What do the historical mansions that Smolny occupies look like? Excursion to the mansion of the Abamelek-Lazarevs The mansion of the Abamelek Lazarevs at the car wash

Residents of Petrograd are well aware of the original facade of the two-story house located on Millionnaya, now around the corner of Moshkov Lane. Against the background of dark brown walls, a portico with columns of dark gray marble, apparently Greek cippolino, from the island of Euboea, stands out beautifully. The history of this old house, numbered 22 Millionnaya, is as follows. It was built in the thirties of the eighteenth century and belonged to General Biron, the brother of the famous temporary worker Anna Ioannovna, then passed into the hands of Count Apraksin, who owned it until 1794. The next owners were successively Count Kochubey and Prince Kurakin. From 1822 to 1874, the house was owned by Potemkin, who was the governor of Petrograd, leader of the nobility and husband of a much more famous figure than himself for his influence at court, his kindness and participation in the affairs of the church and the charity of Tatyana Borisovna Potemkina, born Princess Golitsyna. From 1874 to 1903, the house was owned by the famous statesman Count Nikolai Pavlovich Ignatiev and, finally, in 1903 it was acquired by the current owner.

The current Prince Abamelek-Lazarev grew up in the house of the Armenian Church on Nevsky. According to childhood memories, this house was so dear to the prince that when he decided to add a new spacious house along the Moika to his mansion on Millionnaya, in this new house he reproduced an exact copy of the two halls of the old Armenian house of the architect Felten and gave the facade of this house (Moika , 21) view similar to the house of the Armenian church on Nevsky, 40. Moreover, the prince moved six figured stoves and doors from the house on Nevsky to the newly built house on the Moika. The copy of these two rooms turned out to be perfect and accurate. Two of these ovens are monumental and imitate the famous monument of Lysicrates in Athens.

Now both houses are connected into one in such a way that an uninitiated person would never guess that these are two completely different, interconnected houses.

The main attraction of the old Bironovsky house is the magnificent entrance hall and staircase. The steps wind boldly and easily upward, from the last platform, decorated with a huge mirror, diverging in different directions. A beautiful, light semicircular ceiling gives this entire staircase greater elegance and style. On the platforms there are huge white and gold floor lamps, painted by Rossi for the Mikhailovsky Palace. What is now the Museum of Emperor Alexander III. Straight from the stairs you find yourself in a large white hall with beautiful stucco work in delicate tones. Here, as throughout the house, there is excellent parquet flooring. To the right and left of this hall with windows facing the million square 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 colossal Tomir candelabra, more than the height of a man, rise from the floor. On the walls are two huge tapestries representing the history of Tamerlane and Bayazet, executed in the 17th century. in Brussels.

The old house ends with a long white dining room and then you move into the new construction. The connection is an original oval passage, in which are placed four charming oil paintings depicting four young women by Bode, a student of Van Loo. Bode painted Sansouci for Frederick the Great. Adjacent to the new Felten-style house, the home theater building was built in the last two years according to the plan of the architect A. I. Fomin. Both the residential building from the Moika and the theater hall facing the Moika have two separate entrances from this embankment.

The site (on which the houses of the Moika river embankment, 21-23 - Millionnaya street, 22-24 are now located) with the buildings located here was acquired by Prince Abamelek-Lazar in 1911.

Semyon Semenovich Abamelek-Lazarev (1851-1916) - Prince Abamelek - a major Russian industrialist of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. He was the owner of the Chermoz private mining district, the heir and last representative of the industrial family of the Lazarevs and the Abamelek-Lazarev princes. By the beginning of the First World War, he was one of the richest people in Russia. Honorary guardian of the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages ​​and chairman of the Council of Moscow Armenian Churches. Horseman of the court E. I. V. Amateur archaeologist (participant archaeological excavations in Syria), author of numerous essays on various topics.

In 1913, construction of the mansion began. The prince chose the popular, young architect Ivan Fomin as the author of the project. Construction of the mansion took place from 1913 to 1914. The complex of adjacent buildings was rebuilt, and house number 23 on the Moika embankment was rebuilt on the site of the demolished building.

Previously, this place housed the houses of F. A. Apraksin, built in the 1730s and rebuilt in the 1770s and 1830s. The author of these buildings is unknown.

