The sea capital of Russia, St. Petersburg is the capital of fog and rain. Through the haze you can see silhouettes of buildings and images of people belonging to the city of maritime affairs. Galernaya Street, Admiralteysky Canal, Kryukov Canal, New Holland, the lower reaches of the Moika River - these are the famous names that captivate our imagination with the history of the formation of a great maritime power. Who are the people who created this story? How is the memory of them and their deeds dedicated to serving the naval department preserved?

Galernaya street

Perspective of Galernaya Street

This street connects the ceremonial center of St. Petersburg and the holy of holies of this city - the birthplace of Russian ships, being the passage from Senate Square to Galerny Dvor behind the New Admiralty Canal, where large multi-oared ships were built. For this reason, in the first half of the 18th century, the street began to be called Galernaya. Next door was the Admiralty Rope Factory. In the 19th century, the street began to be lined with buildings whose owners' names went down in Russian history. These are Laval, Paskevich, Tenishev, von Derviz and others. What are they famous for?

Bobrinsky Palace

Galernaya street, building 58-60

On the shore of the Admiralty Canal, not far from the island of New Holland, there is an old mansion, which is known as the estate of the Bobrinsky counts. The owners were distinguished by their hospitality and preserved the traditions of their home, which the imperial family “easily” visited. Here, in the state rooms, the events of Russian history unfolded. It was in the area of ​​the First Admiralty part, called the “Morskaya Sloboda”, that Alexey Grigorievich Bobrinsky (the illegitimate son of Catherine II and Count Grigory Orlov) received the estate as a gift.

Palace of Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich

Galernaya street, house 69-71

Pavel Alexandrovich, the youngest son of Emperor Alexander II, was of a gentle, courteous character, whom contemporaries spoke of as a friendly person who did not allow himself any harsh expressions or actions, but at the same time colorless. Although, “in the still waters...” lurked love, passion, marriage to a divorced woman, and as a result, a curse and expulsion from the country. Later, his name was touched by the terrible events of the early twentieth century: the murder of Rasputin, the death of the great princes in Alapaevsk, and himself personally...

New Holland

Admiralteysky Canal embankment, building 6

A unique island, steeped in the memory of Peter the Great. By decree of Peter the Great of September 21, 1721, the first military port of Russia was founded here. Later, a warehouse complex for ship timber was created on the island of New Holland. Well-seasoned oak was the main material for shipbuilding throughout the 18th century. By this time, the architectural image of “New Holland” was being formed, which became a monument to the industrial architecture of early classicism. The elegance of the arch and the harsh nature of the warehouse buildings attract the attention of tourists with their mystery.

Palace of Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna

embankment of the Moika River, building 106

Opposite the New Holland arch, behind a beautiful fence, there is a palace, with its elegance, attracting the attention of the townspeople. Its owners were people of famous families (Sinyavins, Vorontsovs, Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna - the sister of Nicholas II). Why is he interesting? Of course, with its architecture and history of involvement in maritime affairs. Ksenia Alexandrovna's husband, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, headed the Main Directorate of Merchant and Maritime Shipping and Ports. But everything was very difficult...

Palace of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich

embankment of the Moika River, building 122

The estate of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, brother of Emperor Alexander III, spread out on a site in a bend of the Moika River opposite the New Admiralty Shipyards. After well-known events, this Grand Duke will be called Alexey Alexandrovich Tsushimsky with bitterness. Why can the lines from the memoirs of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna be attributed to this person: “Undoubtedly, the last generation of grand dukes contributed to the collapse of the empire... The chain of domestic scandals could not help but shock Russia...”?

Publications in the Architecture section

Where did the Romanovs live?

Small Imperial, Mramorny, Nikolaevsky, Anichkov - we go for a walk along the central streets of St. Petersburg and remember the palaces in which representatives of the royal family lived.

