Spiridonovka house 17. Walk along Spiridonovka - Navody — LiveJournal
Acquired the old estate of the Aksakov family. At that time, on the site stood a dilapidated wooden house in the Empire style, built in 1814 by the famous architect for the poet I.I. Dmitrieva. Savva Morozov ordered the demolition of the old building, and in its place a large beautiful mansion to be built according to the design of the young man. The estate was being built for the beloved wife of Savva Timofeevich.
At one time, the love of Savva and Zinaida Morozov caused a lot of noise in merchant Moscow. The young 18-year-old wife of Sergei Vikulovich Morozov met his uncle, Savva Morozov, at the ball. The love flared up so strong that for her sake Savva stepped over the religious canons and pious customs of the Old Believers and invited Zinaida to become his wife. The families of the lovers were Old Believers. Relatives and the entire merchant society perceived divorce and marriage to a divorcee as a great shame. Despite everything, in 1888 Savva and Zinaida got married and lived together for 17 years.
The house on Spiridonovka was one of the first large independent works. He offered the owners three designs for the main house: in the French Renaissance, Rococo and English Neo-Gothic styles. The Morozov family had long-standing ties to textile Manchester; Savva Timofeevich himself studied at Cambridge and was a famous Anglomaniac - so he chose the English Neo-Gothic style.
The new mansion was built indented from the red line, connecting it with an underground passage to the utility wing, where all the ancillary services were located. Everything was done according to the most modern European standards. The house on Spiridonovka became the best building in the neo-Gothic style in Moscow. Its strict geometric volumes create an asymmetrical composition with a corner tower-like part. The ceremonial interiors contrast with the ascetic appearance of the building. The interior decoration and antique furniture recreate the romantic atmosphere of the knightly Middle Ages. The main entrance - a protruding porch with three portal arches - is located at the right end of the building. The left, more private, part of the house opens onto a small garden.
The exquisite decoration is dominated by Gothic motifs, but there are rooms in the Renaissance, Rococo, and Empire styles. Magnificent wood trim and almost all furniture are made at the P.A. furniture factory. Shmita, son-in-law of Zinaida Grigorievna’s first husband. A great artist worked on the interior decoration. He made a sketch of the stained glass window “Meeting of the Victorious Knight”, which adorns the end wall of the staircase space. At the base of the stairs, Vrubel placed a sculptural composition based on Meyerbeer’s opera “Robert the Devil.” The artist also painted allegorical panels for a small living room.
A magnificent housewarming party in a wonderful mansion took place on February 8, 1897. But family happiness did not reign in him for long. In 1898, Savva Morozov became one of the main shareholders of the Moscow Art Theater. There he met actress Maria Andreeva. And new love destroyed everything - family, business career, mental health. In May 1905, Savva Morozov was found dead in his hotel room in Cannes. There are still ongoing debates about whether it was a political murder or suicide.
Two years after the death of her husband, Zinaida Grigorievna married Major General A.A. Rainbot, and in 1909 she sold the mansion to Mikhail Pavlovich Ryabushinsky. She said that the spirit of Savva Timofeevich did not allow her to live in this house, and that allegedly at night in the office he could hear his coughing and shuffling gait, and objects on the table were moving.
Ryabushinsky moved into the house with his beautiful wife, daughter and a magnificent collection of paintings by Russian and Western European artists. The new owner did not redo anything, only in 1912 he ordered the artist K.F. Bogaevsky has three panels for the piano living room. The revolution deprived these owners of their home as well.
In 1929, ownership of the estate was transferred to the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs. On August 4, 1995, there was a devastating fire. In the shortest possible time, the mansion was restored according to the surviving drawings with a personal signature.
Currently, the building is under the jurisdiction of the Main Production and Commercial Directorate for Servicing the Diplomatic Corps under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. The mansion houses the Reception House of the Russian Foreign Ministry. In 1996, the G8 meeting took place here.
*A virtual tour of the facility was provided for publication by GlavUpDK under the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Not far from the noisy Garden Ring, and to be specific on Spiridonovka Street, 17, building 1, in the quiet center there is an amazingly beautiful mansion, which Muscovites dubbed the Morozov House after the name of its first owner-philanthropist. For some, house number 17 on Spiridonovka resembles a fairy-tale palace, while others see it as an example of neo-Gothic style, fashionable at the end of the 19th century. architectural direction. It is believed that this particular mansion served as the prototype for Margarita’s house from Bulgakov’s great novel.
