House of the Noble Assembly (House of Unions). House of the Noble Assembly Noble Assembly of the Nobles

The building of the House of Unions (Noble Assembly) is located at Bolshaya Dmitrovka Street, 1.

Nearest metro station: Teatralnaya.

Now the building is called the "House of Unions". Used for concerts and events.

History of the building

In 1783, a noble social club was created. Such clubs eventually became common in large cities of Russia. The initiators of the creation of the clubs were the trustee of the Board of Trustees M.F. Soimonov and Prince A.B. Golitsyn. The noble meeting became a kind of alternative to the English Club (the domestic version, with more liberal rules of membership). Members of the Noble Assembly could be hereditary nobles (men and women). The Noble Assembly was headed by 12 elected elders (each year their composition was renewed by a third). The club was financed through annual contributions from members of the Noble Assembly.

In 1784, the Noble Assembly acquired the current building on Bolshaya Dmitrovka - the house of the former Moscow Governor-General V.M. Dolgorukova. The building was built in the first half of the 18th century and was rebuilt in 1784 - 1787 by M.F. Kazakov. The architect combined all the manor buildings into one building and built a Column Hall in its center, on the territory of the former inner manor courtyard. The house was heavily damaged in a fire in 1812 and was restored in 1814 by Kazakov’s student A.N. Bakarev.

Traditional balls (on Tuesdays) and evenings were held in the building of the Noble Assembly. In it, Moscow nobles received Russian emperors who came to the city. According to the charter of 1849, members of the Noble Assembly could invite “guests” (personal nobles, honorary citizens, merchants of the 1st guild, artists). At the head of the Noble Assembly was the elected Council of Elders, to which the economic committee and office were subordinate. The noble assembly had a rich library.

It is interesting that Catherine II ordered that the house purchased in the name of the elder of the Noble Assembly, Prince Golitsyn, be considered the private property of the Moscow nobility. Thus, a precedent was created when a public organization was recognized, in fact, as a legal entity.

It is known that M.Yu. Lermontov celebrated the New Year of 1832 at the Noble Assembly. He came to the festive masquerade dressed as an astrologer.

After the revolution of 1917, the Noble Assembly was liquidated, its building was transferred to trade unions and was named the House of Unions. Congresses of the Comintern and Profintern, other official events were held here, and concert activities continued. The building was often used for civil funeral services for high-ranking Soviet officials.

In the building of the House of Unions a farewell ceremony was held for the body of I.V. Stalin. The coffin with the leader’s body was installed on March 6, 1953 in the Column Hall of the House of Unions for farewell. At 16:00, access was open to everyone who wished to say goodbye to the leader. Unfortunately, there were so many people willing that a terrible stampede arose on Trubnaya Street, in which several thousand people died.

Important historical events took place in the building

In the second half of the 19th century, P.I. performed concerts in the Hall of Columns. Tchaikovsky, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, S.V. Rachmaninov, F. Liszt and others.

In June 1880, on the days of the opening of the monument to A.S. in Moscow. Pushkin, F.M. Dostoevsky delivered a famous speech here dedicated to the memory of the poet.

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The museum-apartment of A. B. Goldenweiser, one of the greatest musicians of the first half of the twentieth century, pianist, composer, teacher, musical and public figure, People's Artist of the USSR, rector of the Moscow Conservatory, was created by decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on January 26, 1955. The museum was created with the direct participation of Alexander Borisovich and received its first visitors in 1959. At first, Alexander Borisovich himself conducted excursions, and after his death in 1961, his student, assistant and wife E. I. Goldenweiser (1911−1998) became the head of the museum. The museum-apartment of A. B. Goldenweiser today, in fact, is a “museum within a museum” - a single memorial, collection and exhibition, scientific research, musical, educational and reference-methodological complex. The museum premises are divided into two zones - a memorial and a chamber music salon. The memorial department conducts educational and excursion work; the music salon hosts meetings with students of A. B. Goldenweiser, concerts of piano, vocal and instrumental music, as well as video and sound recording evenings. The museum hosts scientific readings, methodological seminars, consultations and reviewing of scientific works on musical topics, and there is an opportunity for researchers and scientists to work. The exhibition pays much attention to Goldenweiser’s more than half a century of teaching activity. The names of his students are widely known: S. Feinberg, G. Ginzburg, A. Kaplan, L. Sosina, T. Nikolaeva, D. Paperno, G. Grodberg and many others. The subject of constant concern for Alexander Borisovich was children's music education. The Central Music School in Moscow, which grew out of the Special Children's Group organized in the early 1930s, owes its creation largely to A. B. Goldenweiser. The museum stores, studies and displays A. B. Goldenweiser’s archive, his library, numerous collections, and valuable memorial items. The basis of the Goldenweiser collection are manuscripts, books, notes and letters of great scientific and documentary-historical value. And the extensive collection of paintings, graphics and sculpture speaks of his subtle artistic taste. The musician’s photo archive contains photographs with autographs of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, S. I. Taneyev, S. V. Rachmaninov, N. K. Medtner, M. A. Chekhov, K. S. Stanislavsky. Of particular interest are the photographs in Yasnaya Polyana with L.N. Tolstoy, which were taken by Sofia Andreevna Tolstaya. The collection of concert and theater programs reflects the musical life of Moscow from 1886 to 1961. Many memorial items create an atmosphere of comfort and the effect of the presence of the owner in the museum-apartment. Among them are two pianos from the C. Bechstein company, furniture from the early 20th century, and personal belongings of L.N. Tolstoy, with whom A.B. Goldenweiser had almost 16 years of friendship. The collection of the A. B. Goldenweiser Apartment Museum is of great value not only for researchers of the work of the outstanding musician, but also for ordinary music lovers, as well as for everyone interested in the history of Russian musical culture.