Palace Embankment, 26

Let's start our walk from Palace Embankment. A few hundred meters east of the Winter Palace is the palace of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, son of Alexander II. Previously, the building, built in 1870, was called the “small imperial courtyard.” Here, all the interiors have been preserved almost in their original form, reminiscent of one of the main centers of social life in St. Petersburg at the end of the 19th century. Once upon a time, the walls of the palace were decorated with many famous paintings: for example, “Barge Haulers on the Volga” by Ilya Repin hung on the wall of the former billiard room. On the doors and panels there are still monograms with the letter “B” - “Vladimir”.

In 1920, the palace became the House of Scientists, and today the building houses one of the main scientific centers of the city. The palace is open to tourists.

Palace Embankment, 18

A little further on the Palace Embankment you can see the majestic gray Novo-Mikhailovsky Palace. It was erected in 1862 by the famous architect Andrei Stackenschneider for the wedding of the son of Nicholas I, Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich. The new palace, for the reconstruction of which neighboring houses were purchased, incorporated Baroque and Rococo styles, elements of the Renaissance and architecture from the time of Louis XIV. Before the October Revolution, there was a church on the top floor of the main facade.

Today the palace houses institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Millionnaya Street, 5/1

Even further on the embankment is the Marble Palace, the family nest of the Konstantinovichs - the son of Nicholas I, Constantine, and his descendants. It was built in 1785 by the Italian architect Antonio Rinaldi. The palace became the first building in St. Petersburg to be faced with natural stone. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, known for his poetic works, lived here with his family; in the pre-revolutionary years, his eldest son John lived here. The second son, Gabriel, wrote his memoirs “In the Marble Palace” while in exile.

In 1992, the building was transferred to the Russian Museum.

Admiralteyskaya embankment, 8

Palace of Mikhail Mikhailovich. Architect Maximilian Messmacher. 1885–1891. Photo: Valentina Kachalova / photobank “Lori”

Not far from the Winter Palace on Admiralteyskaya Embankment you can see a building in the neo-Renaissance style. It once belonged to Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich, the grandson of Nicholas I. Construction began on it when the Grand Duke decided to get married - his chosen one was the granddaughter of Alexander Pushkin, Sofia Merenberg. Emperor Alexander III did not give consent to the marriage, and the marriage was recognized as morganatic: Mikhail Mikhailovich’s wife did not become a member of the imperial family. The Grand Duke was forced to leave the country without living in the new palace.

Today the palace is rented out to financial companies.

Truda Square, 4

If we walk from the Mikhail Mikhailovich Palace to the Annunciation Bridge and turn left, on Labor Square we will see another brainchild of the architect Stackenschneider - the Nicholas Palace. The son of Nicholas I, Nikolai Nikolaevich the Elder, lived in it until 1894. During his life, the building also housed a house church; everyone was allowed to attend services here. In 1895 - after the death of the owner - a women's institute named after Grand Duchess Xenia, sister of Nicholas II, was opened in the palace. Girls were trained to be accountants, housekeepers, and seamstresses.

Today, the building, known in the USSR as the Palace of Labor, hosts excursions, lectures and folk concerts.

English Embankment, 68

Let's return to the embankment and go west. Halfway to the New Admiralty Canal is the palace of Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich, son of Alexander II. In 1887, he bought it from the daughter of the late Baron Stieglitz, a famous banker and philanthropist, whose name is given to the Academy of Arts and Industry he founded. The Grand Duke lived in the palace until his death - he was shot in 1918.

The palace of Pavel Alexandrovich was empty for a long time. In 2011, the building was transferred to St. Petersburg University.

Moika River Embankment, 106

On the right side of the Moika River, opposite the island of New Holland, is the palace of Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna. She was married to the founder of the Russian Air Force, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, grandson of Nicholas I. They were given the palace as a wedding gift in 1894. During the First World War, the Grand Duchess opened a hospital here.

Today the palace houses the Lesgaft Academy of Physical Culture.

