Residential complex in Bryusov Lane. Houses of the Soviet elite: where Bolshoi theater artists lived

The house at 19 Bryusov Lane became famous long before it was built, as soon as its first sketches with a strange grove-like facade were published. Once built, it is even more intriguing. Firstly, this is the first residential building in Moscow with an atrium and an automated parking lot. Secondly, the same “wood” facade, which demonstrated a fundamentally new approach to the so-called environmental architecture. Until now, context has meant something exclusivelyman-made: houses, streets, squares. Alexey Bavykin expanded the list, turning the facade into a mirror of the surrounding park.

An object: residential house-apartment
location: Bryusov lane, 19, Central Administrative District, Moscow
developer: OJSC "Usadba-Center"
architecture: LLC "Workshop of Architect Bavykin". Arch.: Alexey Bavykin, Grigory Guryanov (GAP), Mikhail Marek, with the participation of Yulia Raneva and Dmitry Travnikov
designs: Finproekt LLC. PI: L. Korosteleva
engineering: Intertechproekt LLC
public interiors: Architectural bureau "Three A Design". Arch.: Amalia Talfeld, Armen Melkonyan
general contractor: OJSC "Usadba-Center"
design: January 2003 – May 2006
construction: August 2004 – February 2007
area, hectares: 0,4
built-up area, sq. m: 1 472
total area of ​​the building, sq. m: 13 688
usable area, sq. m: apartments – 6,496.8
number of apartments: 27
infrastructure: sports and recreation complex with a swimming pool – 469.4 sq. m,
free-use premises with a separate entrance from the street - 219.3 sq. m. m
number of parking spaces: 78 seats
number of storeys: 8 floors

There is nothing more difficult for a Moscow architect than to bring the project into full compliance with urban planning standards. The problems faced by the creators of the house in Bryusov Lane seemed completely insoluble. The customer required that the area of ​​the house be no less than 13,000 square meters. m. In this case, according to the rules, it should be surrounded by a huge adjacent territory - much larger than the entire territory of the site. In addition, not all urban infrastructure facilities - a school, kindergarten, clinic, pharmacy, etc. - were as close to the future home as required by the standards. But the investor’s desire to build a residential building in this picturesque corner of Moscow was so great that the necessary legal loophole was found. The building under construction has changed its purpose, from a residential apartment building to a house with apartments. The trick is that domestic legislation does not consider apartments to be permanent housing, which means that social infrastructure facilities do not necessarily have to be within walking distance from the house.

Where the house was built, Bryusov Lane makes a slight turn. The Bavykinsky object could cover both perspectives of the lane - both from Tverskaya and from Bolshaya Nikitskaya - but it is almost invisible from both points. The “wooden” facade is placed in the same plane as the facade of the 19th century house standing on its right hand. Alexey Bavykin did not want to distract the attention of passers-by from the small ancient Church of the Resurrection on the Assumption Vrazhek, standing nearby, and he, so to speak, hid the house behind the back of another neighbor - a constructivist house designed by Alexey Shchusev. As a result, the house's left edge retreats from the red line, and then returns to it with a powerful semicircular protrusion. This protrusion, like a hinge, connects two planes that enclose the groove of the alley from the north - the line of facades of old apartment buildings starting from Tverskaya, and the facade of Shchusev’s house offset relative to it.

Since there was a strict height limit, the architect could create a house of the required area only by building up part of the yard. As a result, the side walls were approximately the same length as the street façade. The building could be called square if its walls were not slightly rounded. The architect gave them such outlines in order to “plant” the house more tightly on the site: where there are no buildings nearby, the walls go almost to the boundaries of the site; and where there are houses in the neighborhood, they retreat to the distance prescribed by fire safety rules. Inside the building there is an atrium with panoramic elevators, covered with a glass roof. The apartments open onto the surrounding balconies. This planning principle, extremely common in hotels, has not yet been used in residential buildings in Russia.

