National Hotel building. The unique history of the National National Tverskaya Hotel
The hotel doors opened for guests on January 1, 1903. The original name of the hotel was “National”. According to the creators, the hotel was intended to receive and serve high-ranking foreign guests and representatives of the Russian state and military elite.
The architecture of the constructed building combined features of the Renaissance and classicism with decorative motifs of modernism. The facade of the building was designed in the style of classicism.
The interior of the hotel lobby was particularly splendid with the main accent in the form main staircase, which has a unique design for the beginning of the 20th century. To this day, white marble with stucco gilded decorations, metal railings and a harmonious mosaic of unique stained glass windows on the main staircase attracts many admiring glances from the guests of the National.
In 1905, a metal canopy with griffins, streamers, monograms and a sign with the hotel’s opening date – 1903 – was built over the main entrance to the hotel. Long time There was a legend that exactly the same canopy, installed in the middle part of the facade of the building on Tverskaya Street when opened, was destroyed by a grenade explosion during the revolutionary events in October 1917. However, photographs and documentary evidence of this legend have not yet been found.
In 1903, the National Hotel had one hundred and sixty rooms, among which the most expensive and luxuriously decorated were the apartments on the third floor of the hotel. Number 101, until 1917 called the "Louis XVI Drawing Room" and number 115, called the "Louis XV Drawing Room". To this day we can admire the elements of the original interior decoration of the unique rooms: the artistic ceiling painting in room 115 and the fireplace lined with white marble with a metal grate in room 101. The apartments were intended to accommodate high-ranking guests: governors, foreign diplomats and members of the royal families of Europe . Currently, these rooms are called the National Suites and serve as the real pride of the hotel.
In 1903, the cost of hotel accommodation ranged from 1 ruble 50 kopecks to 25 rubles per day. For comparison, at the beginning of the 20th century, zemstvo teachers and doctors received a salary of 10 - 15 rubles, which was a good income.
“National” valued its reputation very much. People were hired for the service only with a written recommendation from staff already working at the hotel. Each employee valued his place, since being on the staff of such a hotel was very prestigious and profitable.
The main category of hotel guests from 1903 to 1917 were representatives of the Russian government. More than one thousand high-ranking officials stayed at the National Hotel. We can confidently say that the history of hotel guests is a chronicle of the last decade Russian Empire in faces.
In 1913, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, grandson of Emperor Nicholas I, uncle of the last Russian emperor, Nicholas II, lived in “National”.
At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 228 hotels in Moscow, and 10 of them were located on Tverskaya Street, next to the National Hotel. In addition to the latter, the Dresden, Loskutnaya, Paris and Bolshaya Moskovskaya hotels were especially popular among visitors. However, all of the listed hotels were built back in the 19th century and could not compare with the “National” in terms of equipment and variety of services, which could truly be proud of technical innovations that were unusual for the beginning of the 20th century - elevators, complex ventilation devices, advanced heating systems, telephone communication and taxi service, etc.
From 1903 to 1910, a series of postcards featuring the "National" was issued.
The hotel owners are especially proud business card hotel has always had its restaurant, which pleasantly surprised guests with the variety and intricacy of the menu, especially Russian dishes national cuisine. The pinnacle of culinary art was, for example, the festive dinner menu of the early 20th century. The list of appetizers alone is amazing: there are oysters, broth, borscht, royal jelly, butter pigs, various kulebyaki, game pates with truffles, Gatchina trout, Siberian nelma, Vistula salmon, and sturgeon Kuchugurskaya, and roast beef, and ham, and veal, and corned beef, and Nizhyn cucumbers, and turkey, as well as capons, Caucasian pheasants, Siberian hazel grouse and various salads!
Not only ministers, officials and diplomats preferred to stay at the National Hotel. Among the hotel guests there were many artists - the famous Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, the French writer Anatole France, the English writer Herbert Wells. In 1903, one of the most famous guests of the National was the author of the now world-famous “Flight of the Bumblebee,” the outstanding Russian composer Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov.