Nevsky Prospekt, 39

We exit onto Nevsky Prospekt and move in the direction of the Fontanka River. Here, near the embankment, the Anichkov Palace is located. It was named after the Anichkov Bridge in honor of the ancient family of pillar nobles, the Anichkovs. The palace, erected under Elizaveta Petrovna, is the oldest building on Nevsky Prospekt. Architects Mikhail Zemtsov and Bartolomeo Rastrelli participated in its construction. Later, Empress Catherine II donated the building to Grigory Potemkin. On behalf of the new owner, architect Giacomo Quarenghi gave Anichkov a more austere, closer to modern look.

Starting from Nicholas I, mainly the heirs to the throne lived in the palace. When Alexander II ascended the throne, the widow of Nicholas I, Alexandra Feodorovna, lived here. After the death of Emperor Alexander III, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna settled in the Anichkov Palace. Nicholas II also grew up here. He did not like the Winter Palace and spent most of his time, already as emperor, in the Anichkov Palace.

Today it houses the Palace of Youth Creativity. The building is also open to tourists.

Nevsky Prospekt, 41

On the other side of the Fontanka is the Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace - the last private house built on Nevsky in the 19th century and another brainchild of Stackenschneider. At the end of the 19th century, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich bought it, and in 1911 the palace passed to his nephew, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich. In 1917, while in exile for participating in the murder of Grigory Rasputin, he sold the palace. And later he emigrated and took the money from the sale of the palace abroad, thanks to which he lived comfortably for a long time.

Since 2003, the building has belonged to the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation; concerts and creative evenings are held there. On some days there are excursions through the halls of the palace.

Petrovskaya embankment, 2

And while walking near Peter’s house on Petrovskaya embankment, you should not miss the white majestic building in the neoclassical style. This is the palace of the grandson of Nicholas I, Nikolai Nikolaevich the Younger, the supreme commander in chief of all land and naval forces of the Russian Empire in the early years of the First World War. Today, the palace, which became the last grand ducal building until 1917, houses the Representative Office of the President of the Russian Federation in the Northwestern Federal District.

Development of the embankment began in 1716, and by the end of the 1730s the embankment was built up"solid façade". The word "solid" here has a literal meaning. There are no gates on the embankment, no gap between the houses. All entrances to the courtyards were from Galernaya Street, parallel to the embankment. They still exist. There were also the necessary office premises and outbuildings.
Why English? At first she was Galernaya. Along the Galernaya shipyard at the end of the embankment. Then it was built up with poor workers' houses and was not beautiful. But later, when rich merchants and foreigners began to build beautiful mansions and palaces, it sparkled! Moreover, this dark water of the Neva, in the rare sunshine, becomes blue and shiny... By the way, it should be noted that the emperor himself oversaw the appearance of the embankment. Any construction work could begin only after the king’s signature.

But the main reason is that in the middle of the 18th century there were many houses here belonging to the British. The English Church, the English Theater, the English Club appeared... Already in 1777 it was called the English Line. And officially - since 1809. True, by the middle of the 19th century the number of English people had noticeably decreased.

Everyone who arrived in the city by sea had a view of the Promenade des Anglais and it was magnificent. After all, after the construction of the Blagoveshchensky Bridge, the seaport was transferred here from the Makarov embankment.

Before talking (and I will try to keep it to a minimum) about each house, I warn you that since many prominent people lived here during the existence of the embankment, the owners of the houses often changed, I will indicate only the last ones. Those who owned mansions before the revolution. And I won’t show the interior interiors.

The photo below shows almost the entire left side of the embankment. You can see the houses.

And this is even closer. The first building, house No. 2, with a long façade overlooking Senate Square, is the former building of the government Senate, built in 1829-1834. architect K. Rossi. Since 1925, the Russian State Historical Archive has been located here, which in 2006 moved to Zanevsky Prospekt. Here, in the beautiful center of St. Petersburg, the Constitutional Court was located.

House No. 4, the former home of Countess A.G. Laval, was built in the 1790s by the architect A.N. Voronikhin. This site, along with the one on which the Senate was located, belonged to His Serene Highness Prince A.D. Menshikov since the 1720s.

