6. Seven pine doors with carved panels with molded trim and sandstones..." [Ibid].
Among other things, the balcony grille, window frames, door and window openings and other details were transferred to the new princely house. S. S. Abamelek-Lazarev carried out repairs in the house on Nevsky Prospekt at his own expense. Architect Tamanov even had to moderate the ardor of the customer, who was going to leave only an empty box of the building on Nevsky Prospekt. He proposed to equip it with exact copies of the exported items and insisted on their mandatory preliminary photography.
S. S. Abamelek-Lazarev moved to a house on Millionnaya Street in 1910. On the occasion of the move, a magnificent reception was held for 250 guests on January 19, as reported by St. Petersburg newspapers. The magazine "Capital and Estate" in 1915 described the interiors of the mansion as follows:
"The main attraction of the old house of Count Apraksin is the magnificent entrance hall and staircase. The steps wind boldly and easily to the top, from the front platform, decorated with a huge mirror, diverging into different sides. The beautiful light ceiling in a semicircle gives this entire staircase great elegance and style. On the platforms there are huge white and gold floor lamps, painted by Rossi for the Mikhailovsky Palace. Directly from the stairs you enter a large hall with beautiful stucco work in delicate tones. Here, as throughout the house, there is excellent parquet. To the right and left of this hall, with windows facing Millionnaya, lies a row of living rooms, ending on one side with a corner bedroom and on the other, a large living room with magnificent Flemish trellises on the walls. In all rooms you will find excellent antique bronze, marble, porcelain, family portraits by famous artists. In the hall, four Tomir bronze candelabra rise from the floor, more than the height of a man. On the walls are two huge tapestries representing the history of Tamerlane and Bayazet, executed in the 18th century in Brussels. The old house ends with a long, bright dining room" [Quoted from: 2, pp. 358, 359].
In 1911, Abamelek-Lazarev bought the neighboring house No. on Millionnaya Street, and in 1913-1915 it was rebuilt. The facade of house No. 22 became wider by two windows. House No. 24 was supplemented with an entrance gate and redevelopment was carried out. In those same years, architect I. A. Fomin rebuilt house No. 23 on the Moika embankment. After the death of S.S. Abamelek-Lazarev in 1916 and until the revolution of 1917, his heirs owned the house.
In 1920-1925, these buildings were rented by the Pushkin House to house part of the funds and organize exhibitions. In 1927, house No. 22 was transferred to the Central House of Physical Culture Workers, and in 1933 the Committee for physical culture and sports.
A completely different situation arose with the construction of the house of Prince S.S. Abamelek-Lazareva. Fomin had to fit his plan into an area limited on three sides. Ivan Aleksandrovich owns the façade facing the Moika River, the lobby, staircase and two halls. All authors unanimously note that Fomin monumentalizes the theme of a private mansion, decorating small rooms so that they are not inferior to palace ones in solemnity.
Entering through massive wooden doors, we find ourselves in a small hallway. The square room with a cross vault was painted by Bodaninsky in the style of Roman grotesques: golden vases, lyres, garlands on a bright blue background, and a golden mask in the center on a black background. Analogues of such paintings can be found in Roman villas, for example, the lobby of the cozino at Villa Ludovisi is similar to the design.
From this hallway we enter the lobby. His decision is very extraordinary. This is a small and low rectangular room, surrounded by heavy Doric pilasters, approximately human height. On two long walls they correspond to a Doric colonnade of the same proportions. These columns have no bases; they are placed on a kind of flooring that extends from the wall and is not interrupted by the intercolumnium. The pilasters and columns are made of artificial marble, the orange color so beloved by Fomin, and the capitals are made of pinkish-yellow material. (We saw this color scheme in the dance hall of the Shakhovskaya mansion.) Fomin also uses his favorite chess floor. And so the squat proportions of the columns and pilasters are aggravated by a very heavy white entablature with large decorations of laconic forms. It is interesting that, for all their apparent heaviness and squatness, the dimensions of the columns are quite comparable to the height of the average person, so there remains some feeling of the absurdity of the experienced space. This whole play of proportions and volumes is even more intensified on the end wall: at the corners Fomin uses pilasters superimposed on each other, and, freeing up the center for a niche with a sculpture, he is forced to move the pilasters so close that the gap between them becomes smaller than the pilasters themselves. It is interesting that both the entrance and the exit to the staircase are made not in the end walls, but in the outer intercolumns.