The reason is the same fire safety rules. In the atrium, fire can easily spread from floor to floor. Firefighters allowed the atrium to be built only on the condition that the entire house be equipped with sprinklers. In the part of the building that faces the alley, the top two floors are occupied by a penthouse. It is moved inward in relation to the facade, which is why a wide terrace was formed on the seventh floor (on the first floor of the penthouse), covered with a “wing” of a metal canopy. Structurally, the building is a system of longitudinal and transverse walls with a pitch of 8.2 meters. This is what distinguishes it from most new Moscow buildings - “whatnots” with floors resting on free-standing columns. This system is the know-how of the Bavykin architectural bureau. According to its creators, such a system is optimal for residential buildings. The eight-meter span between the supports allows you to arrange a large living room, or dining room with kitchen, or two wide bedrooms inside. And in the underground parking lot it can fit three cars.

The “wood order” of the Bavykinsky house is a well-known and recently very (perhaps too) widespread motif of windows with offset axes in our architecture. The topic has been changed, but is identifiable. Here, as, for example, in Sergei Kiselev, the openings have the characteristic appearance of a gap, cutting vertically the entire floor, from floor to floor. To understand the logic of this technique, you need to imagine the walls surrounding the house in an extremely abstract way - like a membrane, which in its different parts, depending on the needs of the residents, should have different degrees of transparency. This can be achieved in different ways. In particular, this: in the external walls standing along the edge of the ceilings, make breaks, the width of which depends on what “transparency coefficient” the shell should have in this place. There are no windows or walls in the usual sense: rather, it is a giant lattice of variable density.

In most Russian buildings, the ideological basis from which this motif grew is emasculated. Windows that actually do not go down to the floor and do not go up to the ceiling are “finished” on the façade. And the rhythm of their faltering step is dictated by considerations not of utility, but of compositional expressiveness. Bavykin is developing the topic seriously. The stone “grove” is not a relief on the facade. It is voluminous. This is literally a lattice, placed at a short distance in front of the wall of the house (a wall in the usual sense, with walls and windows). And the width of the openings here is really determined by the needs of the residents. In an effort to protect them from casual glances of passers-by, the architect made the partitions on the lower floors wider than on the upper ones. Therefore, the lattice membrane took on the shape of trees with trunks that were thick at the bottom and branched at the top.

The “trees” here, as in a real grove, stand unevenly. This also has a rational basis. One part of the street façade looks out onto the square, and the other looks straight into the windows of the House of Composers, located on the opposite side of the alley. This part is covered most closely by the stone “trees”. And in front of those windows that face the square, they stand less often. However, it cannot be said that the stone visor placed on the facade reliably shields the residents from outside views - if this happened, the apartments would be dark. Rather, it is the architect's symbolic response to the challenge of the context. Behind the house there is a courtyard, fenced on the sides by blank walls of neighboring buildings, and on the fourth side by the courtyard facade of the Usadba-Center office center. You can get to the courtyard from Voznesensky Lane, passing through the office building. From its windows you can clearly see the rear facade of the house - round, gleaming with an aluminum surface, with cheerful balconies running around the corner. There are no balconies on the main facade - not everyone will dare to leave the apartment into the cramped space of a crowded alley.

And it is difficult for an outsider to get into the yard. So the balconies migrated to the rear facade. However, one should not think that the courtyard façade of the house can only be seen by its residents and visitors to the “Estate”. In this area, the ground level gradually decreases from Tverskoy Boulevard to Mokhovaya. The courtyard facade of the Bavykino house cannot be seen from the sidewalks, but from the windows of houses located higher up the slope, it is very clearly visible. The tall buildings standing in the space between Voskresensky Lane and Tverskoy Boulevard are like spectators in a theater stall, before which the house on Bryusov Lane performs like an actor. The house, proudly presented to the eye fully armed with modern construction technologies, looks like a stranger in the alley. And yet, oddly enough, this is a characteristic example of Moscow environmental architecture.

As we said, the house shows modesty by taking a step back from the red line and not putting itself on display. In addition, its appearance has many similarities with surrounding buildings. From his neighbor, built by Alexey Shchusev, he borrowed the motif of balconies on the side wall. And the composition of the facade itself, with a heavy risalit on the side and rapid horizontals running away from it to the side, was taken from Shchusev. If you look deep into the alley from Tverskaya, into the opening of the Stalinist arch, the canopy above the penthouse terrace continues in perspective the line of its impost. The stone cladding of the “trees” echoes the stones on the facades of Tverskaya. And the “trees” themselves with their tops cut off are not Moscow poplars, just like the ones in the park opposite?