In 1910, the British Club opened on the second floor of the hotel, to the left of the main staircase in the recreation rooms.
On the third floor, in the current room 177, there used to be a reading room. The reading room offered guests a large library, the latest newspapers and magazines.
You can find out the further history of the National on the official website of the hotel: http://www.national.ru/ru/ru-hotel-history
Hotel "National" - one of the most famous and comfortable hotels in Moscow (5-star class), located on the corner of Tverskaya and Mokhovaya streets.
The hotel was built in 1901-1903 according to the design of the architect Alexander Ivanov on the site of a block of apartment buildings with cheap apartments, the first floors of which were given over to shops. The corner protrusion of the block had a semicircular shape: this was typical of Moscow architecture of the 18th and 19th centuries. During the construction of the hotel, the shape of the quarter was taken into account and preserved: the construction project provided for the preservation of the general features of the appearance of the previous building, including the semicircular corner.
The building of the National Hotel was built in the eclectic style, borrowing elements of Art Nouveau. Initially conceived as a world-class hotel, the National Hotel was decorated with the highest quality and most expensive materials and received a rich decorative design, replete with stucco and sculptures. The corner ledge received a solemn and luxurious appearance: it was decorated with a decorative colonnade and caryatids, and on the attic a majolica panel “Apollo and the Muses” appeared, made according to sketches by artists Sergei Chekhonin and Alexander Golovin at the Moscow Butyrka ceramic factory “Abramtsevo” by Savva Mamontov. The border with an ornament in the form of oak leaves that completes the 5th floor of the building also attracts attention.
The interior design of the hotel is not inferior to the exterior: marble stairs, figures of Atlases, mosaic floors and stained glass windows made the hotel interiors truly luxurious. The decoration was echoed by the equipment - the hotel was equipped with the latest technology: elevators were installed in the building (an incredible luxury at the beginning of the 20th century) and a steam heating system, and telephones appeared in the rooms.
In 1918, the building was occupied by government structures of the established Soviet power, and the hotel ceased operation for 15 years, turning into First House of Soviets. In 1931-1932, as part of Lenin’s program of monumental propaganda, the majolica panel “Apollo and the Muses” on the corner attic was replaced with panels with an industrial theme. In 1932, the building again became a hotel.
In 1991-1995, the National Hotel underwent reconstruction and restoration, as a result of which some lost elements of the pre-revolutionary interiors were restored, and an indoor restaurant was equipped in the courtyard-well of the building.
Initially the hotel had 160 rooms, now their number has increased to 206. different years members of the imperial family, Vladimir Lenin, Fyodor Chaliapin, Ivan Bunin, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Catherine Deneuve, Pele, Alain Delon, Joseph Stalin, Mikhail Sholokhov, Nicolas Sarkozy and other famous people lived in them.
Hotel "National" located at Mokhovaya Street, 15/1. You can get to it on foot from metro stations "Okhotny Ryad" Sokolnicheskaya line and "Theatrical" Zamoskvoretskaya.
Of course, I didn’t stay at the National Hotel, but I happened to visit the National Restaurant, which is attached to the hotel, once, oddly enough, during my student years, in the early seventies. I remember the hall where the young man and I had dinner seemed too prim and the dinner too formal and boring. I felt uncomfortable there. But at that moment I was just interested in visiting the famous restaurant. I didn't want to go there anymore.
I am writing this to explain why my article about “National” did not fall into the category of advice related to the topics: “where to live” and “where to eat.”
I will write about the National Hotel as a place of artistic and historical value. Information taken from the hotel website.
The National Hotel in Moscow was built in 1903 according to the design of the architect Alexander Ivanov. The luxurious hotel building is created in an eclectic style with modern elements. The hotel is more like a museum. It is decorated with natural stone and stucco, marble and stained glass windows. Mosaic floor. Already at that time the hotel was equipped with elevators, a ventilation system, and telephone communications.
The original name of the hotel was “National”. According to the creators, the hotel was intended to receive and serve high-ranking foreign guests and representatives of the Russian state and military elite.
