Tolstoy House
Encyclopedia
The Tolstoy House is a large and well-known apartment building in St. Petersburg, located at 15-17 Rubenstein Street and 54 Fontanka Embankment
. The building was designed by Fyodor Lidval
in the “Northern Modern” style.
The building was constructed in 1910-1912 under the aegis of Major-General Count Mikhail Pavlovich Tolstoy, nephew of the 1812 war hero P. A. Tolstoy. After Tolstoy's death in 1913, ownership devolved to his widow Countess Olga Tolstoy (born a princess of the Vasilchikova family, daughter of Prince Alexander Illarionovich Vasilchikova, a second in the famous 1841 duel between Mikhail Lermontov
and Nikolai Martynov
).
From the first, the building was provided with a laundry, plumbing, and elevators. The structure was conceived as a home for all classes, with apartments for people of all incomes, from modest to luxurious.
The complex layout of the building includes a sequence of three connected arched courtyards leading from Rubinstein Street to the embankment of the Fontanka River. The facades of the three main courtyards are decorated as carefully as the front of the building (although on either side of the building are less decorated courtyards into which the back doors of the apartments open). The facades use hewed limestone, brick, and stucco.
In the central courtyard there was a Roman-style fountain designed and built by Lidval. This fountain was in place until the 1950s but was completely lost by the 1990s.
Initially, there were passages in the center of the courtyards, and a small lawn which occupied only a very narrow strip along the original streets. In Soviet times, the appearance was significantly alterered: in the middle of the yard, driveways were made, the lawns were planted with poplars, and a statue was installed in the fountain. Thus was lost Lidval's original concept of an internal street.
The building is designated an Architectural Monument of Regional Significance (number 7800770000). It is part of UNESCO World Heritage Site number 540, Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments
. In 1988 it was given additional protected status as part of the Joint Security Area of St. Petersburg. However, in 2008, after reducing the buffer zone, the status of the building has been downgraded to Zone Controlled Building. Attempts have been made to raise the status of the Tolstoy House, which have not yet been successful.
's 1985 film Winter Cherries takes place in the Tolstoy House, in its yards, or near it. In this film, the Tolstoy House serves as a kind of actor itself, playing up to the stars of the film and creating a certain mood. Maslennikov also used the Tolstoy House in his The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson series of television films to stand in for parts of Holmes's London. Other films using the Tolstoy House include A Doctor Called?, You Never Dreamed Of..., Born of the Revolution, and Gangster Petersburg.
Fontanka
Fontanka is a left branch of the river Neva, which flows through the whole of Central Saint Petersburg, Russia. Its length is 6,700 meters, its width is up to 70 meters, and its depth is up to 3,5 meters. The Fontanka Embankment is lined with the former private residences of Russian nobility.This...
. The building was designed by Fyodor Lidval
Fyodor Lidval
Fyodor Ivanovich Lidval was a Russian architect of Swedish ethnicity.-Life:Lidval was born in St. Petersburg into a family of Russified Swedes. In 1882 he attended elementary school at the Swedish Church of St. Catherine, and then the second Petersburg Technical High School in 1888...
in the “Northern Modern” style.
The building was constructed in 1910-1912 under the aegis of Major-General Count Mikhail Pavlovich Tolstoy, nephew of the 1812 war hero P. A. Tolstoy. After Tolstoy's death in 1913, ownership devolved to his widow Countess Olga Tolstoy (born a princess of the Vasilchikova family, daughter of Prince Alexander Illarionovich Vasilchikova, a second in the famous 1841 duel between Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov , a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", became the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837. Lermontov is considered the supreme poet of Russian literature alongside Pushkin and the greatest...
and Nikolai Martynov
Nikolai Martynov
Nikolai Solomonovich Martynov was the Russian army officer who fatally shot the poet Mikhail Lermontov in a duel on July 27, 1841.-External links: *...
).
Architecture
The building design shows elements typical of the creative work of Fydor Lidval: high Renaissance arches, balconies on the upper floors, restraint and refinement of decorative elements, respect for comfort, and an eye for natural lighting.From the first, the building was provided with a laundry, plumbing, and elevators. The structure was conceived as a home for all classes, with apartments for people of all incomes, from modest to luxurious.
The complex layout of the building includes a sequence of three connected arched courtyards leading from Rubinstein Street to the embankment of the Fontanka River. The facades of the three main courtyards are decorated as carefully as the front of the building (although on either side of the building are less decorated courtyards into which the back doors of the apartments open). The facades use hewed limestone, brick, and stucco.
In the central courtyard there was a Roman-style fountain designed and built by Lidval. This fountain was in place until the 1950s but was completely lost by the 1990s.
Initially, there were passages in the center of the courtyards, and a small lawn which occupied only a very narrow strip along the original streets. In Soviet times, the appearance was significantly alterered: in the middle of the yard, driveways were made, the lawns were planted with poplars, and a statue was installed in the fountain. Thus was lost Lidval's original concept of an internal street.
Architectural monument
In 2008, the house was made a protected art and cultural monument under the aegis of the HOA. In 2009, Marina Kolotilo was made chairman of the HOA Tolstoy House. HOA is making efforts to repair, restore, and preserve the Tolstoy House. Kolotilo has begun an effort to establish a museum in the Tolstoy House and is preparing a program celebrating its 100th anniversary.The building is designated an Architectural Monument of Regional Significance (number 7800770000). It is part of UNESCO World Heritage Site number 540, Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments
Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments
Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments is the name used by UNESCO when it collectively designated the historic core of the Russian city of St...