It is worth noting that the buildings at the address: emb. R. Moiki 21 - st. Millionnaya, 22 was rebuilt in 1907-1913 by the architect E. S. Vorotilov.

Until 1910, S. S. Abamelek-Lazarev lived in the house of the Armenian Church at 40 Nevsky Prospekt, then moved to his own house on the embankment. R. Moiki, 21-23 - Millionnaya St., 22-24.

In 1914, Prince Abamelek-Lazarev also bought two adjacent houses on the embankment. R. Moiki 25 - st. Millionnaya, 26. The entire complex of three buildings was estimated at 1.4 million rubles.

In addition to the mansion, Prince S.S. Abamelek-Lazarev owned apartment buildings on: st. Italianskaya, 11, st. Borovoy, 5, st. Mokhovaya, 17, st. Nikolaevskaya (now Marata), 55, st. Sergievskaya (now Tchaikovsky), 77.

After the revolution of 1917, the mansion of Prince Abamelek-Lazarev was nationalized. The Spanish Embassy was located here, then the Criminal Investigation Department. Later, the complex of buildings was transferred to house the House of Masters of Sports.

Architecture

The façade on the Moika side is a striking example of neoclassical architecture. Architect Ivan Fomin reflected in the strict design of the facade his passion for the work of the 16th century Italian architect Andrea Palladio, using the so-called colossal order (Corinthian well-drawn pilasters rise to the height of two floors). The graceful medallions above the second floor windows are noteworthy.

The interiors of the mansion, also designed in a neoclassical style, are of particular interest: the lobby with columns and pilasters of heavy proportions, the dining room with Ionic columns made of artificial marble and the theater hall with Corinthian pilasters. The halls have picturesque lampshades and finely profiled frames of carved doors.

Literature and sources

1. Architectural Guide in Leningrad. A. A. Borovkov and others. Moscow: Stroyizdat, 1971. - P. 118.

The doors of the attractions were opened in honor International Day protection of monuments and historical places.

April 18, International Day world heritage, the doors of architectural monuments should be open to guests, no matter who lives in them. How showed Karpovka survey, few St. Petersburg residents are aware of their right to explore usually closed attractions. This was decided to be corrected by the Commissioner for Human Rights in St. Petersburg, Alexander Shishlov, who organized a “Cult Walk” - a tour of two ancient buildings. On ordinary days, the Abamelek-Lazarev mansion and the House of the Salamandra residential insurance company are inaccessible to townspeople - they are home to three Smolny committees. “Karpovka” visited the architectural monuments and found out what was left of the owners from the century before last and in what conditions three city departments work.

Abamelek-Lazarev mansion

Where: Millionnaya, 22
Occupies: committee on physical culture and sports of St. Petersburg

The first owner of the mansion on the future Millionnaya, and then Nemetskaya, street was the brother of the famous Admiral General Count Apraksin.

Main staircase

After the death of the new owner, a long series of changes in owners of plots and houses began. The building was rebuilt several times to suit new architectural tastes or for utilitarian reasons. The last owners were the princes Abamelek-Lazarev.

This family was fabulously rich. They inherited a huge fortune from the Georgian kings and Italian princes. In addition, Semyon Semenovich Abamelek-Lazarev, the owner of the house, owned a Perm estate - a site in the Urals with huge metal deposits and metallurgical plants.

Even before purchasing the mansion on Millionnaya, the Abamelek-Lazarev family owned villas in Rome, Florence, and a mansion in Nizhny Novgorod and a house on Nevsky Prospekt, 40, next to the Armenian Church. The last building was supposed to go to the Armenian community after the death of Semyon Semenovich’s father, so his son had to buy a mansion near Palace Square. But the entrepreneur was in no hurry to finally part with his rich nest.

The house on Nevsky was filled with numerous treasures and works of art. When Semyon Semenovich moved to Millionnaya, he asked the council of the Armenian church for permission to take some items in memory of the family. Having received it, the prince transported parquet floors, doors, window frames, stoves, molded cornices, as well as most of the paintings, sculpture and mirrors.

Egyptian Hall. The film Aesop (1981) was filmed here.