History of construction
In 1893, Savva Morozov decided to build an estate in the center of Moscow, the like of which was not found at that time not only in Moscow, but throughout all of Russia. An ordinary house did not correspond to the scope of an entrepreneur and philanthropist. The mansion was designed by Fyodor Shekhtel, a young architect who had already built a dacha for Morozov and knew about the tastes and preferences of the manufacturer. It was he who was entrusted with implementing the plans of the owner, who was passionate about English medieval romance, into the house project. And the architect did not disappoint. He personally completed several hundred drawings of the mansion until he got what he needed: the romance of Art Nouveau with a touch of mysterious Gothic.
Shekhtel's creation became a kind of experiment. He abandoned the symmetrical arrangement of interior spaces that was accepted at that time, paying tribute to the picturesque layout. The interior of the mansion was decorated by Shekhtel with the participation of the famous painter Vrubel.
There were rumors that Savva Morozov was persuaded to build the mansion by his wife Zinaida, who dreamed of a luxurious house that could not be compared with any estate in the capital. Whether this is true or not is unknown for sure. But after all the work was completed in 1898, the building became a Moscow landmark. Residents of the capital dubbed it “palazzo” and came to admire the pointed arches, battlements, buttresses, as well as the fantastic creatures located at the will of the architect on the turrets on the façade of the building.
Thanks to the fact that Morozov’s young wife led a secular lifestyle, many famous and wealthy Muscovites were able to visit the mansion and admire its extraordinary interior decoration.
The splendor of the interior amazed the guests no less than the unusual appearance of the building. The abundance of griffins, chimeras and other fairy-tale creatures, figures of knights, carved vaults, high ceilings - all this created the atmosphere of a medieval castle.
After her husband’s suicide in 1905, his widow sold the mansion to M.P. Ryabushinsky. According to rumors, the woman was afraid to be alone in the house. It seemed to her that she heard the steps and cough of her deceased husband at night, and objects in his office seemed to begin to move on their own.
After the October Revolution, the family of the new owner moved abroad, and the mansion was empty for some time. In the 20s, a boarding school for orphans was located here, and in the 30s. transferred the building to the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs. In 1938, the Reception House of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was located here, which remains in the building to this day.
Unfortunately, the post-revolutionary chaos affected the condition of the building. In the 70s 20th century Morozov's former house resembled a barn, as its director E.K. put it. Baykova. The amazingly beautiful painting of walls and ceilings, carvings, gilding - all this was hidden under a thick layer of whitewash. Restoration work was completed only in 1987, and the mansion acquired its former appearance.
However, this was not the end of the trials for the estate. In August 1995, a fire suddenly started in the building, engulfing all the rooms at once. As a result, the unique interior was completely destroyed. But thanks to the efforts of restorers, the decoration of the house was restored practically from the ashes, including three panels by Bagaevsky, ordered by the Ryabushinsky family. The stained glass windows and all other furnishings were also recreated. To carry out the restoration work, old drawings by Fyodor Shekhtel were used. The work took more than six months.
The mansion is currently
Now the former Morozov mansion, and now the Reception House of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has been completely restored. On the ground floor, with the help of stylistic imitation, the interior in which the famous manufacturer lived was recreated. True, in accordance with modern tasks, there is also office furniture for employees working in the building.
But the stunningly beautiful staircase with figured railings, decorated with sculptures by Vrubel, extraordinary stained glass windows, fireplaces, paintings and stucco moldings still surprise and fascinate distinguished guests visiting the reception house. It is surprising that all the ancient objects preserved in the mansion still perform their functions. Any fireplace can be lit if desired, and all clocks show the exact time.
Getting into the mansion on a tour is not so easy. Organized groups of no more than 10 people are allowed here, and registration must be made 1.5 months in advance. Therefore, for most Muscovites and guests of the capital, Morozov’s mansion remains a mysterious and beautiful castle, as if straight from the pages of fairy tales.
It’s nice to walk along this street, especially on a weekend when there are few cars, so we turn off Malaya Nikitskaya. Behind the museum-apartment of A.M. Gorky and our walk around Spiridonovka begins. The street is named after the Church of St. Spyridonius on the Goat Swamp. Once upon a time this was the name of this area, where wild goats lived, and Spiridonius was a shepherd in his youth. He is revered by the church as the patron saint of shepherds, goats and agriculture in general. Over time, houses were built around the stream in the swamp, then luxurious mansions. In modern times, the church was demolished, Spiridonovka was renamed Alexei Tolstoy Street, and embassies occupied the mansions. But still, despite the high-rise buildings built back in Soviet times, here and now there is a breath of Old Moscow.