In the early 1800s, Countess A.G. Laval became the owner. At her request, the architect Thomas de Thomon remodeled the house inside and out. The huge white-columned hall served as the venue for balls. The house was also famous for its literary salon. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Decembrist S.P. Trubetskoy lived here, who was the husband of the owner’s daughter. E.I. Trubetskaya, née Countess Laval, was one of the first wives of the Decembrists who followed her husband to Siberia.

After the Laval family, the guardianship sold the mansion to the adviser and railway magnate S.S. Polyakov, who donated 2 million rubles to charity. In 1911, the Ministry of Justice bought the mansion from Polyakov’s son.

House in 1895-1900 All pre-revolutionary photographs show street cleaners wearing white aprons.

Painting by the Swedish artist B. Paterson "View of the Neva near the Senate" 1801.

A busy embankment is visible, people are walking. At that time, the newspaper "Northern Bee" wrote:“The time of year has come when Nevsky is not in fashion for walking. Nowadays people walk and travel there only on business... the walking public gathers from 2 to 4 hours on the English Embankment and enjoys the first rays of the spring sun there.. On the embankment you can walk from Senate Square, where the carriages and footmen of those walking usually stay, all the way to the New Admiralty along a wide granite sidewalk, clean and dry in the current times of mud, while on Nevsky Prospect at every step you have to cross the streets on sidewalks that are covered. mud... everyone is walking along the Promenade des Anglais - one of the most beautiful walks in St. Petersburg..."

House No. 6 on the Promenade des Anglais in 1865-1866. was bought by the son of P. Cazalet, the owner of the Kalinkinsky brewery (under Soviet rule - the plant named after Stepan Razin) - manufacturer E.P. Cazalet, who also sold beer from the company "William Miller and Co." The house has been rebuilt. In 1899, the mansion was bought by Prince V.N. Tenishev, known for donating one and a half million rubles to the creation of the Tenishevsky Real School in Moscow. After his death, the house was owned by his wife M.K. Tenisheva, in whose house artists and members of the charitable society “Myussar Mondays” gathered in the evenings.
In 1914, the exquisite mansion with rosewood and mother-of-pearl parquet was turned into a barracks for six hundred soldiers, and after nationalization it housed various institutions.
Now - a new office of Gazprom.


House in 1890-1903.

House No. 8 is the former mansion of I.F. Paskevich. The last owners were the family of the Adjutant General, Prince F.I. Paskevich-Erivansky. After the revolution, there was a museum, the Lenzhilproekt Institute, and since 1993, the Moscow Industrial Bank.

The next house No. 10, since 1812, belonged to the influential Osterman-Tolstoy family, then to the Vorontsov-Dashkov family. From historical documents it is known that it was in this house that A. Pushkin, his wife Natalya Nikolaevna and Dantes, with whom the poet had a duel four days later, were at the ball in the winter of 1937. And the first owner of the house was the head of the office of buildings of imperial houses A.L. Naryshkin. There were balls in his house, which attracted the whole world of St. Petersburg. In Soviet times, the house looked like the photo below. The house is currently under reconstruction and the photo is not mine.

Here, in the photo below, you can see houses No. 12 to No. 20.

I'll tell you a little about each. The last owner of house No. 12 was an active state councilor, banker L.S. Polyakov from a family of famous Jewish bankers. In the 1890s, the Polyakov family owned several more houses on the English Embankment - No. 4, 22 and 62. L.S. Polyakov lived in Moscow. The apartments were rented out.In 1911, the house was transferred to the Moscow Joint-Stock Forestry and Construction Society.
Since the 1990s, the Consul General of the Netherlands has been located here. The house has preserved fireplaces, antique doors, stucco moldings here and there, and wooden panels.

House No. 14 in 1892-1903 belonged to the family of Prince V.N. Tenishev. After the death of her husband in Paris, M.K. Tenisheva moved to house No. 6, where she lived until the revolution. The house was bought in 1909 by M.K. Chaplits, the wife of headquarters captain V.I. Chaplits. The Chaplitz monogram is preserved on the pediment and canopy above the entrance. Tenisheva’s monogram remained on the mirror of the landing. Now this house is private property.

