The city mansion at 18 Tverskoy Boulevard in Moscow received its current appearance at the very beginning of the 20th century. The project was completed for Pyotr Petrovich Smirnov, a representative of the merchant family of vodka “kings”, by the architect.
Back in the early 60s of the eighteenth century, the property of Vasily Vasilyevich Istlentyev, the captain of the Horse Guards Regiment, was located here, but already in 1763 the plot with the house was bought by Alexander Grigorievich Petrovo-Solovov, the lieutenant general.
In post-fire Moscow, the place was already registered with Count Vladimir Grigorievich Orlov, and then, in the nineteenth century, the house repeatedly changed hands and was rebuilt. As a result of this, an “empire mansion” appeared here, the internal volumes of which created a kind of conglomerate of buildings from different eras, which was reflected even in the plans of rooms and halls: multi-level floors, numerous labyrinths of rooms and service spaces.
Finally, in 1900, on November 28, Pyotr Petrovich Smirnov bought the mansion from the then owner Nikolai Petrovich Malyutin - a hereditary honorary citizen - for his family, paying almost 300 thousand rubles for it.
Photo 1. Tverskoy Boulevard, 18 in Moscow
By that time, Pyotr Petrovich was happily married to Evgenia Ilyinichna Morozova, with whom he raised three children: Tatyana and brothers Arseny and Alexei. Olga was born in 1900.
Before moving to Moscow from St. Petersburg, the merchant was engaged in the tea trade until 1893, when, at the insistence of his father and creator of the vodka empire, Pyotr Arsenievich Morozov, he was involved in the family business. Thus, in 1894, the “Partnership of a vodka distillery, warehouses of wine, alcohol and Russian and foreign wines P.A.” was formed. Smirnov" with an authorized capital of 3 million rubles at that time.
Pyotr Morozov's family grew and there was not enough space in his father's mansion, after which Pyotr Arsenievich decided to buy a house for his son's family.
Photo 2. The former mansion of Pyotr Petrovich Smirnov on Tverskoy Boulevard
Pyotr Petrovich himself took up the reconstruction of the purchased mansion on Tverskoy Boulevard, 18, for which he invited the architect Shekhtel, with whom their family was well acquainted by that time.
The task was set to create beautiful and decent housing with the obligatory preservation of the existing multi-level internal structure. At the same time, the customer wanted to make the mansion a decoration of Tverskoy Boulevard, so Shekhtel paid special attention to the street facade, leaving the walls on the courtyard side virtually unchanged.
The dominant feature of the main façade is a wrought-iron balcony, reminiscent of a ship floating above the heads of people passing under it. It could be reached through the front hall of the mansion.
The second most important element was the high attic, decorated with tall stained glass windows and with a cartouche with the owner’s personal monogram placed on it.
The first level of the mansion was reserved for household needs, but on the second floor Shekhtel managed to create a superbly arranged suite of living rooms for adult family members and state rooms. The children's half was located in the attic.
The main staircase was made of white natural marble, and the balustrade itself was decorated using Shekhtel’s favorite technique - in the form of an oncoming wave. On the second floor of the flight there was an impressive window opening with faceted multi-colored glass, which on sunny days cast a mosaic of all the colors of the rainbow around it.
On the walls of the lobby hung ceremonial portraits of Pyotr Petrovich and Evgenia Ilyinichna.
All the halls of the city mansion in house No. 18 on Tverskoy Boulevard were decorated in different styles.
Thus, the formal dining room with wooden panels, a barrel vault, squat columns, a huge fireplace and a lancet window with built-in stained glass belonged to the Romanesque style. The large living room is decorated in a classic way: rich stucco, greenish tint of the walls and ceiling paintings, into which Shekhtel wove the monogram of the hostess.
The Egyptian Hall stood out in particular; to increase its area, an extension was built on the side of the courtyard. The decor was represented by copies of drawings in golden beige tones, made from ancient papyri, as well as Egyptian columns. It was here that the owners held exhibitions of realistic painting, which did not particularly fit with the existing surroundings.
For the owner, Pyotr Petrovich, Shekhtel furnished a study room, decorated in the Gothic style. For Evgenia Ilyinichna herself, an elegant boudoir was provided, the main decoration of which was a sailing ceiling with ornamental stucco with images of roses, two sculptures of female figures dressed in a tunic, and lighting through lampshades resembling blooming buds.
