Recently, I came across an advertisement for the sale of a huge apartment in a new building located at the very beginning of Strastnoy Boulevard. The living space occupied the entire last floor, and from special delights, a two-level storage room was attached to it. Despite the fact that the apartment itself is one-story. But I was interested not so much in the quirks of planning, but in the very fact of the presence of a new house in the place where, it would seem, the density of the existing building does not allow anything to be erected .. So where did the new building come from?
Recently, I came across an advertisement for the sale of a huge apartment in a new building located at the very beginning of Strastnoy Boulevard. The living space occupied the entire last floor, and from special delights, a two-level storage room was attached to it. Despite the fact that the apartment itself is one-story. But I was interested not so much in the quirks of planning, but in the very fact of the presence of a new house in the place where, it would seem, the density of the existing building does not allow anything to be built. So where did the new building come from?
How the son of a friend of Pushkin traded horses for development
The house mentioned in the ad is located. This corner of Moscow belonged to the ancient noble family of Gorchakovs since ancient times. The most famous of the Gorchakovs is Alexander Mikhailovich: the great Russian diplomat, privy councillor, minister of foreign affairs, chancellor of the Russian Empire, Pushkin's classmate at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum and his bosom friend. Or even more than a friend: three poems by the famous poet dedicated to Gorchakov, and several portraits made by his hand - is this not proof of a true, albeit restrained, friendship? Pushkin's best friends, Delvig and Pushchin, also sympathized with the future chancellor, and for good reason. Here, for example, is the story that happened at the very beginning of his career, immediately after the events on Senate Square in December 1825. In which he himself did not take part, unlike some of his comrades in the lyceum. Having found out what fate awaited the Decembrists, the next day after the uprising, Alexander Mikhailovich sought out Pushchin and offered him a foreign passport to flee to another state. Pushchin appreciated the act, but due to his convictions, he refused to accept help. The result was hard labor in the Chetinsky prison, which ended only in 1856.
Portrait of the future chancellor Alexander Gorchakov, made by Pushkin
But that is another story. As, in fact, the story about Alexander Mikhailovich is also different. Indeed, it is not the chancellor himself who is related to Strastnoy Boulevard, 4, but his son, Konstantin Alexandrovich, the master of the horse of His Imperial Majesty, who later received the title of lordship. The master of the horse is the head of the stable, in whose subordination were all the grooms, herds and all the estates where the royal horses were kept and bred. The latter is especially important for us, because, in fact, it means nothing more than real estate management, in which Konstantin Aleksandrovich became so good that he began to use these skills not only in the service. Hence the construction of an apartment building initiated by him on the same Strastnoy Boulevard. Hence his other "real estate transactions".
Ringmaster Konstantin Gorchakov
Here, for example, is an announcement that was published in September 1908 in the then popular newspaper Russkoye Slovo (the original spelling has been preserved). “Plots for summer cottages with a measure of about 600 square meters. sazhen are sold at a price of 1 to 2 r. sq. soot On the 27th verst (platform) of the Moscow-Brest railway. at the Vlasikha estate (former O. M. Wagau), the possession of His Serene Highness Prince Konstantin Aleksandrovich Gorchakov. The terrain is high, dry, sidewalks are arranged in the plots and driveways are highwayd. On the plots there is mixed forest up to 35 years old and 5 ponds for common use...”.
Translating into modern language, our hero organized a cottage settlement with a developed infrastructure on his own lands and sold plots in it without a contract. The village was located 13 km from the modern Moscow Ring Road (although a verst is almost equal to a kilometer, the pre-revolutionary suburban developer also counted not from the border of the city, but from the station), in a very status area both then and now - between the current Minsk and Rublevsky highways. The more striking are the prices (even adjusted for their pre-revolutionary origin). A square sazhen is approximately 4.55 square meters. m or 0.0455 acres. That is, plots located in a prestigious place cost from 22 to 44 rubles per hundred square meters. For comparison: in 1908, the average worker earned 20 rubles a month, and, for example, a titular adviser received 140 rubles. That is, the latter, in order to accumulate a plot of 27 acres (this is the equivalent of six hundred square sazhens), would take 5-9 months. Unless, of course, you do not take into account the current costs of living. And here is another information for comparison. Now, in the vicinity of Vlasikha, prices for plots are in the range of 0.65 - 1.2 million rubles per hundred square meters. Well, you can imagine the average level of current salaries.