House No. 16 from 1782 to 1794 belonged to State Lady, Director of the Academy of Sciences and Arts E.R. Vorontsova-Dashkova. It was given to her by Empress Catherine II, who was Dashkova’s friend. This is how she recalled: “I then inspected the house of the late banker Fredericks and agreed with his widow on the price, which, including all overhead costs, did not exceed thirty thousand rubles. I asked the empress for permission to buy it, to which she replied that she had long ago ordered the cabinet to pay the cost of the house which I wish to buy..."
Then, from 1809, the house was owned by the family of General and Chief Marshal D.N. Durnovo and then by his descendants. Under them, in 1872, the architect L.F. Fontana rebuilt the house.
After the revolution, the house was looted and gradually destroyed. In 1926, it was included in the list of houses scheduled for demolition, but remained. Today, the facade and lobby of the house have been preserved unchanged.

The next two houses - Nos. 18 and 20 can be seen in the top panoramic photo.
Since 1857, the owner of house No. 18 was listed as the merchant councilor von Garden. Since 1864, there has been a private commercial bank here. The interior of the bank was rebuilt by the architect L.F. Fontana. In 1915, the last owner of the house, G.A. Bobrinsky, was going to rebuild the house and make it three-story. A project was even drawn up... Construction began in 1916, but the revolution did not allow it to be completed.
The house was completed by the Intekhstroy artel in 1928, of course, with a simple facade and communal services inside.
This is what house number 18 was like 1864

Corner house No. 20 at the beginning of the twentieth century, after the death of the last owner S.V. Orlov, was turned by his widow into a profitable one. The artist A.A. Rylov and Prince V.N. Tenishev rented apartments here. And after 1917, house No. 20 became the residence of the creative intelligentsia. The huge halls were converted into apartments. They are simply separated by partitions. In 1928-1941 Dmitry Shostakovich often visited here. Many of the residents of this house disappeared without a trace in 1937.
In the 1950s, the house was built on. It became three-story. In the photo below you can see that between houses No. 20 and No. 22 there is a small Zamyatin lane.

In the photo below you can see the corner house No. 22, houses No. 24 and 26.

Plot No. 22 at the beginning of the 19th century belonged to the captain of the Preobrazhensky regiment A.I. Zamyatin. The name of the lane is connected with this.
In 1906-1913 Sergei Diaghilev rented an apartment in house No. 22 and sometimes lived here. This was his last address in St. Petersburg. In 1914, the house was bought by Duke G.N. Leuchtenberg, the great-grandson of Nicholas I. Regimental officers at that time were required to live next to the barracks, and he served in the Horse Guards Regiment. Now in the house you can see the preserved elevator with the ducal monogram, the doors and parquet have been preserved.

The next house No. 24 in recent years, since 1910, belonged to the landowner chamber cadet V.V. Skarzhinsky. He wanted to overhaul the main house, build on it and much more to rebuild and live, but his project remained unfulfilled.
In Soviet times, the house was rebuilt into communal apartments and nothing remained of the original decoration.

House No. 26, like others along the embankment, had many owners. The first of them was Prince G.D. Yusupov. Since 1839, the mansion passed to the family of the Narva merchant Ritter. They owned it for 80 years, until the revolution. After 1917, communal apartments were installed in the house.

House No. 26.

House No. 28 was rebuilt for the last time in the 1880s by the architect A. Krasovsky for the railway magnate P.P. von Derviz, and in 1903 the house was sold for 400 thousand rubles to the young Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, cousin of Nicholas II.
In 1900, at a festive dinner in honor of the 10th anniversary of M. Kshesinskaya’s service on the stage of the Imperial Theater (she was 27 years old), an affair began between her and the Grand Duke. In 1902, their son Vladimir was born.
After the revolution from 1920 to 1950 Various Soviet institutions operated in the house. In 1959, the first wedding palace in the USSR was opened here. The Leningrad City Executive Committee took care of this. Here's what he said in his newsletter: "In order to carry out marriage registration in a more solemn atmosphere and create the necessary conditions for the fact of marriage registration to be a festive and memorable day for the new Soviet family, the Executive Committee of the Leningrad City Council decided to organize the City Civil Registry Office for marriage registration, allocating room for it in the house No. 28 along the Red Fleet embankment."