The Smirnov mansion at 18 Tverskoy Boulevard also had a winter garden with a variety of plants and even a small menagerie. The premises for children were decorated using scenes from Russian fairy tales.
Moscow is very fond of beautiful legends about mansions. And even if his true story is known to many, it is still distorted for the sake of a beautiful lie.
Tverskoy Boulevard cannot boast of a large number of buildings in the Art Nouveau style. And this mansion, which stands almost in the middle of it, attracts special attention from walkers.
The gaze of passers-by always stops at the balcony with a fancy forged ornament, reminiscent of a ship sailing on the waves. True, now the lattice of this balcony is covered with ugly letters of the Empire restaurant. For many years, local historians have loved to say that this mansion was given to his mistress by vodka maker Pyotr Petrovich Smirnov. And none of them likes to tell the truth. But his story has nothing to do with this fiction, a lie erected for the sake of a catchphrase, about a good man, a caring family man, about a woman with a difficult fate, like everyone else at that time.
The mansion has an interesting history. Back in the 1760s, it was mentioned as belonging to the horse guard captain Vasily Vasilyevich Istlentyev. In 1763, the house passed to the chamberlain, Lieutenant General Alexander Grigorievich Petrovo-Solovo.
After the fire, it belonged to Count Vladimir Grigorievich Orlov.
In the 19th century it had many owners and many renovations.
The result was a solid “empire mansion”, which in its internal structure retained traces of different eras with different floor levels, a labyrinth of rooms and services.
And so on November 28, 1900, the merchant Pyotr Petrovich Smirnov bought this mansion for his family from the hereditary honorary citizen Nikolai Petrovich Malyutin for 299 thousand rubles. By that time, he had been happily married to Evgenia Ilyinichna Morozova for seven years. They raised three children: Tatyana, Arseny and Alexey. In 1900, another daughter, Olga, was born.
Pyotr Petrovich was the son of Pyotr Arsenyevich Smirnov, the creator of the famous Moscow vodka distillery in Sadovniki and his second wife Natalya Alexandrovna Tarakanova.
In his youth, Pyotr Petrovich himself was engaged in the tea trade in St. Petersburg and moved to Moscow only in 1893 at the insistence of his father, who sought to involve his son in the family business.
The next year (1894) the Partnership of a Vodka Factory, Warehouses of Wine, Spirits and Russian and Foreign Wines P.A. was established. Smirnov" in Moscow with a fixed capital of 3 million rubles, where Pyotr Petrovich became one of the directors. His family was growing, there wasn’t enough room for them all in his parents’ house on Pyatnitskaya, and Peter decided to buy a new house for them. 
He invited the then famous Fyodor Shekhtel to be the architect. The Smirnovs were already familiar with him. He built for their family. Pyotr Petrovich set him the task of creating a decent and beautiful home for his family while preserving the multi-level, fancy internal structure of the mansion. But Smirnov wanted his house to become a decoration of the boulevard and stand out from the rest of the development. Therefore, Shekhtel paid a lot of attention to the street facade, while his courtyard facade was extremely simple. 
The dominant feature of the boulevard façade was, of course, a large forged balcony-ship, as if floating above the passers-by. The front hall opened into it. 
The second dominant feature was a high attic with elongated stained glass windows and a cartouche with the owner’s monogram. The first floor was a utility floor, and on the second, Shekhtel created a magnificent suite of state halls and living rooms for Evgenia Ilyinichna and Pyotr Petrovich. The children's half was located in the attic. Servants lived in the courtyard buildings, there was a stable that overlooked Maly Gnezdnikovsky Lane.
The main staircase was made of white marble, its balustrade resembled an oncoming wave - the master’s favorite technique. On the second floor of the staircase there was a huge window with faceted glass, which shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow in sunny weather. In the lobby, guests were greeted by large ceremonial portraits of the owners of the mansion. All the halls of the front suite were made in different styles. Pyotr Petrovich’s son later recalled that he studied history and art history in these halls. 
The formal dining room was in the Romanesque style with wood paneling on the walls, a barrel vaulted ceiling, and a powerful fireplace with two squat columns. Light entered the dining room through a triple lancet window with stained glass.
The large living room, where the owners held large receptions, musical and theatrical evenings, was made in a classical style, richly decorated with stucco, painted greenish. In the painting of the ceiling, Shekhtel placed the monogram SPR - Smirnovs Peter and Evgenia. 
A special ceremonial room was the huge Egyptian Hall, for which a special extension was even made from the courtyard. The hall was decorated with papyrus drawings in golden-beige tones. 