Such an extraordinary solution can also be interpreted as an ironic interpretation of the Empire style, a parody, within the framework of a private mansion, in which the use of “heroic space” is in itself comical, on the use by Russian Empire architects of monumental, heavy forms of external architecture in the interior decoration of socially significant buildings. This opinion is expressed by G.I. Revzin, pointing to the Admiralty lobby as a possible prototype for the parody.
The entrance to the staircase is set far enough away because of the columns, so already from the lobby we see its perspective, and it immediately becomes clear that this is a completely different space. In contrast, we see a spacious, elegant, bright interior of the staircase with smooth pale green walls, a beautiful high arch with octagonal caissons and rosettes in them, white on a green background. A large role in this space is played by a simple, white mirror located on the site. Inexpressive at first glance, it nevertheless allows you to see the perspective of the second flight of stairs from the lobby, creating the amazing effect of an endless staircase pointing upward. A large window located on the side of the mirror provides constant bright light, illuminating not only the staircase itself, but also its reflection in the mirror. These games, which make it possible to create voluminous visual spaces with small actual sizes, were Fomin's trademark. Slender, high railings add additional lightness to the staircase.
From the stairs we enter the dining room. This is the most elegant room. Opposite the window there is a peculiar semicircular loggia with a balcony for musicians, separated by two Ionic columns and two semi-columns, lined with black marble with large splashes of reddish-brown and light brown spots, with white capitals and bases. This complex and very beautiful color scheme of the columns is the main color accent and subordinates the color scheme of the entire hall. In the center of each of the side walls there are flat arches decorated with Corinthian columns of smaller sizes, but identical in color scheme.
The most important element of the composition of this hall is the illusionistic painting panels. In this case, Fomin achieves his favorite effect of expanding space not by using mirrors, but by introducing an illusionistic composition into the interior. It is no coincidence that in the first sketch of the dining room, preserved in the Museum of Architecture. A.V. Shchusev, this small space seems to be a huge solemn space. The use of illusionistic techniques is undoubtedly tinged with irony, parodying the techniques of the masters of Italian architecture.
The walls were not decorated, they remained smooth, and, as if to emphasize this, Fomin concentrates white doors with gilded decor in the corners of the building so that the white pediments on the consoles crowning them almost touch each other at the corners. In the upper part, separated by a thin frieze of scrolls, there are round sculptural medallions above the doors. (The sculpture for this work by Fomin was made by B.I. Yakovlev.) All the white details are clearly readable against the pale beige, slightly tinted general background. The mirror vault in the lower part is decorated with caissons, the ceiling is painted by Bodaninsky in his already familiar somewhat dry stylistic manner, but not without grace.
The theater hall is of great interest. It is opposed to the dining room by its decision. The entire room is decorated with red-brown Corinthian pilasters with white capitals. Between them are white doors with gilt trim, three on each of the side walls, exactly the same as in the dining room, but they are framed with a thin faux marble frame of the same red-brown color with gold trim. At the end of them, shelves with pairs of griffins are located on the brackets. The motif itself, of course, is not new and was often used in the design of classicist interiors (Adam, Cameron), but Fomin solves it completely differently: dark sculptural figures of griffins are located on a light, ivory-colored background, and this gives them modernist features.In accordance with the purpose of the hall, a subject for painting is chosen: in the center of the octagon is placed the chariot of Apollo, in two small rectangles there is painting imitating reliefs, along the edge of the ceiling there is a frieze with putti supporting garlands.
These are truly iconic buildings for the entire pre-revolutionary period of Fomin’s work: all the motives, all the principles have already been revealed in them. But at the same time, in their semantics they are most connected with the previous tradition. Especially Polovtsov’s dacha: classic U-shaped plan, symmetrical layout, division into front and living parts, connection with the surrounding park. But Fomin always changes something, violating classical canons and laws: oversaturation with details: too many columns, slightly changed proportions, overly accentuated detail, a little more fanciful than strict taste requires, is the line drawn, the pediments above the doors almost overlap each other? and a completely new, unexpected, sometimes ironic, sometimes elegantly sublime, sensation is created. Each new room becomes completely unexpected for us in its image and design. But in general, this is still a kind of “game on someone else’s field.”