There, indeed, unusually beautiful interiors have been preserved and restored. The palace is simply magnificent. It's amazing that all this has survived to this day. But similar halls, staircases, railings, chandeliers were in many mansions on the embankment.

House No. 30 was rebuilt in 1870-1872. architects B.R. Bogdanovich and K.K. Rachau for the Bavarian Consul General E.M. Meyer. The house still retains its main features. But there was another restructuring for the last owner of the house, hereditary citizen A.A. Shvarts. After the revolution in the 1920s, all the halls and living rooms in the house were converted into communal apartments. Now it is a residential building.

This is what house number 30 looked like in 1872-1880. Nearby is house No. 32 - the former House of the College of Foreign Affairs.

The next photo shows house number 32 today. The house was rebuilt by the architect D. Quarenghi in 1782-1783. in the style of classicism. At that time, from 1782 to 1828, the College of Foreign Affairs, then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, were located here. D. Fonvizin, A. Griboedov and F. Tyutchev served in it. After graduating from the lyceum, A.S. Pushkin and V.K. Kuchelbecker were assigned here. From 1855 to 1904 - Academy of the General Staff. During Soviet times, she was transferred to Moscow.

Soviet-era photography. Sun.

House No. 34 is the former mansion of Princess L.N. Dolgorukova. In 1885, the house was rebuilt by P. Schreiber for the new owners von Derviz. In 1908 they sold the site. During this period the house was built on. After 1917, there was the Committee of the RSDLP and the Union of Metalworkers.
Later, after the war - a naval clinic and tuberculosis dispensary.

Photo of K. Bulla from 1897. House before extension. And how beautiful.

Unfortunately, the weather did not allow me to take good pictures. The completely gray St. Petersburg sky makes many people despondent. But the Blagoveshchensky Bridge is still beautiful.

The last house facing Labor Square. House No. 36

House No. 36 was acquired by the Russian prose writer V.A. Vonlyarlyarsky in 1844. At that time, part of the mansion remained on the site. The other part was destroyed because... At that time, Blagoveshchenskaya Square was being formed. In 1849, the corner house with a facade in the eclectic style was completely completed according to the design of the architect M.D. Bykovsky. During Soviet times, in the 1930s, the house was built on.
In January 1910, the famous Donon restaurant moved here from the Moika embankment, which existed here until 1914. During the NEP it was opened again, but soon closed completely.
I remember that there was a Diet store on the ground floor for a very long time. Or is it just me? Now there is a souvenir shop for foreigners. Some very cool one.

Continue the walk in the next post.

Address: St. Petersburg, Moiki embankment, 106

Description: The second name of the palace is Palace of Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna. The palace building was presented to the princess and prince as a royal gift for the wedding, which took place on July 25, 1894. The palace is located directly opposite the island of New Holland, on the embankment of the Moika River. The building was rebuilt many times. The first owner of the plot on the Moika embankment was Rear Admiral Ivan Akimovich Senyavin, who served Peter I, in the 1710s.

The garden facade of the palace is rusticated and cut through by high windows. The building is completed by a high mezzanine with a balustrade. In front of the palace there is a square, separated from the embankment by an openwork lattice, with luxurious openwork gates decorated with monograms with the princess’s initials - “KA”.

Outbuildings were located on the site, which has the shape of an irregular polygon.

The interiors of the mansion were re-decorated according to the design of engineer N. I. de Rochefort. The interiors were decorated in various styles. Almost no interior decoration has survived to this day.

A vaulted house church of St. was also built in the palace. XENIA OF THE ROMANS and blessings. led book ALEXANDER NEVSKY in the Russian style of the 16th-17th centuries, painted with ancient ornaments, decorated with icons in the style of Rublev and an iconostasis made of chased copper and enamel.