How a temple architect designed a residential building
But let's return from the Moscow region to Moscow, to Strastnoy Boulevard at the very end of the 19th century. Profitable houses were then at the peak of popularity: each rented apartment, depending on its size and features of the house, monthly brought its owner from 3 to 50 rubles, or even more. It is not surprising that Konstantin Aleksandrovich was also interested in this business. He ordered the design of his apartment building, designed for fairly wealthy residents, to the architect Ivan Felitsianovich Meisner - to tell the truth, he was not treated with special glory. Much more famous is his brother, Alexander Felitsianovich, the personal architect of the Sheremetevs' house, who, as they write about him in modern classifications of architects, has "his own recognizable style."
However, Ivan Felitsianovich was not alien to his architectural style. Another thing is that he realized himself on such objects in which you can’t jump much beyond the canons of style. For example, according to his project in the village of Olgovo, Dmitrovsky district, Moscow region, the Church of the Presentation of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple, as well as the Church of Stefan Makhrishsky in the Trinity Stefanov Makhrishsky Monastery, in the Vladimir region, were built. Perhaps that is why, drawing the kennels of the future apartment building on Strastnoy Boulevard (and in fact - a complex of five buildings that occupied the entire block to Kozitsky Lane), he was rather restrained. The result was a six-story brick house with a symmetrical facade and a central arch for passage. The main architectural accent of the building is four two-column porticos of Corinthian columns, which cover the height of the floors from the third to the fifth and are united by a decorated cornice above the windows of the fifth floor. This is a prototype of the current bay windows, very popular in Russian architecture at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Stefan Makhrishsky Church in the Trinity Stefan Makhrishsky Monastery, designed by Ivan Meisner
The result is a simple and rather laconic back, not without its charm. True, six decades later, Yuri Fedosyuk, a popular Muscovite scholar in the Soviet years, in his guidebooks "The Boulevard Ring" spoke about this house not at all flattering. “It is worth going deep into the courtyard to see the typical capitalist principle of building this property: every square meter is used for housing - at the cost of depriving the residents of light, air, greenery,” he wrote. It is curious that the Muscovite discerned the “capitalist principle of development” at the very height of the era of building hyper-minimalism, so this judgment was clearly not without political overtones.
The courtyard of Gorchakov's tenement house, which surprised Muscovite Yuri Fedosyuk
How the profitable house brought the revolution closer
But that was later. And then, in 1899, the construction of the house was just starting, but already in 1991 the first tenants moved in here: actors, doctors, lawyers. In one of the apartments, for example, Clara Rosenberg, a well-known dentist in Moscow, settled. However, she became famous not only for her ability to skillfully put fillings and pull rotten teeth, but also for her loyalty to the Social Democrats. It was in this apartment that on October 8, 1902, representatives of this party met with Maxim Gorky, after which the writer decided to provide them with material support. The support consisted of financing the newspaper Iskra, created by Lenin in Germany. Later, after the October Revolution, when Gorky realized who and what he was helping, he was disappointed. But at the beginning of the century the situation was different for him.
Strastnoy Boulevard, photograph from the beginning of the 20th century (Gorchakov's apartment building in the background, Chizhov's mansion in the foreground)
In the same 1902, the well-known journalist and theater critic Vlas Mikhailovich Doroshevich rented an apartment in the house of Prince Gorchakov. The new profitable house came in handy for him: not far from Strastnoy Boulevard, in the outbuilding at 22 Petrovka, the editorial office of the Russkoye Slovo newspaper was located (the same one in which Gorchakov would place his advertisement for the sale of plots a few years later), where he was invited to work by the publisher Ivan Sytin. It is believed that with each of his publications in the Russian Word, Vlas Mikhailovich "brought the revolution closer." Although, perhaps, this is another delusion of another talented Russian person. “He is not one of those animals that fell into the ark,” Korney Chukovsky wrote about Doroshevich. - Of course, when the revolutionary flood began, he climbed a hillock, but did not go higher - and here he is a drowned man. Others - they begged Noah for a warm place, and they do not grieve that the even, hollow water has flooded all the fragrant gardens, all the flowering valleys, and that the lonely peak - Tolstoy - will soon be covered with smooth surface.