In addition to the fact that on Spiridonovka there are two mansions built by Shekhtel, two literary museums, a monument to Alexander Blok, here you can see many interesting buildings in very good condition. On a Sunday, on this street you often meet people with maps, guidebooks, simply looking at the buildings and with cameras; in general, the walk turned out to be with positive emotions.
1. The beginning of Spiridonovka - house No. 3/5, one of the oldest buildings in Moscow, the chambers of the Garnet Court. From this place you can see the arrow with Granatny Lane, on the arrow there is a pink house in the shape of an iron, forming the direction of Spiridonovka.
2. In the 14th century, workshops were located in the Granatny Dvor where explosive artillery shells were made. In Soviet times there were almost ruins here, and in the 1970s the building was threatened with demolition. Fortunately, this time everything ended well, and in the 90s the complex finally began to be restored. After restoration or reconstruction, as experts believed, the building was adapted for the Association of Interior Designers.
3. View of the Garnet Yard.
5. The corner house at number 2/9 was built in 1902 for merchants, brothers Mikhail and Nikolai Armenian. This apartment building with a dormitory for poor Armenian students studying in Moscow was built in two stages: in 1899, a three-story stone house in an eclectic style was built along Granatny Lane, designed by architect G.A. Kaiser, and in 1902 the architect V.A. Velichkin, the author of the Savoy Hotel in Moscow, a master of Moscow Art Nouveau, erected a massive four-story building adjacent to the house in Granatny and continuing along the perimeter of Spiridonovka. The facade was decorated in Art Nouveau style. The house acquired its current appearance in the late 1930s, when its four-story part was built with one floor, and the three-story part with two.
Until 1917, a large family of its owners lived in the house. N.P. Armenian was a member of the Russian Photographic Society. His brother M.P. Armenian was one of the founders of the Society of Skiing Amateurs. In one of the apartments there was a private school for children, headed by A.F. Armenian. Since its construction, the apartments of this house have always been inhabited by the creative intelligentsia: architects, writers. Various parties were held in the apartments of this house and bohemian life reigned. Now the building still contains residential apartments, with the exception of the first floor, where, in addition to the Open Club contemporary art gallery, various organizations are located.
6. Residential building No. 9 of the merchant H. Pavlov (reconstruction 1994) is a two-story brick house, built according to an individual design in a classical style.
7. The cute mansion is a cultural heritage site, built in 1895. The symmetrically located entrances are highlighted with light openwork canopies.
8. House No. 10, built in 1905 by the architect P. V. Skosyrev by order of His Majesty the Emperor for the artists of the Bolshoi Theater. The mansion with a beautiful facade is located in a quiet fenced park.
9. The house has preserved grand marble staircases, arched windows and stucco moldings, reminiscent of the historical, theatrical past of this house.
10. The house at Spiridonovka, 11 is also an architectural monument. The city estate of A.F. Belyaev, built in 1902-1904 by the architect I.I. Boni, is a cultural heritage site of federal significance. The house was built in the “rational modern” style for the famous doctor, who saw Chaliapin and Sobinov. The unusual fence makes the house very attractive. And the building itself was built as an imitation of Ryabushinsky’s mansion, which is located at the beginning of the street. Currently, house No. 11 is the Peruvian embassy, right behind the fence is the Algerian property.
11. A look at the beginning of Spiridonovka, houses 2/9, 9, 11 are visible on the right side.
12. House No. 13 - mansion of R.I. Geste was built in 1907 by architect S.S. Schutzman, and again an object of cultural heritage. This mansion houses the Algerian Embassy.
13. Address of the next property No. 14. Own apartment building in the Renaissance style of the architect P.S. Boytsov (1903), built >with the participation of architect A.V. Flodina. This house is now occupied by the Consulate General of Greece. The balcony of the third floor of the building is framed by a metal lattice of classical ornament. The general symmetry of the facade with elements of architectural decor is broken on the first floor by the entrance vestibule, a protruding corner and a faceted bay window above it. The house is decorated with a massive sculptural group: a lion defeating a dragon, as a reminder of Viennese architecture.