During the First World War, in one of the wings of the palace there was a hospital for the wounded, established here on the initiative of Ksenia Alexandrovna, who took an active part in the public life of the country.

Since 1919, this building has housed the State Academy (formerly the Institute) of Physical Culture named after. Lesgafta.

• See: Palace of Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich »

The princes and grand dukes of the Romanov dynasty owned palaces and estates in different parts of the vast country: the Ilinskoye estate near Moscow, which belonged to Sergei Alexandrovich, the Crimean estates of Dulber and Ai-Todor, which belonged to Pyotr Nikolaevich and Alexander Mikhailovich, respectively, as well as the Brasovo estate, which was owned by Mikhail Alexandrovich and others, others, others. On the banks of the Neva there is a magnificent palace where Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich lived. The Palace of Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich, or Novo-Pavlovsky Palace, is located at 68 English Embankment (formerly Red Fleet Embankment). In that corner of St. Petersburg that is called Kolomna. The appearance of the palace shows the influence of Italian Renaissance architecture. This is expressed in the accentuation of the main facade with a two-column Corinthian portico, in the treatment of the walls with deep rustication, and in the framing of windows with sandstones of various designs. The upper part of the façade is completed with a wide frieze decorated with moldings. The courtyard, which had access to Galernaya Street, was also designed in Baroque forms. The first owner of the mansion was Baron A.L. Stieglitz, by whose order it was erected in 1859-1862 by the architect A.I. Krakau, partially using the walls of two old residential buildings. But first things first. Initially, on a plot of land along the Promenade des Anglais, on the site of the mansion there were two residential buildings. One of them was built in 1716 and was the first stone house on the Promenade des Anglais. It was built by Ivan Nemtsov, a shipwright. After him, the house was owned by his son-in-law, the famous architect S.I. Chevakinsky. The second house was owned by the merchant Mikhail Serdyukov, the builder of the canal system in Vyshy Volochyok. In 1830, the site already belonged to the Stieglitz barons, a native of the German principality of Waldeck. May the readers forgive me for my free digression, but I cannot help but talk about the barons. Nikolai Stieglitz, having moved to Russia at the end of the 18th century, founded the St. Petersburg trading house. In 1802, his brother Ludwig came to visit him; He engaged in export-import trade, soon made a significant fortune and became a court banker. In 1807 he accepted Russian citizenship, and in 1826 he was granted the title of baron. Ludwig Stieglitz was one of the founders of the Black Sea Shipping Company and the organizer of the Odessa loan. The Stieglitzes quickly grew rich, and the old mansions located on this site no longer corresponded to their status. Baron Alexander Ludwigovich Stieglitz, son of Ludwig, ordered the architect Krokau, then fashionable in St. Petersburg, to build a palace on this site. Alexander Ludvigovich inherited from his father a huge fortune of 18 million rubles and the entire financial empire of the Stieglitzes, which was then already engaged in organizing external loans for Russia. The new palace had to correspond to all this. Stieglitz gave the architect complete freedom of creativity and an unlimited budget. A huge sum by those standards was spent on construction - 3.5 million rubles. Until 1887, the palace belonged to Baron Alexander Ludwigovich Stieglitz, the son of Baron Ludwig von Stieglitz. The palace stood out from everything that had been built so far on the Promenade des Anglais. Designed in the spirit of the then fashionable Italian palazzo, the facade has not changed and has reached us in its original form. The interiors of the palace combine all the ideas of the mid-19th century about style, beauty and comfort. Five years after completion of construction, approximately 1859-1862 years, Alexander Stieglitz commissions the famous Italian artist Luigi Premazzi to capture the interiors of the palace in watercolors. Premazzi painted seventeen watercolors, which very accurately reflected the smallest details of the interior; all of them were enclosed in a leather album on the cover of which there was the coat of arms of the Stieglitz barons. Now this masterpiece is in the Hermitage collection. Thanks to this, we can accurately appreciate all the luxury with which the palace was designed inside, in addition, we can see the richest collection of paintings that Stieglitz owned. Alexander Lyudvigovich built railways and produced paper, was a banker and a large-scale philanthropist - he built schools, colleges and museums. Later he retired from entrepreneurial activity and headed the State Bank. Soon the baron became related in a certain way to the Imperial family... According to contemporaries, the banker was an unsociable person. He often gave and took millions of sums without saying a word. It was also strange, according to some fellow financiers, that Stieglitz placed most of his capital in Russian funds. To all skeptical remarks regarding the imprudence of such an act, the banker replied: “My father and I received our fortune in Russia: if it turns out to be insolvent, then I am ready to lose all my fortune with it.” .