Today it is difficult to imagine that in this austere building, built in the style of mature classicism, the most fun balls in the capital were held. And the most popular. Every Tuesday, as was the custom almost from the very beginning, here, in the very center of the Mother See, the best orchestras played and the best Moscow couples danced. Up to three thousand people came to the traditional winter and spring balls! And its Hall of Columns accommodated everyone!

Noble Assembly (House of Unions) (Moscow)

Location: Moscow (Russia)

Architects: M.F. Kazakov, A.N. Bakarev, A. F. Meisner

Creation: 1784-1790s M. F. Kazakov reconstruction of scattered estates into a single volume, creation of a two-story Hall of Columns

Restoration after the fire of 1812 A. N. Bakarev

Reconstruction 1903-1908 by A.F. Meisner, the 3rd floor was added, the facades and the layout adjacent to the Hall of Columns were redone

Customer: Prince V. M. Dolgoruky-Krymsky

The history of this building began in the middle of the 18th century. It was built for the Moscow commander-in-chief Vasily Mikhailovich Dolgorukov-Krymsky. The house was then purchased by the Noble Assembly.

The Moscow Noble Assembly, a noble class institution, was opened in Moscow in 1783 on the initiative of the trustee of the Board of Trustees, Mikhail Fedorovich Soimonov, and Prince Alexei Borisovich Golitsyn. The noble meeting became a kind of alternative to the English Club. In essence, it was a domestic version of the club, but with more liberal membership rules.

Members of the Noble Assembly could be hereditary nobles, both men and women. The Noble Assembly was headed by 12 elected elders. Members of the Noble Assembly paid annual dues.

In 1784, the Noble Assembly acquired the house of the former Moscow Governor-General on the corner of Bolshaya Dmitrovka and Okhotny Ryad. Architect Matvey Fedorovich Kazakov was invited to reconstruct the building.

The main difficulty for the architect was to develop a completely new image of a public building. After all, here, unlike other buildings that Matvey Fedorovich erected, the house was rebuilt from an old building. Externally, the house differed little from the large urban estates with which Moscow was decorated in those years.

Kazakov oriented the main facade of the building along Bolshaya Dmitrovka, highlighting its center with a solemn elevated six-column Ionic portico. The corners were emphasized by smaller porticoes with pilasters. They gave the entire composition strict symmetry, proportional and rhythmic consistency. From the Okhotny Ryad side, the building at its end had only a front entrance, decorated with an arch on double columns.

But Kazakov decided to pay the main attention to the interior. He united all the estate buildings into one monumental building and built it in its center, onterritory of the former inner manor courtyard, the majestic Hall of Columns. It is not for nothing that the Columned Hall of the Noble Assembly is called Kazakov’s masterpiece.

Slender white columns of the Corinthian order are placed along the walls of the rectangular hall. The Corinthian colonnade has a strict, plastic and elegantly crafted entablature, above which there were second-light windows. Thanks to these windows, the gigantic vaulted ceiling with a picturesque ceiling seemed to float in the air.

Large proportions of the order, calm forms of columns, clear outlines of all parts create a feeling of solemnity. This solemnity is further emphasized by the polished surface of white artificial marble, wall mirrors, and beautiful crystal chandeliers. This hall of simple and noble architecture was destined to become the center of life for the citizens of the “noble Republic”.

The Columned Hall quickly gained fame as one of the most solemn classicist ceremonial halls in Moscow. The dimensions of the hall - 24.8 meters by 39.5 meters - allowed 500 or more couples to dance. The ceiling height (14.5 meters) exceeds that of a modern four-story residential building. All these architectural advantages were complemented by excellent acoustics. The flat wooden ceiling acted as a soundboard, reflecting and amplifying sound.

Thanks to such acoustics, European celebrities, singers and musicians, coming to Moscow, sought to perform not only in serf theaters and living rooms of noble nobles, but also in a hall that had never been seen before.