14. House No. 16 - apartment building P.S. Boytsova.
15. And this mansion (house no. 17) is the main decoration of Spiridonovka. Fyodor Shekhtel designed a castle-style mansion for Savva Morozov and his wife. At one time, the love of Savva and Zinaida Morozov caused a lot of noise in merchant Moscow. The young 18-year-old wife of Sergei Vikulovich Morozov met his uncle Savva Morozov at the ball. For her sake, Savva stepped over the customs of the Old Believers and invited Zinaida to become his wife. Relatives and the entire merchant society perceived divorce and marriage as a great shame for the family. Despite everything, in 1888 Savva and Zinaida got married and lived together for 17 years.
16. Savva Timofeevich Morozov studied at Cambridge and was a famous Anglomaniac, so he chose the English Neo-Gothic style for his mansion. Built in 1898, the mansion was the first large-scale work of the architect Shekhtel. The money received from this order allowed him to build a mansion for himself in Ermolaevsky Lane. The construction was supervised by the architect I. S. Kuznetsov with assistants V. D. Adamovich, I. E. Bondarenko, the interiors were commissioned from the artist M. A. Vrubel.
17. The new mansion was built indented from the red line, connecting it with an underground passage to the utility wing, where all the ancillary services were located. Everything was done according to the most modern European standards. The house on Spiridonovka became the best building in the neo-Gothic style in Moscow. Its strict geometric volumes create an asymmetrical composition with a corner tower-like part. The mansion was badly damaged by fire in 1995, but was quickly restored. After all, this is a cultural heritage site of federal significance. Currently it is a reception house for the Russian Foreign Ministry.
18. House No. 20 corresponds to the respectable style of the street, but it seems that it is a remake.
16. At the corner of Spiridonovka and Spiridonievsky Lane there is a large gray residential building No. 24/1 of the Teplobeton trust in the constructivist style. This unique house was built in 1932-1934 from a rare technological innovation - thermal concrete. Currently - the Union of Designers of Russia.
17. The house also stands out for the presence of a bas-relief with allegorical figures and explanatory inscriptions: “Technology, art, science.” There are two styles in the architecture of the house - constructivism and Stalinist Empire style. It was on this spot that the destroyed church stood.
21. View towards the Garden Ring - houses No. 28 and 30.
22. Tarasov House No. 30/1 was built according to the design of Ivan Vladislavovich Zholtovsky (1867-1959), a graduate of the Imperial Academy of Arts, who came to Moscow and had already completed several large orders in the old capital and the surrounding estates.
This house on the corner of Spiridonovka and Bolshoy Patriarshiy Lane looks somehow not Moscow-like. This impression is created by a rough, rusticated (i.e., trimmed with stripes like a chocolate bar) wall and bulky window frames. This house has an Italian prototype: the Palazzo Thiene, built in Vicenza in the mid-16th century by the famous Andrea Palladio. However, Zholtovsky rethought the proportions of the building. In the Palazzo Thiene, the upper floor is higher than the lower floor. Zholtovsky liked the ratio of floors in the Venetian Doge's Palace more: a high lower floor and a shorter upper floor. At the same time, the decor of the facade migrated to Spiridonovka virtually unchanged.
23. The customer of the construction was the wealthy merchant Gavriil Tarasov, who came from an Armenian family. On the façade of the house you can still read the inscription in Latin “Gabriil Tarasov made it.” After the revolution, the building housed the Supreme Court, then the Polish Embassy, and since the 1960s, luxurious Italian rooms with columns, fireplaces and painted ceilings have been occupied by the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Tarasov's House is a cultural heritage site of federal significance.
24. Houses No. 34, 36, 38 - apartment buildings from the beginning of the last century by famous architects. In front of the houses there is a square with pioneers. As it turned out, they appeared here not so long ago.
25. Perhaps this is one of the most respectable streets in Moscow and it is very pleasant to walk along it.
The Special Mansion of the Russian Foreign Ministry is located at Spiridonovka, no. 17 and is used for high-level receptions (in particular, this is where the G8 once met).
The mansion was built by the talented architect Fyodor Osipovich Shekhtel in the neo-Gothic style that was fashionable at the end of the 19th century.
The customer of the mansion was the famous industrialist and philanthropist Savva Morozov. However, the mansion was built solely at the whim of his wife Zinaida, who did not count her husband’s money, and rumors about the luxury of the mansion quickly spread throughout Moscow (all the interiors were carefully designed by Shekhtel, with the participation of Vrubel). Later, after the death of her husband, Zinaida sold the mansion to the Ryabushinskys, saying that Savva’s spirit would not allow her to live in this house and that supposedly at night in Morozov’s office, objects on the table were moving, his coughing and shuffling gait could be heard.