In the place where the Abamelek-Lazarev house is now located, it was not distinguished by great architectural merits. Along with ancient mansions, not so much beautiful as attractive precisely because of their “antiquity,” there were also faceless buildings of the second half of the 19th century in., and in some places huge apartment buildings were already towering. The four-story house of Prince S.S. Abamelek-Lazarev, with small apartments, was not much different from them.
The prince planned to build a new, more respectable building with spacious halls, a large dining room and, of course, a theater hall. The old house was dismantled, and the architect I. A. Fomin was invited to develop the project and build a new one at the beginning of 1913.
The complexity of the task facing the architect lay in the limited space. There were already houses on both sides, and the new one had to fit into their row. The location of the building in the city center, not far from Palace and Konyushennaya squares, also imposed certain “obligations.” Fomin successfully dealt with this, managing to give the house a monumental feel, despite its relatively small size.
The basis of the composition of the facade is a clear structure of pilasters of the Corinthian order, rising to the height of all three floors.
The pilasters are placed on a low granite-lined plinth. They support a massive entablature, completed above the cornice by a blank parapet. The facade has a sense of calm grandeur, inherent in the best buildings in the classicist style. On the roof, on the pedestals of the parapet, which echoes the granite parapet of the embankment, vases were installed.
Thanks to the clarity of the design and large forms, the façade of the house immediately attracts attention. It is the palace building that creates the impression of completeness of the space surrounding one of the main squares of St. Petersburg - Palace Square. Fomin managed to introduce a note of refined aristocracy into the architecture of the mansion, in tune with the nearby Winter Palace and Marble palaces.
But the facade is only a small part of the building, during the design and construction of which the architect Fomin showed excellent knowledge of classical architecture and a remarkable ability to solve complex planning problems. The ceremonial interiors of the house also give the impression of grandiose and majestic palace halls. It's hard to believe that they were created within the walls of a small city mansion.
The composition of the interiors begins with the lobby - a small, rectangular room located in the left half of the building. The entire perimeter of the lobby is surrounded by columns and pilasters of the Doric order, lined with dark yellow artificial marble. The proportions of the order are deliberately weighted, and thanks to this the colonnade, whose height is not much greater than human height, is perceived as a monumental structure.
In contrast to the lobby main staircase, located nearby, seems especially light and spacious. The staircase is successfully integrated into a high, well-lit room, covered with a coffered vault.
From the top of the stairs you can get to the Great Dining Room of the mansion, which has three huge windows overlooking the embankment.
The dining room is decorated festively, brightly, it is distinguished by the integrity of the volumetric solution and the luxury of decorative finishing. The center of the composition here is a loggia with choirs for musicians. It is separated from the entire room by two pairs of tall columns of the Ionic order, lined with deep black artificial marble with large dark red and greenish-brown splashes.
The columns contrast with the delicate light green tone of the walls, against which white architectural details and white doors with gilded relief decorations stand out brightly. In the center of each of the side walls of the dining room, in an arched frame with columns of the Corinthian order on the sides, there were picturesque panels.
The flat ceiling, which turns at the edges into a plastically curved arch, is also decorated with decorative ornamental painting; its surface is divided into diamond-shaped caissons with the finest rosettes in pattern. Other sculptural details also create a sense of artistic richness: the complex carving of the cornice, the graceful brackets of the sandriks above the doors, the softly sculpted reliefs in round medallions. Wonderful inlaid parquet organically complements the interior design.