Two powerful Egyptian columns separated the hall from the corridor. This hall was built specifically for art exhibitions.
The owners preferred realistic painting, which did not go well with the Egyptian decor of the hall, according to Ilya Repin. For Pyotr Petrovich Shekhtel made an office in the Gothic style, and for Evgenia Ilyinichna an elegant boudoir. 
The dominant feature of the boudoir was the sail ceiling, all decorated with stucco ornaments of roses.
In the design of the pink living room, Fyodor Shekhtel used a then new lighting technique - light bulbs in the form of blossoming buds were inserted into the stucco ceiling with floral motifs along the perimeter. 
This stucco depicted graceful female figures in tunics from two corners.
In all rooms there was beautiful furniture, paintings and other things dear to the heart. A large winter garden was created with strange plants and a small menagerie. 
Tatyana Smirnova in the Winter Garden.
Children's rooms were decorated based on Russian fairy tales. The house had English radiators, water heating with its own boiler room. There was forced ventilation.
In this mansion, Pyotr Petrovich and Evgenia Ilyinichna’s last child, son Anatoly, was born in 1902. And in 1910, after a short illness, Pyotr Petrovich Smirnov suddenly passed away very young. He had a common follicular sore throat, complicated by swelling and suffocation. There were no antibiotics then and the heart could not withstand this disease. Evgenia Ilyinichna was left alone with five children. She had to continue her husband's trading business and raise children. Their financial situation became greatly complicated with the introduction of Prohibition and the state monopoly on vodka. But contrary to all rumors and later fabrications, Evgenia Ilyinichna’s family lived in this mansion until the revolution.
They didn’t rent it out to any club and she didn’t want to open any cinema here. By that time, the eldest daughter and son had created their own families and lived in a house on Pyatnitskaya. The revolution in this house was met by Evgenia Ilyinichna with her three youngest children. The house was occupied by cadets who fired from the house at the Red Army soldiers storming the neighboring mansion of the mayor.
The post-revolutionary fate of the family is very sad. Evgenia Ilyinichna, trying to save her family, married the Smirnovs’ Italian business partner and went with him to Japan. But they were not allowed to take the children, and they remained in Russia. Alexey and Anatoly died in the 1920s. Tatyana and her daughter managed to leave for Paris in 1926. Son Arseny wandered a lot around Central Asia, where he died in the mid-20th century.
During Soviet times, the mansion housed a people's court and a military prosecutor's office; court hearings were held in the Romansky Hall. In the 1990s, most of the mansion was given to the Russian Pension Fund. In 1994, it was pushed out by placing the Melodiya company here, which was urgently evicted from the Anglican Church of St. Andrew's Church in Voznesensky Lane 8 (it was then occupied by Melodiya). Now in the right wing of the building and in the courtyard premises there is the Moscow branch of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation. And the state rooms, restored in 2006 by a construction company, are occupied by restaurants that change each other every year. Last year it was the “Shekhtel Club”, now the restaurant (house of receptions and celebrations) “Empire”...
Which disfigured the balcony of the window.
Moscow Art Nouveau in the faces and destinies of Lyudmila Anatolyevna Sokolova
Mansion P.P. Smirnova on Tverskoy Boulevard, No. 18 (1901–1903)
This mansion was built by Franz Shekhtel (with the participation of the famous architect A.A. Galetsky) by order of the son of the “vodka king” P.A. Smirnov - Pyotr Petrovich.
He purchased a plot with several buildings on Tverskoy Boulevard for 299 thousand rubles from the hereditary honorary citizen Nikolai Petrovich Malyutin.
By the way, the widespread rumors that the mansion was rebuilt “for his mistress, who then became his legal wife,” and others are nothing more than a myth. I am inclined to trust the facts presented in the LiveJournal of Nikolai Podosokorsky, a historian of ideas, literary critic, literary critic, candidate of philological sciences, which I advise you to do as well.
Mansion P.P. Smirnova
Franz Osipovich rebuilt the old Empire mansion into a majestic building, with a facade cut through by long stained glass windows and topped with a high gable on which was a cartouche with the owner’s monogram, somewhat reminiscent of a castle. The long balcony on the second floor with its original wrought iron grille resembles a ship. The building was equipped with the latest technical achievements of its time: its own water heating, ventilation system, sewage system, hot and cold water. And of course there is a telephone connection.