In 1903, the National had one hundred and sixty rooms, among which the most expensive and luxuriously decorated were the apartments on the third floor of the hotel: room 101, until 1917 called the “Louis XVI Drawing Room” and room 115, called the “Louis XV Drawing Room”.
In 1903, the cost of hotel accommodation ranged from 1 ruble 50 kopecks to 25 rubles per day. For comparison, at the beginning of the 20th century, zemstvo teachers and doctors received a salary of 10 - 15 rubles, which was a good income.
Not only ministers, officials and diplomats preferred to stay at the National Hotel. Among the hotel guests there were many artists - the famous Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, the French writer Anatole France, the English writer Herbert Wells. In 1903, one of the most famous guests of the National was the outstanding Russian composer Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov.
The October Revolution of 1917 fatally changed the fate of the National. In 1918, the Soviet government moved from St. Petersburg to Moscow, and while the Government was hastily putting in order the premises in the Kremlin, which had been damaged by artillery shelling during street battles, the National Hotel became a temporary refuge for Lenin, Krupskaya, Dzerzhinsky, Trotsky , Sverdlov and other representatives of the communist elite. Lenin and Krupskaya lived for 7 days in room 107.
After the Soviet government moved to the Kremlin, the hotel began to be called in the spirit of the revolutionary times, in a new way - “National”, the First House of Soviets.
Major renovations of the hotel continued from July 1, 1931 to December 31, 1932. The equipment of the newly opened hotel rooms of the National was carried out from the reserve fund created after the October Revolution as a result of the “disbandment” of estates and palaces. Among the interior decoration items at the National were furniture and works of art, including from the Tsarskoye Selo and Anichkov palaces.
A new large-scale canvas with an area of 120 square meters, placed by 1932 on the facade of the newly opened National, depicted an industrial landscape - power towers, factory pipes and tractors - everything that, according to the ideologists of Soviet art of the 1930s, better reflected the spirit of the times than the original antique plot in the spirit of fashion trends late XIX the beginning of the 20th century.
From 1991 to 1995, a large-scale reconstruction was carried out at the National. On May 9, 1995, the National Hotel reopened its doors to guests under the Le Meridien brand, one of the largest hotel brands representing five-star hotels around the world.
On September 1, 2009, the National Hotel became the first and only hotel in Russia of The Luxury Collection chain, leaving the Le Meridien brand, also owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts.
The Luxury Collection has more than 60 hotels around the world. All of them are exclusive hotels with a unique history and architecture, the highest level of service for the most discerning and respectable guests.
Today, among the guests of “National” there are still leaders of states and prominent politicians, public figures and scientists, businessmen and writers, actors and musicians, therefore “National” is still at the center of social, political and cultural life countries and the world, receiving the heads of state of the G8, guests of the Moscow International Film Festival, etc.
👁 Do we book the hotel through booking as always? In the world, not only Booking exists (🙈 for a huge percentage of hotels - we pay!) I have been practicing Rumguru for a long time, it’s really more profitable 💰💰 than Booking.
03 In the 19th century, the Varvara Joint Stock Company of Homeowners bought a corner plot for new development - soon several houses with cheap apartments appeared here, the first floors of which were given over to shops.
04 At the same time, the designers gave the corner protrusion of the main building a semicircular shape, characteristic of Moscow architecture of the late 18th century. 
05 In 1901, the new owners began construction of a luxury hotel designed by architect A.V. Ivanov. 
06 The new architectural project provided for the preservation in general terms of the appearance of the previous building (apartment house by architect L.N. Benois), including the semicircular corner. 
07 The building of the National Hotel, opened in 1903, is designed in an eclectic style with Art Nouveau elements. 
08 National was originally conceived as a world-class luxury hotel. Expensive materials were used in the decoration. 
09 Exterior decoration marked by use large quantity stucco moldings; Mosaic floors and stained glass windows were used in the interiors. 
10 The hotel was equipped with advanced technical innovations of the time: elevators were installed, and telephones, water closets and baths appeared in the rooms 
11 In 1918, after the Soviet government moved to Moscow, the hotel building was occupied by government units of the new government (and occupied it for the next 15 years); The hotel was named the First House of Soviets. 