As a Passionate, he acquired 4 own Electrotheatre
The house on Strastnoy Boulevard became famous not only for its revolutionary sentiments. In the summer of 1905, a completely secular event took place here: the tradesman Karl Ivanovich Alksne opened a cinema for 50 spectators here, one of the first in Moscow. The owner called the establishment “Electrotheatre”, the audience on the posters was invariably addressed by “the most respectable audience”, inviting them to visit his “modest theater”, promised “really complete pleasure”, always signed with the words “Respectfully, Karl Ivanovich”. This “promotion concept” quickly bore fruit: Alksne soon became rich, and by April 1906 his establishment had moved to a neighboring house - Chizhov’s two-story mansion at the corner of Tverskaya and Strastnoy Boulevard, in which he equipped a more spacious cinema - already for 160 seats. So Strastnoy, 4 was left without a polite and resourceful tenant.
After the revolution, the same fate awaited the house, which befell many buildings in the city center: the old tenants were evicted, and the apartments turned into communal apartments. Then the communal apartments gradually became apartments again, and the house itself is still alive today. No one demolished it and no one is going to: although it was not given the status of an architectural monument, the rear one was included in the register of historically valuable ones. “So where is the new building?” - you ask. And nowhere. It's just that the owner of the apartment being sold made a mistake in terms and confused "new construction" with "overhaul". Some parts of the building were put in order by the new owners and tenants a few years ago. By the way, they now house as many as three hostels - relatively cheap small hotels. So the former apartment building partly returned to its original purpose. But that part of the house, where now mostly ordinary apartments are located, was thoroughly restored only last year, moreover, at the expense of the city budget allocated under the program “Major repairs and modernization of the housing stock”. Here is such a new building in 1901, the release turned out. However, next door, closer to Tverskaya, there is a real new building (or rather, a “long-term building”): a future hotel with underground parking, which is “assigned” to the address of ul. Tverskaya, vl.16/2, although the facade is turned towards Strastnoy. It was supposed to start functioning in 2005, but is still under construction. But that's definitely a different story.
A hotel is being built near the former apartment building of Gorchakov
Daria Kuznetsova, correspondent of the GdeEtoDom.RU portal
The Russian National Museum of Music is the largest treasury of musical culture monuments, which has no analogues in the world. A unique collection of musical and literary author's manuscripts, studies on the history of culture, rare books, musical editions are stored here. The funds of the Museum of Music include about a million exhibits. The branches contain autographs, letters, photographs and various documents related to the life and work of figures of Russian and foreign musical culture.
A special place is occupied by the collection of musical instruments of the peoples of the world. The funds of the Museum of Music include the State Collection of Unique Musical Instruments: the largest collection of stringed instruments by masters from different countries and eras, including masterpieces by A. Stradivari, the Guarneri and Amati families.
The fund of audio and video recordings has been expanded; in the collection of visual materials - masterpieces that could decorate the expositions of the world's best art museums - paintings by M. Vrubel, K. Korovin, V. Serov and other world-famous artists.
The Music Museum is an authoritative scientific center. Researchers carry out research work, search for unknown, forgotten or unidentified works, autographs, musical names.
The Russian National Museum of Music includes:
Museum of Music (Fadeev St., 4.)
Museum of S.S. Prokofiev (Kamergersky per., 6)
Memorial estate of F.I. Chaliapin (Novinsky Boulevard, 25–27)
Museum “P.I. Tchaikovsky and Moscow (Kudrinskaya sq., 46/54)
Museum-apartment of N.S. Golovanova (Bryusov lane, building 7, apt. 10)
Museum-apartment of A.B. Goldenweiser (Tverskaya st., 17, apt. 110)
Strastnoy boulevard
Strastnoy Boulevard got its name from the Strastnoy Convent standing near it. The boulevard, arranged at the beginning of the 19th century, stretched from Tverskaya Street to Petrovka in one alley. Since 1872, part of it between Bolshaya Dmitrovka and Petrovka entered the arranged Naryshkinsky square, and the boulevard remained only between Tverskaya street and Bolshaya Dmitrovka. In the 1930s, when Pushkinskaya Square was planned, it was destroyed, and Naryshkinsky Square was turned into a boulevard. Now Strastnoy Boulevard is called the boulevard and the driveways on both sides of it.