Next to the dining room is the Theater Hall. Its architecture worthily continues the monumental theme begun by the composition of the façade. The main element of the hall is a row of high pilasters of the Corinthian order. Their orange-red faux marble cladding stands out against the gleaming ivory marble walls. Between the pilasters there are doors framed by strict platbands decorated with reliefs with images of griffins. The plot of the ceiling painting is suggested by the purpose of the hall: in the center of the ceiling in an octagonal frame there is an artistically executed quadriga of Apollo, the god of beauty, patron of the arts, rushing through the clouds. The ceiling is surrounded by a frieze with images of putti supporting garlands. When creating the Theater Hall, the masters I. A. Bodaninsky, who painted the ceiling, and B. I. Yakovlev, who created its sculptural decor, worked together with Fomin.
After the revolution, from 1917 to 1922, the building housed the Department of the Petrograd Criminal Investigation Department, and until 1926 - the Pushkin House. In 1933, the Committee on Physical Education and Sports of the Leningrad City Executive Committee was located in the mansion. For an unknown reason in Soviet time the vases from the roof parapet were removed.
Nab. R. Moiki, 23
The development of the banks of the Moika River, which had taken shape at the beginning of the 20th century, in the place where Abamelek-Lazarev’s house is now located, was not distinguished by great architectural merits. Along with old mansions, not so much beautiful as attractive precisely because of their “antiqueness,” there were also faceless buildings of the second half of the 19th century, and in some places huge apartment buildings were already towering. The four-story house of Prince S.S. with small apartments. Abamelek-Lazareva was not much different from them. The prince planned to build a new, more respectable building with spacious halls, a large dining room and, of course, a theater hall. The old house was dismantled, and the architect I.A. was invited to develop the project and build a new one at the beginning of 1913. Fomin. The complexity of the task facing the architect lay in the limited space. There were already houses on both sides, and the new one had to fit into their row. The location of the building in the city center, not far from Palace and Konyushennaya squares, also imposed certain “obligations.” Fomin successfully dealt with this, managing to give the house a monumental feel, despite its relatively small size.
The basis of the composition of the facade is a clear structure of pilasters of the Corinthian order, rising to the height of all three floors. The pilasters are placed on a low granite-lined plinth. They support a massive entablature, completed above the cornice by a blank parapet. The facade has a sense of calm grandeur, inherent in the best buildings in the classicist style. On the roof, on the pedestals of the parapet, which echoes the granite parapet of the embankment, vases were installed. Thanks to the clarity of the design and large forms, the façade of the house immediately attracts attention. It is the palace building that creates the impression of completeness of the space surrounding one of the main squares of St. Petersburg - Palace Square. Fomin managed to introduce a note of refined aristocracy into the architecture of the mansion, in tune with the nearby Winter and Marble Palaces. But the facade is only a small part of the building, during the design and construction of which the architect Fomin showed excellent knowledge of classical architecture and a remarkable ability to solve complex planning problems. The ceremonial interiors of the house also give the impression of grandiose and majestic palace halls. It's hard to believe that they were created within the walls of a small city mansion.
The composition of the interiors begins with the lobby - a small, rectangular room located in the left half of the building. The entire perimeter of the lobby is surrounded by columns and pilasters of the Doric order, lined with dark yellow artificial marble. The proportions of the order are deliberately weighted, and thanks to this the colonnade, whose height is not much greater than human height, is perceived as a monumental structure. In contrast to the lobby, the adjacent grand staircase appears especially light and airy. The staircase is successfully integrated into a high, well-lit room, covered with a coffered vault. From the top of the stairs you can get to the Great Dining Room of the mansion, which has three huge windows overlooking the embankment. The dining room is decorated festively, brightly, it is distinguished by the integrity of the volumetric solution and the luxury of decorative finishing. The center of the composition here is a loggia with choirs for musicians. It is separated from the entire room by two pairs of tall columns of the Ionic order, lined with deep black artificial marble with large dark red and greenish-brown splashes. The columns contrast with the delicate light green tone of the walls, against which white architectural details and white doors with gilded relief decorations stand out brightly. In the center of each of the side walls of the dining room, in an arched frame with columns of the Corinthian order on the sides, there were picturesque panels. The flat ceiling, which turns at the edges into a plastically curved arch, is also decorated with decorative ornamental painting; its surface is divided into diamond-shaped caissons with the finest rosettes in pattern. Other sculptural details also create a sense of artistic richness: the complex carving of the cornice, the graceful brackets of the sandriks above the doors, the softly sculpted reliefs in round medallions. Wonderful inlaid parquet organically complements the interior design.