The first floor was given over to economic services. A marble staircase resembling a frozen wave led to the second floor. There was a suite of state halls and living rooms for the master and hostess, decorated in different styles, which was usual for a brilliant architect - he thought through the smallest details of the interior. Pyotr Petrovich's office was made in the Gothic style, and in Evgenia Ilyinichna's boudoir the ceiling was in the shape of a sail inflated by the wind, decorated in the corners with rich stucco ornaments. Franz Osipovich attached great importance to lighting. These include unique windows with “burning” stained glass and faceted glass that refract rays of light and give the effect of additional lighting, multi-tiered chandeliers and ceiling lamps in the shape of blooming rosebuds...
Children's rooms, decorated based on Russian fairy tales, were located in the attic. Servants lived in the outbuildings. There was also its own stable, which overlooked Maly Gnezdnikovsky Lane. There was also a large winter garden with strange plants and even a small menagerie.
After the October Revolution, the mansion was naturally requisitioned. Since 1922, the Revolutionary Military Tribunal met here, and then the city prosecutor's office. In the 1990s, part of the mansion was given to the Russian Pension Fund. And in 1994, he was pushed out by moving the Melodiya company here, from which the Church of St. Andrew in Voznesensky Lane, No. 8 was taken away, which President Boris Yeltsin promised Queen Elizabeth II of England during her visit to Moscow to return to the Anglican community.
Then the building was replaced by clubs and restaurants, and now, after restoration, which returned the building to its former splendor, there is the Empire Reception and Celebration House.
Thanks to Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov(1831–1898), who was called the “vodka king” during his lifetime, Russian vodka, in particular Smirnovskaya, is known throughout the world.
The story of how a former serf peasant from the village of Kayurovo, Yaroslavl province, who started out as a sex worker in Moscow taverns, became a merchant of the 1st guild, one of the richest people in Russia, the creator of the “vodka empire”, supplier to the courts of His Imperial Majesty and His Imperial Highness the Great Prince Sergei Alexandrovich, hereditary honorary citizen and commerce adviser, holder of the orders of Anna, Stanislav and Vladimir, has been described and told more than once.
The founder of the “Partnership of Vodka Factory, Warehouses of Wine, Spirits and Russian and Foreign Wines P.A. Smirnov" Pyotr Arsenievich had five sons and seven daughters.
We are interested in the eldest son - the owner of the mansion Petr Petrovich Smirnov (1868–1910).
At first, his father sent him to St. Petersburg, then returned him to Moscow and made him one of the directors of the created “Partnership”. After the death of his father, it was he who continued the family business, because the other brothers did not have a soul for him: Nikolai preferred pleasure to work, and Vladimir developed a passion for horses, and he became a large horse breeder.
Pyotr Petrovich was a generous benefactor: a member of the Moscow Council of Orphanages, a trustee of the Dolgorukovsky Orphanage, and the headman of the Annunciation and Verkhospassky Cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin.
He was married to Evgenia Ilyinichna, née Morozova. They had children: Tatyana, Arseny, Alexey, Olga and Anatoly. The family was strong and happy. But suddenly such a misfortune: in 1910, Pyotr Petrovich became seriously ill with follicular tonsillitis and died suddenly.
Evgenia Ilyinichna was left alone with five children and at the head of the business. With the outbreak of World War I, Russia adopted a “prohibition” law and introduced a state monopoly on vodka - this hit the P.A. Partnership hard. Smirnova".
I will refer again to I. Podosokorsky:
“But contrary to all rumors and later fabrications, Evgenia Ilyinichna’s family lived in this mansion until the revolution. They didn’t rent it out to any club, and she didn’t want to open any cinema here. By that time, the eldest daughter and son had created their own families and lived in a house on Pyatnitskaya. The revolution in this house was met by Evgenia Ilyinichna with her three youngest children. The house was occupied by cadets, who fired from the house at the Red Army soldiers storming the neighboring mansion of the mayor.
The post-revolutionary fate of the family is very sad. Evgenia Ilyinichna, trying to save her family, married the Smirnovs’ Italian business partner (Italian consul Dalla Vale Ricci. – Auto.) and went with him to Japan. But they were not allowed to take the children, and they remained in Russia. Alexey and Anatoly died in the 1920s. Tatyana and her daughter managed to leave for Paris in 1926. Son Arseny wandered a lot around Central Asia, where he died in the middle of the 20th century...”
After nationalization, the plant, which once belonged to the Smirnovs, continued to operate, later turning into the world famous “Crystal”.