Moscow expert and architectural historian Denis Romodin talks about the places and areas of residence of general secretaries, marshals and academicians of the Soviet Union. The topic of the next publication is the house of artists of the Bolshoi Theater in Bryusov Lane (current address: Bryusov Lane, 7). The building was specially built for the theatrical intelligentsia in the 1930s

Bryusov (or as it was called until 1962 - Bryusovsky) lane amazingly incorporated a whole series of apartment buildings built for the Soviet creative elite in the 1920-1950s - this is the House of Artists at No. 12, built in 1928 according to the project architect I. Rerberg; and the famous House of Composers in the housing cooperative "Teacher of the Moscow Conservatory", built at No. 8/10 in 1953-1956 by the architect I. Marcuse; as well as residential building No. 17, built in 1928 according to the design of A. Shchusev for Moscow Art Academic Theater. In the same lane, the architect Shchusev designed a monumental house at No. 7 that stands out for its scale, known as the House of Bolshoi Theater Artists.

The project for this house was prepared back in 1932, when a housing cooperative for Bolshoi Theater workers was created. The studio of the architect D. Friedman (according to other sources, the architect L. Polyakov, who moved from Leningrad to Moscow) took up the work. However, later the design was transferred to Alexey Shchusev, who developed a new construction plan in 1933, in which the architect completely moved away from the avant-garde, previously presented in his work,- in previous years, he designed many striking buildings in Moscow, such as the Lenin Mausoleum, the building of the Mechanical Institute on Bolshaya Sadovaya, 14, the People's Commissariat of Agriculture on Sadovo-Spasskaya, 11/1, houses for Moscow Art Theater workers on Bryusov Lane. In the early 1930s, Shchusev had already begun to work on changing the project of the Mossovet hotel, which had previously been developed by the duo of architects L. Savelyev and O. Stapran. In the changes in the composition and facades of the future Moscow Hotel one could see the architect’s search and the beginning of his mastery of the classical heritage, and in the house on Bryusov Lane these searches were already completed with a completely classical solution.

The house for artists of the Bolshoi Theater, built in 1935, is divided into three parts - a central building, recessed from the alley, and two protruding side ones. This made it possible to fit a nine-story residential building into a narrow alley and provide light to the apartments. Unlike house No. 17, in house No. 7 Shchusev designed apartments with larger windows due to the high ceilings. To improve illumination, starting from the third floor, bay windows are placed on two side wings without glazing the window frames. For a monumental appearance, the facades are lined with “Riga” plaster interspersed with quartz chips, marble and granite. The entrance portals and plinth are finished with natural pink granite. The last two floors received rounded windows and a powerful cornice - the architect repeated this decision in the Moscow Hotel and his residential buildings designed in the same years.

In the same house, the architect introduced a special soundproofing system, since the apartments were intended for artists of the Bolshoi Theater. Shchusev also needed to design large rooms for the possibility of rehearsals, develop the dimensions of the spaces to accommodate the piano and its delivery to the apartments.

The layout of the apartments was initially more similar to the pre-revolutionary one - a suite of front rooms, bedrooms for the owners, a separate sanitary unit, a kitchen and a servants' room. The floors in all living rooms were covered with stacked parquet, sanitary facilities and kitchens were covered with tiles. The staircases have the same tiles and polished stone chips. For the walls in the living rooms, a beige-yellowish color was chosen, characteristic of that time.

Since the house was a cooperative one, the apartments had only built-in furniture at the time of moving in. The residents themselves were responsible for furnishing the rooms. In the absence in the mid 1930s a large selection of ready-made furniture, the apartments were furnished with antiques. Moreover, the residents of this house were creative people - the memorial plaques on the facade with the names listed below speak for themselves: sculptor I. D. Shadr; conductors N. S. Golovanov and A. Sh. Melik-Pashaev; ballet dancers A. B. Godunov, L. I. Vlasova and O. V. Lepeshinskaya; opera singers I. S. Kozlovsky, A. S. Pirogov, M. P. Maksakova, N. A. Obukhova, A. V. Nezhdanova. By the way, in honor of Nezhdanova, Bryusov Lane was temporarily renamed - in 1962-1994 it was called Nezhdanova Street. She herself lived in apartment No. 9. In honor of her, the famous architect I. Zholtovsky with his colleague N. Sukoyan and sculptor I. Rabinovich completed a sketch of an elegant and monumental memorial plaque on the facade of the house. In the neighboring apartment No. 10 there is now a museum-apartment of her husband, conductor N. S. Golovanov. These two apartments retain the amazing atmosphere of a huge and at the same time elegant house, which has become the decoration of the alley.