In the 18th century, part of the free square at the Petrovsky Gates was occupied by a garden in front of the house of the Gagarins (now a clinical hospital). In the middle part of the square, opposite Bolshaya Dmitrovka, Sennaya Square was built, where they sold hay, firewood, charcoal, etc.
Sennaya and part of the square to Petrovka, occupied since the 1830s no longer by the garden, but by the front gardens of the Catherine's hospital (located in the former Gagarin's house), in 1872 were turned into a public garden, arranged at the expense of E. A. Naryshkina and therefore called Naryshkinsky. In 1874, the western part of the square went under the passage opposite Bolshaya Dmitrovka and the building of the 1st Women's Gymnasium (now the Radio Broadcasting House). Later, a large residential building was also built up on a part of the land between this gymnasium and the Strastnoy Monastery.
Of the houses standing on the modern Strastnoy Boulevard, the house on the corner of Bolshaya Dmitrovka is remarkable. It was bought in 1811 by the treasury from two owners: Vlasov - along the boulevard and Talyzina - along Bolshaya Dmitrovka street. In 1816–1817, on the site of the first, the architect F. Buzhinsky built a three-story house in the Empire style; in 1822, another four-story house was built in the same style on the site of Talyzina's house. Both of them were given to the university printing house. The editor of Moskovskie Vedomosti, which was published at the university, the printing house officials lived in the first house, and the university bookstore was located. The latter belonged to A. S. Shiryaev in the 1820s and 1830s and was considered the best bookstore in Moscow. Shiryaev was also a commission agent for the sale of works by the best Russian writers, and A. S. Pushkin often visited him. He also visited this house with Prince P. I. Shalikov, editor and publisher of the then popular Ladies' Journal.
In the 1860s, I. S. Turgenev, L. N. Tolstoy and others visited the editor of Russkiy Vestnik M. N. Katkov, who lived here.
On the other side of the boulevard, the vast house of the princes Gagarins on the corner of Petrovka is remarkable, originally built in 1716, and in its present form at the end of the 18th century by M.F. Kazakov. For more than a hundred years it belonged to the indicated owners. From 1802 until the fire of 1812 it housed the English Club. I. A. Krylov read his fables here; other remarkable Russian people also visited the club, and in 1806 it honored Prince P.I. Bagration, who in 1805 near Shengraben heroically fought off a whole Napoleonic army with a handful of Russian troops. (After the expulsion of the French from Moscow in 1812, the English Club was opened on March 1, 1813 in the house of Benckendorff [on Pushkinskaya Square, between Bolshaya Dmitrovka and Tverskaya Streets, No. 6]. On July 31 of the same year, the club moved to Muravyov's house on Bolshaya Dmitrovka [No. Museum of the Revolution].)
In 1812, this house housed the headquarters of the Chief Quartermaster of the Napoleonic army, in which the famous writer Stendhal (Bayle) served. A fire broke out in the house after the departure of the French.
In 1828, the house was bought by the treasury and it housed the Catherine's hospital.
Behind the house stretched a vast garden. According to legend, here in the 16th century there was one of the country palaces of Vasily III, later turned into a travel palace, where foreign ambassadors stayed in the 16th-17th centuries. Some confirmation of this is the names of the neighboring Church of the Assumption "which is in the Old Ambassadorial Yard" and the area "Putinki".
Of the other houses on the boulevard, one can note on the same side at the turn into Naryshkinsky passage a small wooden mansion (No. 9), which belonged to the famous playwright A. V. Sukhovo-Kobylin (1817–1903), the author of the plays "Krechinsky's Wedding", "The Case" and "Tarelkin's Death", which to this day do not leave the stage of our theaters.
Strastnoy Boulevard is beautifully described in N. V. Davydov’s “Memoirs”.