The youngest of the sons of the “vodka king,” Vladimir, who managed to go abroad, took the technology and recipes of the famous vodkas and registered the Smirnoff brand, which was then bought from him by his partners. Now the brand belongs not to the descendants of the “vodka king”, but to the large British drinks manufacturer Diageo.
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In 1821, it was an elegant empire-style mansion with two separate wings, a typical representative of the development of Tverskoy Boulevard of Pushkin's time. A little later, the house merged with the outbuildings, and in 1901-1903 Fyodor Osipovich Shekhtel rebuilt it by order of the famous winemaker Smirnov. He changed the building with just a few touches, which nevertheless gave it a completely different character. The main decoration of the discreet facade was a lace wrought-iron balcony, reminiscent of a ship sailing on the waves - Shekhtel’s favorite marine theme.
In the 19th century, the luxurious building, the creation of the world-famous Russian Art Nouveau architect Fyodor Shekhtel, was the center of Russian public life. Since 1906, in the luxurious interiors of the ceremonial premises, festive meetings of the nobility have been held, concerts with the participation of S. Rachmaninov and F. Chaliapin have been held, and significant events have been celebrated magnificently. The luxury of the interiors had to correspond to the status of the “new Russian” elite of the early twentieth century. The main rooms, assembled in an enfilade, replace one architectural style with another: “Romanesque Hall”, “Classical Hall”, “Egyptian Hall”, “Rocaille Room”, “Boudoir”, “Cabinet”. The building was not only one of the richest, but also one of the most advanced in terms of technical equipment.
This house has a strange fate. It was built for a beautiful life, but became the residence of one of the most sad institutions in the city. One of the richest houses of pre-revolutionary Moscow, one of Shekhtel’s most interesting buildings, located on the most famous boulevard of the city - and at the same time, almost no mentions in the literature. The fact is that for many years the mansion of P.P. Smirnova belonged to the city prosecutor's office and was one of the “closed” monuments in the capital.
In 1922, the Revolutionary Military Tribunal was located here, and then the Military Prosecutor's Office was located. Court hearings took place right in the Romansky Hall. Thus, for ordinary Muscovites, the entrance to this historical and architectural monument was closed for many decades.
The restoration of the state rooms, carried out in 2005-2006, returned them to their former splendor. Recently it has been occupied by various restaurant and club establishments. Part of the house is owned by the Pension Fund.
Mansion P.P. Smirnova - a weaving of incredible events and destinies in mystical interiors. We are given a rare opportunity to visit the “Palace of the Vodka King”.
This is interesting:
Engineering innovations of F. Shekhtel in the Smirnov mansion:
- one of the first buildings in Moscow with central steam heating with its own boiler room (until the mid-90s of the 20th century, German radiators from the early 19th century were used, replaced only during restoration);
- one of the first mansions in Moscow with full electrification, including the use of built-in lamps in the decoration of the halls (a prototype of modern suspended ceilings with built-in lighting);
- the first house with forced ventilation (the prototype of modern air conditioners);
- the first mansion where in the winter garden there is an original application of industrial glazing principles: large metal frames 2.5 x 3 meters with fine division, with double glazing (a prototype of modern double-glazed windows). Such windows practically did not freeze and retained heat even with a large illuminated volume.
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Tverskoy Boulevard, house 18. At this address is located one of the best creations of the architect Fyodor Osipovich (Franz-Albert) Shekhtel - the mansion of Pyotr Petrovich Smirnov (1868-1910). Surprisingly, in the publication “Moscow Architectural Monuments”, known to all lovers of metropolitan architecture, not a word is said about this house. This is due to the fact that in Soviet times the Moscow prosecutor’s office was located here, a very closed institution.
* Tour organizer:
The house located on this site was first mentioned in Moscow archives in 1759 as belonging to the captain of the horse guards Vasily Vasilyevich Istlentyev. The next owner was the Moscow provincial leader of the nobility, actual privy councilor, lieutenant general Alexander Grigorievich Petrovo-Solovo (1736-1805). From him, ownership passed to the youngest of the Orlov brothers, the director of the Academy of Sciences, Count Vladimir Grigorievich Orlov (1743-1831). After his death, the house was resold several times. Over the years, its owners were collegiate adviser Gavriil Petrovich Apukhtin, chamberlain cadet O.I. Garchakova, chamberlain and collegiate adviser P.A. Bazilevsky, honorary citizen Nikolai Petrovich Malyutin. As a result, by the beginning of the 20th century, a large Empire style mansion with a labyrinth of rooms on different levels had developed on the site.