On June 24, 1844, at the Stieglitz dacha in Petrovsky, near St. Petersburg, a richly decorated basket appeared in which lay a baby girl. There was a note in the basket indicating the girl's date of birth, her name - Nadezhda and the fact that her father's name was Mikhail. According to the Stieglitz family legend, the girl was the illegitimate daughter of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, the younger brother of Nicholas I. The girl was given the last name Juneva, in honor of that beautiful June day when she was found. Baron Stieglitz adopted her and made her his heir, since he had no children of his own and was the last in his family. Baron Alexander Ludvigovich died in 1884, leaving the lucky foundling a simply grandiose fortune of 38 million rubles, real estate, financial structures... and including a palace on the Promenade des Anglais, the price of which, together with the collection of works of art in it, was then 3 million rubles However, Nadezhda Mikhailovna Juneva lived in another house on Bolshaya Morskaya, together with her husband Alexander Polovtsev. This house was also given to her by Alexander Stieglitz. They decided not to move into the palace and put it up for sale. However, only a select few could afford such an expensive purchase, and the palace stood empty for three years.

We return to the palace. 

 A strong draft emphasizes the division of the façade into two floors. The walls of the lower floor are rusticated. The plaster on the walls of the upper floor imitates ashlar cladding. The platbands of the first floor with straight brackets on the brackets are simple and strict in design. In the mezzanine, the platbands have the form of porticoes consisting of two columns on pedestals supporting a triangular pediment.

 The center of the main façade is accentuated by a portico of two columns flanking the entrance. The plane of the façade is completed with a wide frieze decorated with moldings.



The interiors of the house are of artistic value. Among them, the ceremonial white marble staircase, the walls of which are decorated with Corinthian pilasters at the level of the second floor, stands out in terms of the richness of its compositional design. The former Living Room, arranged in five axes and decorated with caryatids, is not inferior to it in decoration. Nearby is the Dance Hall - the most elegant room of the palace, decorated with Corinthian fluted columns. The exit to the street from the staircase is designed in the form of an arch decorated with columns.

 The door from the second floor landing leads to the central room of the front suite - a room facing the Neva. It was a reception room, next to which there was a large living room with five axes, decorated with caryatids. Three wide openings connected the “Caryatica” with the dance hall, the most spectacular and extensive room, decorated with Corinthian fluted columns.



Damask draperies, gilded molding and carvings were widely used in decoration. The library room was decorated in oak. Fireplaces made of white and colored marble with sculptural details played a significant role in the decorative design of state rooms. In the concert hall, on padugas, in oval medallions, Krakau placed sculptural portraits of composers.

 One of the luminaries of Russian painting, F. A. Bruni, executed sketches of the picturesque panels “The Four Seasons” for interiors.



And here before your eyes are those same watercolorsLuigi Premazzi.....

1 - Dance hall 2 - Dinner hall

3 - Concert hall 4 - Library in the palace of A. L. Stieglitz

5- Living room

6 - Office of Baroness Stieglitz. 7 - Dining room 8- White living room 9 - main office 10 - Blue living room 11 - Golden Hall 12 - Dining room

Church of the Martyr Queen Alexandra at the Palace of Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich.

During the years of Soviet power, the palace underwent major changes - in 1938-1939 - the right courtyard wing was added to one floor. 1946-1947 - one floor was erected above the Moorish hall. In the palace At first, an orphanage was located, and then a shipbuilding design bureau - at that time 1,500 people worked in the house.