Next to the dining room is the Theater Hall. Its architecture worthily continues the monumental theme begun by the composition of the façade. The main element of the hall is a row of high pilasters of the Corinthian order. Their orange-red faux marble cladding stands out against the gleaming ivory marble walls. Between the pilasters there are doors framed by strict platbands decorated with reliefs with images of griffins. The plot of the ceiling painting is suggested by the purpose of the hall: in the center of the ceiling in an octagonal frame there is an artistically executed quadriga of Apollo, the god of beauty, patron of the arts, rushing through the clouds. The ceiling is surrounded by a frieze with images of putti supporting garlands. When creating the Theater Hall, masters I.A. worked together with Fomin. Bodaninsky, who painted the lampshade, and B.I. Yakovlev, who created its sculptural decoration.
After the revolution, from 1917 to 1922, the building housed the Department of the Petrograd Criminal Investigation Department, and until 1926 - the Pushkin House. In 1933, the Committee on Physical Education and Sports of the Leningrad City Executive Committee was located in the mansion. For some unknown reason, during Soviet times, the vases were removed from the roof parapet.
Moika River Embankment, 23
Yulia Chesnokova, correspondent:Today we are going to visit the Sports Committee. But it’s not the hockey rinks and sports fields that interest us, but the historical interiors where Olympians are awarded and meetings are held. I am sure that on Millionnaya Street they simply cannot be anything other than luxurious.
Elena Popova-Yatskevich,Thanks to the program Open City“You and I can get into one of the oldest mansions. They wrote about him in the 19th century. These were legends. Well, first of all, our 4 columns at the entrance were extremely popular. People came in carriages to look at them, as if they were the first columns in a private house.
Legends have always shrouded Millionnaya. In imperial St. Petersburg, this is the real center of the aristocracy. Apraksins and Sheremetyevs, Yusupovs and Baryatinskys. Like most of its neighbors, plot No. 22 on Millionnaya Street has been replaced by dozens of brilliant owners in its lifetime. The last name is prince Semyon Semyonovich Abamelek-Lazarev still wears the building today.
Elena Popova-Yatskevich,tour guide of the Open City project:Why Prince Abamelek-Lazarev? Firstly, double surnames in Russia were given only at the behest of the emperor. Secondly, what are Abamelek-Lazarevs? The surname is non-Russian. And so it turned out. The Lazarevs are descendants of Armenians who were evicted to the territory of Persia in the 17th century.
Now, like a hundred years ago, the main thing that amazes guests of the palace is its well-preserved interiors.
Yulia Chesnokova, correspondent:In a series of ceremonial halls, tourists unnoticed find themselves completely no longer on Millionnaya. The fact is that the Abamelek-Lazarev mansion, like a real Russian nesting doll, inside consists of four buildings at once. From the balcony of this, for example, there is a wonderful view of the Moika River.
Elena Popova-Yatskevich,tour guide of the Open City project:The complex of houses consists of interesting buildings, because one of them is a copy of the house on Nevsky Prospekt - if you look at the Armenian Church, the right house - house 40 - is the family nest of the Lazarevs.
Semyon Semyonovich Abamelek-Lazarev was forced to leave the family nest after the death of his father. The old prince bequeathed the building to the Armenian Church. The younger Lazarev moves to a mansion on Millionnaya, acquiring with it the neighboring plot on the Moika. At this place, a house is being built for him, exactly like the one on Nevsky Prospekt.
Yulia Chesnokova, correspondent:We find ourselves in the most modern building of the palace. This address is Moika River embankment, 23. It was built in 1914. And this was officially the last mansion erected in pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg. From the Theater Hall, where only a couple of productions were staged, we find ourselves in the most beautiful space - a large banquet hall. Its area is 200 sq. m.
Now receptions are held here in honor of St. Petersburg Olympians. The Committee on Physical Culture and Sports has owned the mansion on Millionnaya for almost 90 years. Now not only officials, but also everyone can see its beauty. You can sign up for free public tours of the building on the Open City project website.