On November 28, 1900, this property was purchased for 299 thousand rubles by Pyotr Petrovich Smirnov, director and eldest son of the “vodka king” Pyotr Arsenyevich Smirnov, founder of the trading house P.A. Smirnov in Moscow.
Pyotr Petrovich in his youth lived in St. Petersburg and was engaged in trading tea from China. In 1893, at the insistence of his father, he moved to Moscow and took up the family business. The following year, the “Partnership of P.A. Smirnov’s Vodka Factory, Warehouses of Wine, Spirits and Russian and Foreign Wines” was established.
Pyotr Petrovich was married to Evgenia Ilyinichna Morozova, they had three children: Tatyana, Arseny and Alexey. They lived in their parents' house on Pyatnitskaya Street, but soon it became too small for them. Therefore, he acquired a large property on Tverskoy Boulevard, at that time one of the most fashionable places in Moscow (as well as now). In 1900, their daughter Olga was born, and a year later their son Anatoly.
In 1901, Pyotr Petrovich invited the then fashionable architect Shekhtel to remodel the entire complex of buildings. The work lasted 5 years. Shekhtel managed to make maximum use of the old premises and expand the volume by combining the outbuildings with the main house.
Windows of the Romanesque Hall. Previously, in its place there was a fence between the main house and the outbuilding
The façade, facing Tverskoy Boulevard, was decorated in the then fashionable Art Nouveau style. The courtyard facades were designed in a more austere classical style. The interior was decorated in Art Nouveau and eclectic style.
The house had many technical innovations: its own boiler room and central steam heating, full electrification of the building, built-in lamps, forced ventilation, an original design of windows in the winter garden, thanks to which they did not freeze even in the most severe frosts and retained heat in the room, and much more.
On the ground floor there were utility rooms. Now, due to the rise of the cultural layer by almost 70 centimeters, it has become a semi-basement. The second floor was representative; there is a suite of ceremonial halls: Gothic study, Boudoir (Small living room), Romanesque hall, Antechamber, Rocaille room, Classical hall, Greek hall, Egyptian hall. In addition, the building had a winter garden and a menagerie. On the third floor there were living quarters for the owners and servants' rooms. In the 1990s, a fourth floor was added, an attic, which is not visible from Tverskoy Boulevard.
There were two entrances to the house. The western main entrance is now located in the part of the building owned by the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation. In the past, it led to the state rooms and was intended for guests. The other entrance (North Front) was private.
Shekhtel, despite being busy at other projects, personally supervised the construction and handed over the house to the customer. In 1910-1913, after the death of Pyotr Petrovich Smirnov, he again partially rebuilt the house at the request of his heirs in the neoclassical style - modernism had already gone out of fashion by that time.
Smirnov’s house was built as a “family nest.” However, the reality turned out to be much more tragic. After Smirnov's death in 1910 and due to the introduction of Prohibition and the state monopoly on vodka, the family's financial condition was greatly shaken. The widow was forced to rent out part of the premises to the club of the Moscow Russian Assembly. At one time it was even planned to set up a cinematography here.
During the October Revolution, the mansion was at the center of bloody events. The house was occupied by cadets who fired at the Red Army soldiers storming the house of the Moscow mayor. After the revolution, Evgenia Ilyinichna Smirnova, in the hope of saving her life and the lives of her children, married an Italian, the business partner of her late husband, who was appointed ambassador to Japan. Unfortunately, she was forbidden to take her children with her. Alexey and Anatoly went missing and most likely died during the Civil War or shortly after it. The eldest daughter Tatyana was able to go to her mother only in 1926. Son Arseny wandered around Central Asia and died there in the 1950s.
Smirnov House, photo 1932-1939
In 1922, the empty mansion housed the Revolutionary Military Tribunal. Then he was replaced by the Moscow Prosecutor's Office. The luxuriously decorated walls were covered with featureless panels. Court hearings were held in the Romansky Hall.
Smirnov's house, photo from 1977-1979
In 1990, most of the estate was occupied by the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation. The Melodiya company was transferred to another part in 1994 from the Anglican Church of St. Andrew. In 2006, restoration work began, during which the state rooms were restored. Now the premises are rented out for various celebrations and events. In addition, excursions are regularly held here.