When he was forcibly stopped, the new resident demanded that during the restructuring, exact copies of some rooms of the house on Nevsky be built in the mansion on Millionnaya. At the request of Semyon Semenovich, a home theater was built in the house. It was completed in 1915, so they only managed to use it a few times.

Home theater

The interiors have been preserved in a very “budget” version. At the time of the revolution, the situation was much richer. The very rich art collection that the Abamelek-Lazarev princes had also disappeared. What remains from the previous owners is parquet in some rooms, several oak doors, a couple of chairs and a table.

Door from the main hall to the theater

Semyon Semyonovich died suddenly in Kislovodsk five months before Nicholas II abdicated the throne. The widow Maria Pavlovna emigrated and lived abroad until 1958.

Main Hall

After 1917, the house passed from one organization to another. Here lived a successful dental institute with the largest specialized museum in the country. In 1924, the money to maintain the institution ran out and it was closed. The mansion became the central home of physical education workers in 1927, and since 1933 the Committee on Physical Culture and Sports moved in here, which still lives there.

House of the residential insurance company "Salamander"

Where: Karavannaya, 9
Occupy: improvement committee and development committee transport infrastructure

Courtyard

The apartment building was built in 1906–1911. The project was developed by the architect Pel, who died just at the beginning of construction. For more than a hundred years, there are practically no “greetings” from the past left in the building. The entire house is divided into small parts that are protected or have no value for generations. Several staircases, mosaics on the floor, a bay window on the second floor and an arch with cross vaults in the courtyard have been preserved. The rest of the space was swallowed up by “European-quality renovation” of beige walls, tiles and plastic windows.

Guests are invited to take the main staircase, one of the local attractions. On the front landings, the floor is covered with mosaic tiles - also a subject of protection. The main pride of the improvement committee is the metal staircase, which was cast at the famous San Galli iron foundry. Officials regularly use it to climb to the sixth floor: there is no elevator in this part of the building. The building also has a spiral metal staircase, which also looks alien in office interiors.

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In the part of the house occupied by the Committee for the Development of Transport Infrastructure, the wealth is also small: the facade, the entrance porch, the balcony, the cross-vaulted ceiling, the flights of stairs with metal railings painted green. Not a single department premises is guarded - nothing remains here from the last century.

P.S.

In 2014, CJSC VTB Development opened the first two business centers of the Nevskaya Ratusha complex. Initially, it was planned that all Smolny committees would move to its main building on the corner of Novgorodskaya Street and Degtyarny Lane. The historical buildings abandoned by officials wanted to be sold at auction.

After Georgy Poltavchenko arrived at Smolny, the fate of the project was in question. There were proposals to adapt the Nevsky Town Hall for other needs, in particular, for the Palace of Youth Creativity or for officials of the Leningrad Region.

At the end of September 2012, the acting chairman of the committee for investments and strategic projects, Oleg Lyskov, announced that the idea of ​​moving some of the Smolny committees to the Nevsky Town Hall was again being considered. The official added that there is already a preliminary list of committees that should be transferred first, since their buildings can be sold the fastest. By selling the old space, it was planned to buy space in the new building from VTB Development.

Ksenia Nesterova

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, the leader of a number of other government agencies. 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 Prospekt 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 vestibule and staircase. The steps wind boldly and easily to the top, from the front platform, decorated with a huge mirror, diverging in different directions. The beautiful light ceiling in a semicircle gives this entire staircase great elegance and style. On the landings there are huge white and gold floor lamps painted by Rossi for the Mikhailovsky Palace. Right from the stairs you enter a large hall with beautiful stucco work in delicate tones. Here, as in the whole house, there is excellent parquet flooring to the right and left of this hall, with windows facing Millionnaya. there is a series of living rooms, ending on one side with a corner bedroom and on the other with a large living room with magnificent Flemish tapestries on the walls. In all the rooms you will find excellent antique bronze, marble, porcelain, family portraits by famous artists. In the hall there are more than four towering floors. human-sized bronze candelabra of Tomir. 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 on Physical Culture and Sports began working here.

The development of the banks of the Moika River, which took 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 decided 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 Dvortsovaya 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 rim of the lampshade 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 an unknown reason in Soviet time the vases from the roof parapet were removed.

Moika River Embankment, 23