From the book Urbanistics. part 2 author Glazychev Vyacheslav LeonidovichBoulevard The first boulevard was built on top of earthen fortifications brought to life by the development of artillery in Lucca, Italy. The second one was arranged in Antwerp, Holland, by decision of the City Council in 1578. But the real career of the boulevard began in Paris, when, according to
From the book Paris [guide] author author unknownBoulevard des Capucines The first Parisian omnibus passed along Boulevard des Capucines. In the house N14 in 1895 the film of the Lumiere brothers was shown for the first time. Later and a little further, on the Boulevard Poissonnière, large cinemas will appear - real architectural monuments that
From the book Petersburg in street names. The origin of the names of streets and avenues, rivers and canals, bridges and islands author Erofeev AlexeyBoulevard des Italiens and Boulevard Montmartre In the 19th century, patrons of cafes on the Boulevard des Italiens and Boulevard Montmartre, which continued to the west, dictated to Paris the fashion for clothes, manners and mores. In the Paris of Balzac and Offenbach, those were the boulevards par excellence, where lackeys crossed
From the book From the history of Moscow streets author Sytin Petr VasilievichBoulevard Poissonnière During the day, boulevard Poissonnièr is a bustling place of trade, at night it is no less lively place of entertainment. Is Caf? located in N32? Brabant, in which Emile Zola gathered writers of the naturalistic school. House N1 - Rex cinema, built in 1932 on
From the book of 100 great monasteries author Ionina NadezhdaMontparnasse Boulevard The main street of the quarter, Montparnasse Boulevard (boulevard du Montparnasse) starts at the futuristic facade of Montparnasse Station, in front of which stands a 200-meter black tower. Until very recently the Tour Montparnasse was the tallest skyscraper in Europe. At
From the author's bookZAGREBSKY BOULEVARD On November 2, 1973, the passage in the Frunzensky District, which ran from Dimitrova Street to Oleko Dundich Street, was named Zagrebsky Boulevard. As stated in the resolution, "in honor" of the Yugoslav city of Zagreb. In the Frunzensky district, many streets are called
From the author's bookBoulevard of Novators The highway runs from Tramway Avenue to the nameless square at the intersection of Veteranov Avenue and Tankista Khrustitsky Street. The name was given on January 16, 1964, as stated in the resolution, “in honor of innovators in the field of production, science and
From the author's bookPOETIC BOULEVARD This passage runs in the Vyborgsky district from Esenina street to Rudneva street. It received its name on March 3, 1975. The decree on assignment states that “the passage is located in the area of the names of streets dedicated to figures
From the author's bookSIRENEVIY BOULEVARD Lilac Boulevard runs between Yesenin and Rudnev streets. It was named on December 4, 1974. The resolution on the name said: “... the passage is located in the area of the names of streets dedicated to artists. In the design of the boulevard
From the author's bookGogolevsky Boulevard Gogolevsky Boulevard in 1924 was named after the monument to N.V. Gogol that had stood on it since 1909. Its former name is Prechistensky Boulevard. When you walk along the shady Gogolevsky Boulevard from Arbatskaya Square to the Prechistensky Gates, then
From the author's bookNikitsky Boulevard At present, this is the name not only of the boulevard, but also of the passages on its sides between the Arbat Gate Square and the Nikitsky Gate Square. The latter gave the former name to the boulevard - "Nikitsky", as from the fortress gates of the White City they received their
From the author's bookTverskoy Boulevard Tverskoy Boulevard is widely known to the entire reading public. It is mentioned in the works of Pushkin, Lermontov, in the novels of Leo Tolstoy, in essays by Chekhov and other writers. The boulevard was arranged and opened in 1796. Initially, the boulevard was lined
From the author's bookPetrovsky Boulevard The road from the Petrovsky Gates goes downhill to Trubnaya Square. This part of the Boulevard Ring is called Petrovsky Boulevard, which refers both to the boulevard itself and to the passages on its sides. The boulevard is named after the Petrovsky Gates and
From the author's bookSretensky Boulevard Sretensky Boulevard used to reach almost to the Myasnitsky Gates. Now it is limited by passage to Ulansky Lane and the building of the Turgenev Reading Room built in 1885 on its former site. Sretensky Boulevard is the shortest on the Boulevard Ring.
From the author's bookChistoprudny Boulevard The boulevard got its name from the Chisty Pond located on it. Of the boulevards built on the site of the walls of the former White City and forming a green necklace around the oldest part of Moscow, Chistoprudny Boulevard is the most
Strastnoy Boulevard on the Yandex panorama
Strastnoy Boulevard on the map of Moscow
Strastnoy boulevard - a boulevard in the Tverskoy district of the Central Administrative District of Moscow. It is located between Pushkinskaya Square and Petrovsky Gate Square. The length of the boulevard is 550 m.