Now let’s take a closer look at the appearance and halls of Smirnov’s house on Tverskoy Boulevard. Externally, the house appears asymmetrical. However, if you look at it more closely, then under the Art Nouveau decoration you can see the almost symmetrical structure of a classic Moscow mansion with the main house in the center and wings adjacent to it on both sides. Previously they were connected by a lattice. Shekhtel built new premises in its place. On the ground floor he made an arch leading to the courtyard, and above it he built a luxurious Romanesque hall with stained glass windows.
Triple stained glass window of the Romanesque Hall and a cartouche with Smirnov’s monogram above it
The walls of the house are decorated with leaves and floral patterns - a frequently encountered element in Shekhtel’s work.
In the center of the facade facing Tverskoy Boulevard, on the second floor level, there is a light forged balcony in the shape of a boat - one of Shekhtel’s best works. It is purely decorative - if lowered, it would interfere with the passage of people.
Former outbuilding with bay window
The grille at the gate of the arch is ancient, made according to Shekhtel’s design.
The façade on the courtyard side is decorated in a strict classical style. Here we will see several extensions: a staircase and a large hall - Egyptian.
Here you can also see the semicircular window of the Grand Staircase, which is located in the part now owned by the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation. Unfortunately, I was not able to see it from the inside.
In the courtyard there are several more buildings that once belonged to the Smirnovs. Subsequently, they were rented out as various offices; in the 1990s, the buildings were reconstructed and partially built on.
The diagram below shows the second floor rooms open to the public.
Layout of the second floor premises open to the public
As I already wrote, there are two entrances to Smirnov’s house - the Western front and the more intimate, northern one. It is through the second entrance, a more modest one, that excursionists and guests of the Smirnov House now enter. To date, due to the growth of the cultural layer, the first floor has turned out to be almost 70 centimeters below ground level. The ground floor premises retained elements of 18th-century decoration, in particular, vaults.
In the past, the floors in such rooms were often covered with cast iron slabs. The restorers played with this creatively.
Floor design “cast iron” (modern work)
A staircase leads from the hall to the second floor. Here we will see Shekhtel’s favorite element - the wave staircase, symbolizing the swiftness and fragility of human existence. However, space did not allow the architect to develop fully, as, for example, in Ryabushinsky’s house on Malaya Nikitskaya Street. Therefore, only small curls-volutes at the first steps remind of a wave, similar to how a water stream breaks out of a gorge.
The staircase hall is decorated in a classic style. After the first flight the staircase splits into two. One part of it leads towards the Gothic office and kitchen, the other - to the Romanesque hall and the Boudoir (Small living room). This part has preserved the decoration of the 18th century.
View from the staircase hall towards the Romanesque Hall
Wall decor in a classic style in the staircase hall
Full-wall mirror opposite the entrance to the Gothic office
Gothic office, the owner's room, decorated in Venetian Art Nouveau style. The area of the room is small - only 35 sq.m. It gives the impression of a closed, heavy space - in the fashion of that time: a fairly dark color of the walls, false beams on the ceiling made of bog oak. The parquet was recreated by restorers from old photographs. The furniture is modern, as is the case throughout the house.
Gothic cabinet furnishings (modern)
The decoration of the Gothic cabinet is a rectangular bay window, which offers a beautiful view of Tverskoy Boulevard.
From the Gothic cabinet you can get into the room of the mistress of the house - the Small Living Room, or Boudoir. The area of the room is 25 sq.m. The walls are decorated with Chinese silk. The sloping corners of the ceiling, the so-called “false sail vault,” are decorated with stucco with floral motifs. The pattern of the doors repeats the pattern on the façade of the building. The pink marble fireplace, trimmed inside with “hog” tiles, is decorative, since the mansion had steam heating.
The Romanesque Hall, or Romanesque Living Room, is the most luxurious room in the mansion and one of Shekhtel’s best creations. Its area is 90 sq.m. It is decorated in beige, green and brown tones. Here we will see a combination of several styles - Romanesque, Russian and Art Nouveau. The walls, window frames and window sills are made of bog oak. The ceiling in the hall is decorated with Celtic ornaments. Below it is a green cornice with images of fairy-tale animals. The ends of the consoles are made in the form of human heads.
The tall three-part window is a stained glass window with a pattern depicting grape vines. Thanks to this, a mysterious twilight is created in the room.
The wall opposite the window is decorated with columns in the Romanesque style, above which there are three false windows. The semicircular arch above them is decorated with five medallions depicting fairy-tale animals.