Bryusov Lane.
I want to tell you about one of the cozy corners of old Moscow, which is very dear and interesting to me, because it is connected with the history of my city and my family. We will talk about a quiet lane between Tverskaya and Nikitskaya streets, which has been called Bryusov since the 18th century.
The lane is named after the surname of the homeowner - Count Alexander Romanovich Bruce, Lieutenant General, Vice-Governor of Moscow and nephew (and heir) of the famous Field Marshal Yakov Vilimovich Bruce, comrade-in-arms of Peter I. The Bryusov estate is house No. 2/14. The Bruces are descendants of Scottish kings, but since 1647 they moved to Russia. Father A.R. Bruce - Roman Vilimovich Bruce - the first chief commandant of St. Petersburg and the elder brother of Yakov Vilimovich Bruce, who, in turn, was known as a physicist, mathematician, astrologer, translator and diplomat (and, according to rumors, a warlock and sorcerer). It was he who came up with the idea of ​​​​the ring construction of Moscow. The house has been in the possession of the Bryus family since the 30s of the 18th century; in the 1770s it was rebuilt, the second and third floors were added. In 1812, like many other houses, it was damaged by fire, but a year later it was restored. The main facade of the building underwent changes twice: in 1813 and at the end of the 19th century. In 2007-2009, restoration of this historical building was carried out.
By the way, the Bryuss owned the house for a little less than a hundred years, but the name of the lane, Bryusov, was firmly assigned to it. In Soviet times, the lane was renamed Nezhdanova Street, named after the People's Artist of the USSR - singer A.N. Nezhdanova (who lived in house No. 7), but in 1994 the historical name was returned.
In the 16th century, on the site of modern Bryusov Lane, there was a deep and long ravine, along the bottom of which flowed a stream - the right tributary of the river. Neglinnaya. Next to it, there has long been a wooden church in honor of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the first mention of which in historical sources dates back to 1548. From the name of the temple, this place in Moscow (or, as they used to say in the old days, “tract”) received the name “Uspensky Enemy” (ravine). This tract was the oldest in the so-called “White City” of Moscow. Later, residents began to call this lane simply Vrazhsky or Voskresensky (due to the Church of the Resurrection built in 1634).
Actually, it is this wonderful ancient Church of the Resurrection of the Word on the Assumption Vrazhek that is the calling card of Bryusov Lane (building No. 15). This small, modest temple is not lost against the background of the vast architectural heritage of the Russian capital. As Orthodox believers like to say, this is a place of prayer. The history of this temple is very interesting. In a fire on April 10, 1629, the wooden Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and, added to it in 1620, the chapel of the Prophet Elisha burned down. In its place, by 1634, the stone Church of the Resurrection of the Word was built. And nearby a new, also stone, temple of the Prophet Elisha was erected, built in memory of the meeting of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich (the first tsar of the Romanov dynasty) of his father, Patriarch Philaret, who was returning from Polish captivity. When this temple, which existed until the invasion of Napoleon and the great Moscow fire in 1812, was abolished, its altar was moved to the Church of the Resurrection of the Word. (According to some sources, the throne of the Eliseevsky Church was moved in 1818, according to others, in the middle of the 19th century).
For many, it remains a mystery why, during the years of state atheistic propaganda, when many churches were closed or destroyed, in the main city of our country - Moscow, the Church of the Resurrection of the Word on the Assumption Vrazhek (in Bryusov Lane) did not stop serving for a single day?
Some explain this fact by the unusual status of the area in which Bryusov Lane is located. Nearby are the House of Composers and the House of Artists, and the Conservatory is within walking distance. Moscow's creative bohemia - literary and artistic figures, musicians, artists, artists - have long settled here. It was the participation of the capital's creative intelligentsia that helped prevent the demolition of the ancient church. In particular, this merit is attributed to the great Russian director and actor K. S. Stanislavsky, whose opinion was listened to by the most influential persons of the Soviet state.
If you enter Bryusov Lane from Tverskaya Street through a majestic arch with granite columns, then on your left you will see house No. 12, which is the first in the line of “artistic” houses on Bryusov Lane. The famous director Vsevolod Meyerhold lived there with his wife, actress Zinaida Reich, and her children from her first marriage to Sergei Yesenin. Frequent guests in the Meyerholds' house were Sergei Eisenstein, Boris Pasternak, Pyotr Konchalovsky, Dmitry Shostakovich, Mikhail Tukhachevsky, Yuri Olesha, Sergei Prokofiev, Andrei Bely. Also in this house No. 12 lived ballerinas V.V. Krieger and M.T. Semenov, artists I.N. Bersenev, A.P. Ktorov, S.V. Giatsintova, architect I.I. Rerberg and choreographer V.D. Tikhomirov. Currently, this house houses the museum-apartment of V.E. Meyerhold.
Immediately behind Meyerhold's house there is a nine-story building No. 8/10 built by Stalin, it is connected to the neighboring house. These are the so-called “musical” houses, which were built specifically for professors of the Conservatory, to which Bryusov Lane leads, and composers. Such famous people as Khachaturian, Richter, Rastropovich, Kabalevsky, Shostakovich, Vishnevskaya and Kogan lived in this house. In the park between houses No. 8/10 and No. 6, a monument to the famous composer and conductor Aram Khachaturian was erected in 2006, and in 2012, at the intersection of Eliseevsky and Bryusov lanes, a monument to the great musician Mstislav Rostropovich by sculptor Alexander Rukavishnikov was erected.
On the opposite side, where the modern building No. 19 now stands, until 2003 there was an apartment building of A.V. Andreev (built in 1881), owner of the best grocery store in Moscow at that time. This house is also involved in the world of Russian art: the famous poet K. Balmont, who later married the daughter of the aforementioned A.V. Andreev, often visited it.
A little further in the neighborhood is house No. 17, which was built for the artists of the Art Theater. Moskvin, Liepa, Kachalov and ballerina E.V. lived here at one time. Geltser. A. Duncan stayed with this ballerina on one of her visits to Moscow.
House No. 7 is the largest building in the alley. It was built according to Shchusev's design specifically for the artists of the Bolshoi Theater. Nezhdanova, Lepeshinskaya, Obukhova, Golovanov, as well as I.S. lived in this house. Kozlovsky, who often sang in the church choir of the Church of the Resurrection of the Word.
Until 1964, a three-minute walk from Bryusov Lane, my great-grandmother’s family lived in an old three-story house, which, unfortunately, has not survived. My grandmother told me about this place, and about the construction of the house of “composers” (when underground passages were found during the laying of the foundation), and about the old church with miraculous icons. Therefore, when I find myself in this corner of old Moscow, silent buildings come to life for me, the history of my city becomes reality. I am proud that I am a Muscovite!