Strastnoy Boulevard in Moscow - history, name
Strastnoy Boulevard was broken up at the beginning of the 19th century. Named after the Strastnoy Monastery, dismantled in 1937. In the 1820s. the boulevard was a narrow alley between Tverskaya Street and Petrovsky Gates. At first, she walked along the wall of the Strastnoy Monastery, on the site of which Pushkinskaya Square is now located. After the current Naryshkinsky passage to the garden near house 15, Sennaya Square adjoined the alley, where hay, straw, coal and firewood were traded from wagons twice a week.
In 1872, the owner of the mansion at 9, Strastnoy Boulevard, Elizaveta Alekseevna Naryshkina, decided to put an end to the disgrace under her windows and, on the site of the square, laid out a square at her own expense. In gratitude, the City Duma named the square Naryshkinsky. In 1937 it was attached to Strastnoy Boulevard.
The length of the boulevard is 550 m, but its green part does not exceed 300 m. The initial 250 m, located to the right of Pushkinskaya Square, when the monastery was dismantled, became a simple passage. But it is the widest boulevard of the Boulevard Ring. Its width is 123 m.
Monuments on Strastnoy Boulevard:
- at the beginning of the boulevard in 2013, a monument to A.T. Tvardovsky by the sculptor V.A. Surovtsev. In 1950-1954 and 1958-1970. Tvardovsky was the editor-in-chief of the Novy Mir magazine, the editors of which in 1947-1964. was in the corner house 1/7 on Malaya Dmitrovka;
- in the center of the boulevard in 1999 a monument to S.V. Rachmaninov, performed by O.K. Komov and A.N. Kovalchuk. Rachmaninov in 1905-1917 lived in the house Strastnoy Boulevard, 5;
- at the end of the boulevard in 1995, a monument to Vladimir Vysotsky by G.D. Raspopov.
 Monument to A.T. Tvardovsky |
 Monument to S.V. Rachmaninov |
 Monument to Vladimir Vysotsky |
Houses on Strastnoy Boulevard
Strastnoy Boulevard, 5. 1st Women's Gymnasium . The building was built in 1874-1878. designed by architect N.A. Tyutyunov for the 1st Women's Gymnasium. The musical part of the gymnasium in 1905-1917. led by S.V. Rachmaninov, who lived here with his family. Some apartments were rented out. One of them was filmed by the famous obstetrician G.L. Grauerman.
Since 1938, the building housed the All-Union Radio Committee, from which in 1941-1945. announcer Yuri Levitan transmitted military reports of the Sovinformburo. In 1961-1980. The building was occupied by the Novosti press agency.
Strastnoy Boulevard, 8. Apartment building with a corner rotunda built by R.I. Klein in 1888. It was intended for renting out apartments. Built in 1930 on two floors.
Strastnoy Boulevard, 9. Mansion E.A. Naryshkina in 1849-1850 belonged to playwright A.V. Sukhovo-Kobylin. He sold the house in 1850 after the murder of his mistress Louise Simon-Demanche in the wing of the estate.
In 1872, Elizaveta Alekseevna Naryshkina, nee Princess Kurakina, planted a garden on Sennaya Square in front of the mansion at her own expense, which was called Naryshkinsky Square. Now only the Naryshkinsky passage coming from the house reminds of her.
In 2006, during the construction of the Pushkinsky Dom office center, the building was replaced with a remake.
Strastnoy Boulevard, 11. S.I. Elagina . The mansion was built in 1899 according to the project of A.A. Dranitsyn for hereditary honorary citizen Sergei Ivanovich Elagin. In 1910 the architect O.O. Shishkovsky added two stone volumes to the building, one of which was occupied by a winter garden.
Under Soviet rule, the editorial office of the Ogonyok magazine was located in the mansion, the publication of which was resumed in 1923 at the initiative of M.E. Koltsov. In 1972, a memorial plaque with a sculptural portrait and the inscription was installed on the facade: "In this building from 1927 to 1938, an outstanding Soviet journalist, founder and editor-in-chief of the OGONYOK magazine Mikhail Efimovich Koltsov worked."
Strastnoy Boulevard, 12. House of A.F. Redlich . An apartment building with a shop was built in 1894 according to the project