The chandelier in the Romanesque Hall is a trophy one. She was brought from Germany in 1945 by the military prosecutor of Moscow. It was made in Art Nouveau - German Art Nouveau and suited perfectly to the interior of the Romanesque Hall, at that time a courtroom.
The main dominant feature of the hall is the large fireplace. A massive plaster bas-relief depicts a medieval battle. It rests on two columns decorated with sandstone figures - lions at the base and fauns at the capitals. The inside of the fireplace is tiled with “hog” tiles.
A wide doorway leads from the Romanesque Hall to the Antechamber, decorated on top with a white stone bas-relief depicting a battle between a dragon and a dog.
The whole hall is filled with mysticism. Architect Dmitry Zhuravlev, who took part in the restoration of the Smirnov mansion, offered the following interpretation:
The interiors of the house are full of mysticism; it is no coincidence that the theme of traveling through architectural eras caused someone to associate with pictures of a lived life passing before the eyes of a dying person. I looked at this fireplace for a long time: at the bottom there are lions, symbols of power. On their backs stand columns topped with images of devils. Even higher is a frieze with fighting knights. One day I realized what was wrong with it: there are no winners, no enemies and no “ours”. That is, it could be, for example, Western and Eastern warriors, but here they are just some kind of knights, an ordinary “rubilovo”. Therefore, it turns out to be a pyramid of power, on which evil rests, and people killing each other without any meaning. And the dragon and the dog are a famous Masonic symbol of the confrontation between the real and mystical worlds, their battle for man. — Alexander Mozhaev. Place in history. "Moscow Heritage". http://www.archnadzor.ru/2007/05/30/mesto-v-istorii/
The Romanesque Hall is preceded by the Antechamber, in which there is a small staircase connecting the different levels of the mansion. The antechamber is relatively small - 40 sq. m. In the past, when guests used the Western Staircase as a front door, it preceded the Romanesque Hall.
View of the Antechamber from the Rocaille Living Room
The Rocaille or Pink living room occupies an area of 40 sq.m. The ceiling of this bright room is decorated with lush stucco in the Rococo style with images of girls - a favorite decor of the Art Nouveau style. The uniqueness of this room lies in the fact that here Shekhtel uses spotlights, which will become especially popular a century later, in our days.
Ceiling in the Rocaille room, fragment
Enfilade of state rooms, view from the Rocaille Room
The classical hall is the second largest in the front suite of the Smirnov house, its area is 70 sq.m. It is decorated in the late Renaissance style, its main theme is the water element. The walls are painted dark green. The ceiling is decorated with bas-reliefs on a marine theme: newts, nymphs, sirens. In the corners you can see Smirnov's monograms. The ceiling in the center of the hall was probably painted at the beginning of the 20th century. Since no photographs of the paintings survived, the restorers left it white. In the hall there is a green marble fireplace, above which there is a mirror in a massive frame.
Smirnov's monogram in the ceiling of the Classical Hall
The windows of the Classic Hall overlook a decorative balcony. Although there is a door leading to it, the level of its floor is almost level with the window sills and therefore it is almost impossible to get onto it.
Once upon a time, the Greek Hall opened a suite of state rooms. The walled-up entrance leading to the Western Grand Staircase reminds of that time. Its area is 65 sq.m. Columns of artificial marble divide the Greek Hall into two parts.
Along the perimeter of the hall, under the ceiling, stretches a frieze in a classical style, depicting chariot races.
Next to the front enfilade is the Egyptian Hall, the windows of which overlook the courtyard. This is the largest room in the mansion, its area is 220 sq.m. It was originally used as a reception and dance hall. Two Egyptian columns divide the Egyptian Hall into two parts - the main part and the corridor. Before Shekhtel's reconstruction, this room was an outbuilding.
The hall is painted in beige and gold colors. In the center of the ceiling there is a large vault in which Ra, the ancient Egyptian god of the Sun, is depicted. The light fixture in the center is lowered slightly, hiding the ventilation located above it.
After 1910, the Egyptian Hall was rented out for various events and entertainment.
Musician. Wall decor in the Egyptian Hall
We have only examined a small part of Smirnov’s house - its state rooms. The rest are currently closed to the public. In my opinion, due to the constant use of the premises by different people and organizations, they have lost their luster and are somewhat dilapidated.
You can get to Smirnov’s house on a guided tour. If you try, you can try to see the Western Grand Staircase, located in the part owned by the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation.
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