A walk with a child is an opportunity to be together, talk, have a heart-to-heart talk. This is an accessible way of communication even for a very busy person - after all, you can always find a little time to walk with your son or daughter in the park, embankment or old city streets. begins to collect places suitable for such bonding walks and their stories.

In the very center of the capital there is a place where you can take a walk, and breathe in the spirit of antiquity together with the bohemian spirit, and pray from the heart. This is Bryusov Lane.

Street on the river

And as soon as this ancient (even the oldest) corner of our capital was not called, covered with all sorts of legends, and all kinds of conversations... And Uspensky enemy, and Vrazhsky Lane - there were never any traces of enemies here, but from “enemies” it became maybe the name is simply a ravine (well, how funny these toponyms of ours are, how much unexpected and even funny things are hidden in them - historical, of course, too)...

In this enemy there flowed a river - so small that it didn’t even have a name. It still flows today, but only underground, hidden more than two hundred years ago in a pipe. On excursions, children are told mainly about the Neglinka flowing in the pipe underground. But how many nameless rivers, rivulets and streams flow underground like this one. Can't count!

photosight.ru. Photo: Tatyana Tsyganok

This lane is also known as Resurrection, since the Church of the Resurrection of the Word has stood here since the beginning of the 17th century. First wooden, then stone - it burned more than once, but was never closed. Never! Even in the terrible Stalinist times of persecution of the church. And this despite the fact that the temple is located just a few hundred meters from Red Square and the Kremlin. Truly the Lord has preserved!