Members of the Noble Assembly “freely came to enjoy the amenities of the hostel” in their house on Dmitrovka from October to April. Then in Moscow, in the Hall of Columns, breathtaking balls took place, the fame of which reached St. Petersburg. Catherine II ordered that the house, purchased in the name of the elder of the Noble Assembly, Prince Golitsyn, be considered the private property of the Moscow nobility. Thus, a precedent was created when a public organization was recognized as a legal entity.

And the grandson of Catherine II, Emperor Alexander I, signed up as a member of the Moscow Noble Assembly and ordered to call it Russian. Nobles from estates all over Russia came to Moscow, already to the Russian Noble Assembly, to socialize and have fun.

In the 1800s, a three-story building with a corner rotunda was added to the building from Georgievsky Lane.

The House of the Noble Assembly was severely destroyed by fire in 1812. Two years later, in 1814, the building was restored by the student of Matvey Fedorovich Kazakov, the architect Alexei Nikitich Bakarev.

Traditional balls and evenings have resumed in the building of the Noble Assembly. In it, Moscow nobles received Russian emperors who came to the city. According to the charter of 1849, members of the Noble Assembly could invite “guests”. Those elevated to the nobility from other classes, honorary citizens, merchants of the first guild, foreign merchants and representatives of the “liberal professions” could see the Hall of Columns, striking in its “simplicity and grandeur.”

Many outstanding cultural and artistic figures, composers and performers, writers and artists climbed the wide three-flight staircase, which led to the front enfilade, with halls, offices and living rooms surrounding the Hall of Columns.

But life in the house was not limited to fun. Elections of leaders of the nobility and other officials took place there. Meetings of the Moscow provincial council were held in the building of the Noble AssemblyAssembly of the Nobility. Because of these meetings, the building was sometimes called the House of the Noble Assembly.

Balls and masquerades gave way to regular classical music concerts. The house became the first Moscow Philharmonic.

In the second half of the 19th century, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov, Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov, Franz Liszt and others performed concerts in the Hall of Columns of the Noble Assembly.

The rich library of the Noble Assembly was very famous.

In 1903, the architect Alexander Felitsianovich Meisner added a third floor and installed skylight windows in the Hall of Columns.

After the October coup, the Noble Assembly was liquidated, and its building was transferred to the trade unions and was named the House of Unions.

In the 1784-1790s M.F. Kazakov expanded the building and changed its layout. This is how the Hall of Columns appeared in place of the courtyard. Noble meetings, receptions of distinguished guests, balls and masquerades took place here, the fame of which reached St. Petersburg. The Hall of Columns was also the largest brides' fair in Russia.

The Noble Assembly had its own library. Performances were also staged here. In one of them, young Lermontov played an astrologer.

But the building of the Noble Assembly repeated the fate of many Moscow houses: in 1812 it burned down, for the sake of profit, the building was covered with unsightly shops, and over time it lost its original features.

The Columned Hall of the Noble Assembly was huge: it could accommodate more than 500 couples, had a height of 14.5 meters and excellent acoustics. The flat wooden ceiling acted as a soundboard, reflecting and amplifying sound at the level of the best opera houses in the world. At the same time, during construction, Kazakov did not use any special physical devices. It is not surprising that the house of the Noble Assembly turned into a real philharmonic society, and European celebrities sought to perform in the Hall of Columns. In Europe then they said that there was no better hall.

And on March 4, 1856, Emperor Alexander II delivered a historic speech in the Hall of Columns about the need to free the peasants from serfdom.

The assembly of the nobility in our time was completely noble, because the elders vigilantly watched to ensure that there was no admixture, and the members who brought visitors with them had to not only guarantee that those brought were definitely nobles, but also answer that they would not nothing reprehensible, and this is under the fear of being blacklisted and thereby forever losing the right to attend the meeting. The merchants with their wives and daughters, and then only honorable ones, were allowed as an exception as spectators on some solemn days or during royal visits, but did not mix with the nobility: stand behind the columns and look from afar.

In 1903-1908, the House of Unions was built with a third floor and the facade was slightly changed according to the design of the architect A.F. Meissner. The main decoration of the Hall of Columns were 28 columns (9.8 meters in height). Hence the name.

After the October Revolution, the building was handed over to the trade unions. Since 1935, children's “New Year trees” began to be held at the House of Unions. And the working library-reading room named after Gorky replaced the noble library.

On January 23-27, 1924, a farewell to V.I. was held in the Column Hall of the House of Unions. Lenin. After this, the Hall of Columns often served as a place for people to bid farewell to deceased Soviet statesmen. It also hosted show trials, congresses of Soviets and trade unions, reporting party conferences of Moscow city and regional organizations of the CPSU, unions of writers and composers, music concerts and sports competitions.