This is what the mansion looks like from the outside
In the same mansion, Morozov for some time hid the revolutionary Bauman, who was on the run. And here’s the bad luck: it was at this time that Moscow Governor-General Sergei Alexandrovich himself decided to visit Morozov for lunch... The reception was arranged in the most luxurious way. Sergei Alexandrovich was sitting at the table and did not even suspect that the “family friend” of the Morozovs sitting there was none other than the most dangerous revolutionary Bauman, whom the entire Moscow police was looking for and could not find.
This same mansion is considered one of the prototypes of the mansion of Bulgakov’s Margarita:
Margarita Nikolaevna and her husband together occupied the entire top of a beautiful mansion in a garden in one of the alleys near Arbat. Charming place! Anyone can verify this if they wish to go to this garden. Let him contact me, I will tell him the address, show him the way - the mansion is still intact.
Also pay attention to the large second floor window from which Margarita flew out.
Devilish creatures at the mansion
Rear view, from a closed area
The front hall of the mansion. The knights were made in Germany, XVIII-XIX centuries. 
Savva's former guest room
The interiors of the mansion do not replicate the interiors in which Savva Morozov lived. This is just a stylization, but all the furniture, carpets, paintings and other interior details were collected from different collections. All these are originals, mostly from the 18th-19th centuries.
Former smoking room. Vrubel's paintings. 
Main Meeting Hall. Presidents sit here. The G8 was here.
Stairs to the second floor. Sculptural composition of Vrubel. (under the stairs there is an ordinary office table and cabinets, because the administration sits there)
Fireplace room (all fireplaces in the mansion are working). Used for protocol meetings. On the right is the door to the perfect European kitchen.
Actually the kitchen itself.
Some kind of elegant and cunning cabinet.
A walk-through room with an elegant and cunning cabinet and a red lamp made according to Shekhtel’s sketch.
Former bedroom of Zinaida Morozova. Nowadays the room is still the same for protocol meetings.
Morozova's former boudoir. Now it's a meeting again.
Round table, original furniture from the 19th century. This is how they sit at the highest level.
All the antique clocks in the mansion are in working order, ticking and chiming.
Encore: main meeting room. The White Hall, also known as the Marble Hall.
Encore Knights =)
Staircase with figures (a monitor is visible under the foot of one of the figures).
Important Note: we do not have contacts for the administration of the mansion and cannot in any way assist you in visiting it or holding an event (even if you have a “serious company”).
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The Morozov dynasty gave the capital many amazing mansions, each of which has a scandalous or romantic story associated with it.
The Morozov dynasty left the capital a luxurious legacy - more than two dozen magnificent buildings. There are not enough pages to talk about them all, so we will present only the most striking and significant Morozov mansions for Moscow.
Mansion in Shelaputinsky Lane
One of the most influential and rich people of his time, the merchant and philanthropist Savva Vasilyevich Morozov, began his life as a serf, which he continued to be, already having two weaving factories. Having bought his freedom for 17,000 rubles, he went to Moscow, where he enrolled in the Moscow merchant class.
First, he acquired a plot of land with a 2-story stone house and a garden on Shelaputinsky Lane, which he subsequently rebuilt in the style of late classicism. Gradually his holdings expand; he erects a factory building near the mansion. Soon the Morozov site is filled with 11 stone buildings.
Subsequently, according to the will, all this wealth will pass to his granddaughter Catherine. Ekaterina Abramovna will partially rebuild the mansion, setting it up as an almshouse for the Old Believers of the Rogozh Old Believer community. The Old Believer house church of the Apostles Peter and Paul was also located here, which, together with the almshouse, was closed after the revolution.
In this estate in Shelaputinsky Lane, all five of Savva Vasilyevich’s sons were born, who scattered from their parents’ nest and also built their own houses throughout Moscow. The best architects of the late 19th and early 20th centuries worked for the Morozov family: Shekhtel, Klein, Chichagov, Erichson.
Present tense
In this building in Moscow is located State Literary Museum. The former Morozov mansion has been restored, and the doors of the building are open to all those interested. Address of Savva Morozov's property: Shelaputinsky Lane, 1.
Spiridonovka is also decorated with the mansion of Savva Morozov - but not the ancestor, but the grandson of the founder of the dynasty. The legendary house in the English Gothic style is entangled with many scandalous and romantic stories. Savva Timofeevich bought the former Aksakov estate in 1893, destroying the old building to the ground for the sake of a new beautiful mansion designed by Shekhtel.