From the middle of the 18th century, Bryusov Lane became a street. For for a hundred years the glorious Bryus family had already lived here, who moved to Muscovy, to serve the Russian sovereign, the “quiet” Alexei Mikhailovich, from England. The first was Yakov Vilimovich Bruce - a descendant of the kings of Scotland and a military man. His son was also a military man. At first, his grandson followed the same path - also Yakov Vilimovich Bruce - from a young age he was an associate of the future Tsar Peter the Great.

However, then Yakov Vilimovich became a purely scientific person. Knowing several languages, having studied maritime affairs, he was also an expert in painting, and collected a unique library and a rich herbarium. But they say he didn’t disdain astrology either. And even - shh! - witchcraft. Moscow legend says that the first Russian Freemason flew through the air from his home to the Sukharev Tower (which was built by Jacob Bruce in order to observe the stars). But how did he fly, on what?.. Then there were no hot air balloons. All we know is that he moved around like this at night. When no one saw...

The last of the Bryusov estates, Yakov Vilimovich's nephew, Count Alexander, was neither able to fly nor spy on the heavenly bodies... However, he managed to take part in a considerable number of campaigns, rose to the rank of lieutenant general and even became the vice-governor of Moscow.

So who is the street named after? Here's a question for you. Guess for yourself.

Much later this street was named after Antonina Vasilievna Nezhdanova, the famous Russian singer and once the first soprano of the Bolshoi Theater. But this is not long, just over thirty years - from the 62nd to the 94th year of the last century. However, even then the lane that connects the thoroughfare Tverskaya with the intimate Bolshaya Nikitskaya in just five walking minutes was called “Bryusov” by Muscovites in the old fashioned way. And 20 years ago the street was returned to its historical name. And, we dare to hope, now forever.

Shadows of the past

The unforgettable performer of the now almost forgotten romance Nadezhda Andreevna Obukhova also lived on this street. “Shadows of the past” - the simple words of an urban romance - she, like no one else, knew how to turn into a short, but always surprisingly lively story of someone’s deep feelings. From here, from house No. 7, the “queen of Russian romance” - perhaps the only opera singer with a unique mezzo-soprano who could sing an old romance in a salon (and not in a classical) manner - left for the Bolshoi Theater. On the opera stage, Obukhova reigned just as completely as in the music salon.

Yes, house No. 7... The largest, perhaps, in Bryusov... and certainly the most glorious. House of Bolshoi Theater Artists. The main theater of the country.

“Shadows of the Past” was also sung as a duet in this house. An ancient chronicle brought to us a half-worn recording of a romance sung by Obukhova in the company of the country's first tenor Ivan Kozlovsky in the apartment of Antonina Vasilyevna Nezhdanova. The apartment, however, had already become a museum (quite soon after the death of the legendary singer) and from here TV programs of the good old-fashioned genre were periodically broadcast in the force of “it was, it was...”. And although now this may seem completely incredible, but... It really happened. And it seems like not that long ago...

In the always neatly tidy front garden near the house, the famous bass Mark Reisen was walking in a huge white hat - quite wide-brimmed and ancient, but somehow never worn out and always fashionable. Elegant and handsome into old age, Reisen appeared on the Bolshoi stage for the last time at the age of 90 to sing Gremin’s aria in Eugene Onegin. And what?.. The voice sounded like never before!

Basically, house 7 was inhabited by opera houses. Alexander Pirogov - he surprisingly knew how to hide his short stature to everyone when he sang his crowning Boris in Mussorgsky's opera; Bronislava Zlatogorova - famous not only for her deep mezzo, but also for her large antique furniture collection; Elizaveta Shumskaya is the virtuoso Violetta from La Traviata and Kozlovsky’s favorite partner...

The tenor himself, who until his last days protected his unique voice with a warm scarf in any weather, at the same time did not shy away from daily exercise under any circumstances. Walks - half an hour, no more - were made arm in arm with the faithful housekeeper Nina Feodosyevna - from the house to the Church of the Resurrection. They say that once the famous singer sang here and on the choir, together with Nezhdanova... They say... But he was a faithful parishioner. That's for sure. And the artist’s funeral service was performed by Metropolitan Pitirim of Volokolamsk and Yuryev himself - another legend of Bryusov Lane.