12 For several days in March 1918, the head of the Soviet state V.I. Lenin lived with his wife N.K. Krupskaya and sister M.I. Ulyanova in two-room number 107-109. 
13 In 1932, the building was returned to hotel status. 
14 In 1985, the reconstruction and restoration of the National began. 
15 The restoration continued until 1995, during which time the decoration of the National was restored down to the smallest detail. 
16 The newly opened hotel was awarded highest category- 5 stars, and at the same time classified as a historical and cultural monument federal significance.
17 Since 1995, the second life of the hotel began: some of the rooms were furnished with antiques, new service- accommodation in a room with interiors from the early 20th century. 
18 Now the hotel is part of the elite hotel system Le Meridien, which has awarded the National the status of a royal hotel. 
19 At the same time, the hotel still remains a hotel-museum, where even the top officials of states get lost. 
21 Over the years, H. Wells, W. Churchill, Kofi Annan, Javier Solana, Swedish Princess Brigid, Prince Michael of Kent, Placido Domingo, Mireille Mathieu, Pierre Richard and many, many others lived here, whose portraits hang in the gallery on the second floor hotels. 
22 However, not only celebrities and millionaires stay at the National. This hotel is chosen by participants of various festivals, foreign businessmen and tourists, executives large companies, and other VIPs. 
23 The exhibition with historical photographs of the hotel over the years is wonderful 
27 The National Hotel has 11 banquet halls with magnificent decor and a capacity of 6 to 150 people. Here you can not only hold an official meeting at the highest level, but also simply relax in the company of old friends. Conference room equipped with a full set of necessary equipment. 
28 Restaurant "Moskovsky" - famous for excellent Russian cuisine performed by the famous chef Vyacheslav Brylov. The windows offer a unique view of the Kremlin and Manezhnaya Square. In the evenings there is live Russian music. 
29 “National” invites you to spend an unforgettable gastronomic journey in the “Moskovsky” restaurant, from the windows of which an amazing view of the Kremlin opens. 
30 Piano music in the evenings and the enchanting lights of the Kremlin architectural ensemble will set the right mood and romantic date, and business meeting. 
31 At the Moskovsky restaurant, guests can enjoy traditional dishes Russian cuisine (Sterlet “Tsarskaya”, Sturgeon in monastic style, Breast of feeding goose, Roast wild boar in Streltsy style), as well as a rich assortment of dishes of European cuisine. 
32 Reviving the best culinary traditions of the centuries-old history of the National, the chef of the Moskovsky restaurant, Andre Martin, created a menu of original Russian noble cuisine. 
33 The ceiling paintings are impressive 
40 It was while “relaxing” in the hotel restaurant on the ground floor that the artist Andrei Ioganson came up with the label for Stolichnaya vodka. It depicts the Moscow Hotel, exactly from the angle that the artist saw from his place. The label is interesting from a marketing “point of view” in that since its creation (approximately 1937-1938) it has remained virtually unchanged. 
42 The National has 201 rooms, including 56 suites. In 2009, a comprehensive reconstruction and renovation of the hotel was completed, during which the area of living rooms and bathrooms was increased, dressing rooms were added, and the latest technical solutions were introduced. 
43 Suite Classic: Spacious two-room suites with living rooms and cozy bedrooms. The interior design of the “Classic” suites uses antiques of museum value: furniture, musical instruments, floor lamps and lamps made of Bohemian glass - all this gives rise to a unique, inimitable style of each room. The marble bathrooms are equipped with hydromassage baths. 
44 More than thirty suites have scenic view to the Kremlin and Red Square. 
45 Presidential Suite: Luxurious three-room suites with panoramic views of the Kremlin and Tverskaya Street, consisting of a living room, a bedroom and an office with a separate shower. Antique furniture and art pieces combined with outstanding interior design give these rooms a special charm. These rooms have marble bathrooms with a Jacuzzi. The Presidential Suites of the National were preferred by the Presidents of France Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac, the President of Switzerland Pascal Couchepin, the Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi, the King of Spain Juan Carlos, Princess Birgitta of the Kingdom of Sweden, Prince Michael of Kent and many others. 