The building on Spiridonovka is the former mansion of Zinaida Morozova
The estate, considered the prototype of Bulgakov’s Margarita’s house, was built for his beloved wife Zinaida. By the way, the Morozovs’ love story is indeed somewhat similar to the meeting of the Master and Margarita; at one time it created a great stir. Just a child, 18-year-old Zinaida, at that time the wife of Sergei Morozov, met his uncle Savva at a ball. The love was so strong that Savva Morozov, a zealous Old Believer, crossed religious prohibitions for the sake of marriage with Zinaida. Relatives (pious Old Believers) perceived the divorce and subsequent marriage as a family shame. But the lovers had nothing to do with this. And in 1888 they got married, having lived together for 17 years.
The design of the mansion combines elements of the Renaissance, Empire and Rococo, the facade is decorated with high reliefs and stained glass windows. Mikhail Vrubel worked on the interior. After the death of her husband, in 1905, Zinaida sold the house with all its furnishings to the no less famous entrepreneur and philanthropist Mikhail Ryabushinsky.
Present tense
The former mansion of Zinaida Morozova today is an administrative building given over to the needs of Ministry of Foreign Affairs. You can get into it on Museum Day and Moscow Historical Heritage Day, when its doors open to visitors. On ordinary days, entry to ordinary citizens is closed.
All that remains is to admire the facade and take photographs of it as a souvenir. The exact address of the Morozov mansion in this part of Moscow: st. Spiridonovka, 17.
Handicraft Museum - former Morozov mansion
In the area of Bolshaya Nikitskaya and Tverskaya streets there were 2-story stone chambers of Avtonom Golovin, an associate of Peter the Great. Subsequently, the premises housed the printing house of Anatoly Mamontov.
This is one of the prettiest houses of the Morozov family
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the large property was divided into two parts, one of which was acquired by industrialist and collector Sergei Morozov, brother of the same Savva described above. A lover of folk crafts, he made the building the way it can be seen today.
Present tense
The ancient chambers were rebuilt into ancient Russian towers and donated to the Handicraft Museum, which existed in the mansion for some time. Its calling card was the lobby with a ceramic fireplace made according to Vrubel’s sketches. Today, in the building of the former Morozov property and once the Handicraft Museum, there is Museum of Folk Crafts.
Anyone can get into the old mansion. Exact address: Moscow, Leontyevsky lane, 7, building 1.
Miracle castle of the Morozov dynasty on Vozdvizhenka
On Vozdvizhenka, almost in the center of the street, stands a quaint mansion, built at the end of the 19th century by order of Arseny Abramovich Morozov, the great-grandson of the founder of the dynasty. Rarely did any of the Morozovs avoid scandal, but Arseny managed to break all the “records” of his predecessors.
Morozov mansion on Vozdvizhenka (Moscow)
Before the mansion, there was an equestrian circus on this site, which burned down in 1892. The empty plot was purchased by Arseny's mother, Varvara Alekseevna Morozova, as a gift to her son. Arseny Morozov traveled a lot around Europe at that time; the Portuguese language in the city not far from Lisbon made an indelible impression on him. And so the plot from his mother came to the court: the heir was impatient to bring his architectural plans to life.
When starting the construction of the next mansion of the Morozov dynasty, Arseny kept in his head the idea of an estate-castle akin to the Portuguese one. What came of it?
The whimsical, eclectic building, with ornate columns and shell-shaped stucco, caused buzz throughout Moscow even before construction was completed. The construction seemed the height of bad taste! And after the completion of the work, in 1899, a barrage of malicious jokes and caricatures fell on the owner and his masterpiece. Even Arseny’s mother, disappointed, angrily called her son a fool for the ugly building.
But Morozov did not pay attention to the rumors, throwing grand feasts in the mansion. During one such drinking bout, in order to prove his own willpower, Arseny shot himself in the leg without a single cry of pain. A few days later, blood poisoning occurred, from which the 35-year-old wealthy heir (and essentially an adventurer and slacker) died suddenly. His miracle castle still attracts the eye - either because of its boldness or because of its absurdity.
By the way, the neighboring mansion with griffins, which belonged to Arseny Morozov’s mother, remains unattended. And undeservedly - this is one of the first projects of the architect Klein, who was later recognized as an outstanding architect.
Present tense
How to get into this strange building on Vozdvizhenka? Difficult, since today it is used as Reception House of the Russian Government. This is due to the holding of G8 meetings in Moscow several years ago.