Tall and stately, with jet-black hair (and then white as a harrier), the handsome man, who was the honorary rector of the temple, came to serve on Sundays (and sometimes on weekdays) and was always surrounded by a host of annoying admirers. They annoyed the ruler in pre-perestroika times by attracting attention to the bishop’s person that was excessive for Soviet times. And then, when times changed and it became unnecessary for those who should have been observing the clergy - and the bishop’s admirers became quite old. The circle began to dissolve and sadly thinned out. Old women, regardless of gender and rank, gradually left for another world. And in 2003, the bishop himself left. Ten years after Kozlovsky's death. And Bryusov Lane had also changed considerably by that time...

...There are no others... And about those who lived here, memorial plaques remind me in terse lines... The worst one is on house No. 12. The director Vsevolod Meyerhold, a great theatrical visionary and experimenter, lived here. Having put a green wig on Bulanova's head from Ostrovsky's "Forest", he was a loyal friend and adherent of the Soviet regime, but he was mercilessly destroyed by the same regime.

His plaque is adjacent to the memorial to Sofia Giatsintova. The actress was not only the first star of the Theater. Lenin's Komsomol, but passion also served the Soviet regime so faithfully. However, Sofya Vladimirovna was much luckier than Vsevolod Emilievich. They say because the actress managed to be in the right place at the right time and play the role of Lenin’s own mother, which allowed Giatsintova to live comfortably until she was almost 90 years old, without leaving the theatrical stage.

House of Artists in Bryusov. Photo: Alexander Ivanov.

Hello, new life...

What's in Bryusov now?

The famous artist Nikas Safronov moved to these parts to wander around ... the roof of his apartment at night. Known for his various escapades, the servant of the muses bought several houses at once at house number 17, in which the most famous ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater, Ekaterina Vasilievna Geltser, a friend of Marshal Mannerheim, once lived.

They say that the legendary military leader, even in Soviet times, crossing the border incognito (oh, how romantic!), came from Finland, which by that time he ruled and ruled, to look at his enchantress. Now half of Geltser’s apartment is occupied by another ballerina, Ilse Liepa, who named her cat Vaska, or rather Vasilyevna, in honor of the patronymic of Mannerheim’s great passion.

Another sign of new times - only this time inanimate - is the monument to Mstislav Rostropovich. The great and, as always, very focused cellist was seated at his instrument in the corner of the park by the ubiquitous Alexander Rukavishnikov. He sat me down right in front of the entrance to the temple, which the musician, by the way, loved to go into.

Another celestial being looks at Rostropovich from another square. Composer Aram Khachaturian. Both lived nearby, in the House of Composers. It was built already in the 50s, next to the artists’ cooperative. And some of the first generation of inhabitants can still be found here. For example, Lyudmila Lyadova...

And so - a young, unfamiliar tribe... Near the House of Composers they built some kind of cube of an incomprehensible design. Either a cube, or a parallelepiped, or... Nervous multi-colored graffiti on the wall... And house 19 - one of the most elegant buildings on the street, a hundred years old, protected by the state - was demolished. By installing a mediocre glass “tower” with a basement for foreign cars. They say that people live in it too...

Heavenly Helpers

Let's go to the temple one last time. In front of the image of the Mother of God “Seeking the Lost”, parents have long prayed for their lost children, crying in front of the icon of the Heavenly Intercessor so that the Lord would return understanding to their careless disciples.

This icon came here from the Church of the Nativity of Christ in Palashi, where Marina Tsvetaeva and Sergei Efron were once married in front of it. And she had to endure a lot of trials - she was broken into pieces by Napoleonic soldiers, and burned - after long ago she was brought to church by a bankrupt widower-nobleman with three daughters. Legend has it that, left a beggar with three teenage children, he was in extreme despair, and the Virgin Mary remained his only hope. With the last of his strength, he prayed in front of the icon, and when he married his daughters, he gave the shrine to the temple.

And they pray in front of the ancient image of St. Nicholas. He is always the first assistant for students. And they turn to Spridon, the miracle worker of Trimifunts...

Gorgots Ilya. Bryusov Lane. Watercolor.

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...And it’s better to enter Bryusov Lane from Tverskaya. And not even to enter, but to enter... For the street opens with a “triumphal” arch with powerful granite columns. It's like stepping into a formal ballroom. And - there is so much space, history, life in front of you...

Let's go in!..

Entrance to Bryusov. Photo: artema-lesnik.livejournal.com