50 The views from the windows of the National were not always so spectacular. Until the 1930s (before the clearing of Manezhnaya Square), from the restaurant window you could see the house opposite instead of Red Square.
Category of historical and cultural significance
Federal significance
Object type
Monument
Basic typology
Monument of urban planning and architecture
Creation date information
Facility address (location)
Moscow, st. Mokhovaya, 15/1, building 1 (part)
Name, date and number of the decision of the government authority to place the object under state protection
Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR On the addition and partial amendment of the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR dated August 30, 1960 No. 1327 “On further improvement of the protection of cultural monuments in the RSFSR” No. 624 dated 12/04/1974
Description of the subject of protection
Urban planning characteristics of the building involved in the formation of the development front of Tverskaya and Mokhovaya streets, Manezhnaya Square; volumetric-spatial composition of the main building as amended in 1901-1903; composition and architectural and artistic design of the facades of the main building as amended in 1901-1903; four small polychrome majolica panels 1901-1903. on the 6th floor level; majolica panel with an industrial theme from the 1920s. at the 7th floor level; composition and architectural and artistic design of the facades of the courtyard of the main building in the original edition of 1901-1903; composition and architectural and artistic design of a fragment of the southwestern firewall, decorated in 1934 according to the design of Academician I.V. Zholtovsky in connection with the construction of the “House on Mokhovaya” on the neighboring site; the original function of the hotel. Space-planning structure and structures of the main walls of the main and courtyard buildings, 1901 - 1903. (basement-7 floors); system of vaulted basement floors (the subject of protection of vaulted basement floors is specified based on the results of the design of the device). Initial architectural and artistic design and decoration of the interiors of the main building: window rollers and marble window sills; volumetric-spatial composition and decorative design of the main lobby of 1901-1903: stucco ceilings, a fragment of the floor made from the original Metlakh tiles; volumetric-spatial composition, decorative design and construction of the main staircase and elevator hall from Mokhovaya Street, 1901-1903. (1-6 floors): enclosing structures, stucco decoration of ceilings and walls, stained glass filling of window openings, fragment of the staircase floor (6th floor?), assembled from the original tiles, figures of Atlanteans, metal fencing of elevators n. XX century; volumetric-spatial composition and decorative design of the staircase from the side of Tverskaya Street of the former “Petukhov Brothers Ready-Made Dress and Fur Products Store”: figured enclosing structures; location and volumetric-spatial design of the service staircases of the main building (basement - 7 floors) and the courtyard building (basement - 5 floors); location and decorative design of corridors and halls of the 2-6 floors of the main building; premises of the modern hall "St. Petersburg": decorative design and painting of ceilings, original mirror and heating radiators (2nd floor, south-eastern corner of the main building); premises of modern banquet halls "Suzdal" and "Kostroma": ceiling painting 1975-1976. , made by artists I.V. Nikolaev and M.M. Dedova-Dzedushinskaya (2nd floor, northern corner of the main building); the original structure of the rooms located along the main facades (3-6 floors); hotel room 178 (3rd floor): original planning solution, decorative design of ceilings, stained glass; hotel room 101 (3rd floor): stucco ceiling decoration with paintings, corner fireplace; hotel room 107 (3rd floor): in 1918 V.I. stayed in the room. Lenin and N.K. Krupskaya; hotel room 115 (3rd floor): artistic ceiling painting "Triumph of Juno" 1902, stucco ceiling decor; hotel room 207 (4th floor): fragment of the picturesque composition painting “Bacchus on a wooden bicycle”, stucco ceiling decoration; hotel room 201 (4th floor): painted frieze with fantasy masks in gilded vignettes on a blue background. The commission proposes to clarify the name of the object in the following wording: “Hotel “National”, 1901-1903, architect A.V. Ivanov.” 2. Subject of protection at the facility cultural heritage of federal significance is approved in accordance with the established procedure.