. In 1988 it was given additional protected status as part of the Joint Security Area of St. Petersburg. However, in 2008, after reducing the buffer zone, the status of the building has been downgraded to Zone Controlled Building. Attempts have been made to raise the status of the Tolstoy House, which have not yet been successful.
In film
The Tolstoy House appears as a setting in several Russian films. Most of Igor MaslennikovIgor Maslennikov
Igor Fyodorovich Maslennikov is a Russian film director.He was born in Gorky. In 1954 Maslennikov completed his education in the department of journalism of the Leningrad University and worked as an editor, script writer, and cameraman on Leningrad television...
's 1985 film Winter Cherries takes place in the Tolstoy House, in its yards, or near it. In this film, the Tolstoy House serves as a kind of actor itself, playing up to the stars of the film and creating a certain mood. Maslennikov also used the Tolstoy House in his The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson series of television films to stand in for parts of Holmes's London. Other films using the Tolstoy House include A Doctor Called?, You Never Dreamed Of..., Born of the Revolution, and Gangster Petersburg.
Past residents
- A. I. KuprinAleksandr KuprinAleksandr Ivanovich Kuprin , was a Russian writer, pilot, explorer and adventurer who is perhaps best known for his story The Duel . Other well-known works include Moloch , Olesya , Junior Captain Rybnikov , Emerald , and The Garnet Bracelet...
(1870–1938), writer. Trained at the "Sanitas" athletic club located in the building, and may have lived in the building. - A. I. Spiridovich (1873–1952), Major General, Chief of the Imperial Palace Guards. He lived in apartment 333. After the October Revolution he went into exile, where he wrote several books of memoirs and studies of Russian political parties. He died in New York City.
- A. T. Averchenko, writer, satirist and a theater critic. Averchenko lived in the building in the years 1914-1917, in apartment 203.
- Alexander Belosludtsev (1961–2004), painter, graphic designer, and photographer, editor of a six-volume collected works of Anna AkhmatovaAnna AkhmatovaAnna Andreyevna Gorenko , better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova , was a Russian and Soviet modernist poet, one of the most acclaimed writers in the Russian canon.Harrington p11...
. - Boris Z. Kraychik (1928 -?), engineer and writer, author of the children's book What Happened at the Hermitage, friend of Igor S. KonIgor KonIgor Semyonovich Kon was a Soviet and Russian philosopher, psychologist, and sexologist. His scientific publications have been translated into various languages.-Biography:...
and S. D. Dovlatov. - C. M. Alyansky (1891–1984), owner and editor of the SymbolistSymbolism (arts)Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
publishing house Alkonost. Alyansky lived in the building in 1919. - E. B. ReinYevgeny ReinYevgeny Borisovich Rein is a Russian poet and writer. His poetry won the State Prize of Russia , Pushkin Prize of Russia, and Tsarskoe Selo Art Prize ....
(born 1935) poet and disciple of Anna Akhmatova who was included in the 1960s group "Akhmatova's OrphansAkhmatova's OrphansAkhmatova Orphans were a group of Russian poets from Saint Petersburg. Their name was a reference to Anna Akhmatova. They were:*Joseph Brodsky*Yevgeny Rein*Anatoly Naiman*Dmitri Bobyshev...
". Members of his circle who visited him at Tolstoy House included Akhmatova, D. Monakhov, V. Britanishsky, S. Dovlatov, J. BrodskyJoseph BrodskyIosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky , was a Russian poet and essayist.In 1964, 23-year-old Brodsky was arrested and charged with the crime of "social parasitism" He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972 and settled in America with the help of W. H. Auden and other supporters...
, A.Naiman, G. Gorbovsky, and A. KushnerAlexander KushnerAlexander Semenovich Kushner is a prominent Russian living poet from Saint Petersburg.- Biography :Kushner was born in Leningrad into a Russian-Jewish family; his father was a military engineer. He graduated from Herzen University, and later, between 1959 and 1969, taught Russian literature....
. - Ekaterina Panzhenskij (1984–2009), designer and photographer. She created a series of photographs of the Tolstoy House, many portraits of artists and musicians (e.g. Nikas Safronov, M. S. Vspyshkin), and several book covers. She lived in apartment 263.
- Galina Kremshevskaya (Saint George-Kremshevskaya) (1912–1996), dancer and ballet critic, wife of Michael S. George. Author of books on the Vaganova Academy of Russian BalletVaganova Academy of Russian BalletThe Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet is a school of classical ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The school was previously known as the Imperial Ballet School, becoming the Leningrad State Choreographic Institute during the Soviet era...
(which she attended) and the outstanding ballerinas T. M. Vecheslovoy and N. M. Dudinskaya. - M. B. Polyakin, violinist and educator, lived in the house in the years 1928-1936.
- M. V. ManevichMikhail ManevichMikhail Manevich was a Russian economist and official of the Saint Petersburg City Administration.Manevich graduated from Leningrad Institute of Finance and Economics in 1983 and worked with the institute as a research fellow during the 1980s...
, vice-governor of St. Petersburg (1996–1997). Lived in the building until his murder in 1997. - Michael S. George (1935–1958), ballet dancer and director (1958–1976) of the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theater.
- P.M. Benyash (1914–1986), Soviet-era drama and theater critic.
- Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich Andronicus (1875–1919), famous adventurer and member of Rasputin's circle. He was evicted from the Tolstoy House in 1916 by court decision following a lawsuit by the landlady (Countess Tolstoy), who did not like Rasputin and his followers visiting the building.
- Puryshev Arkady Konstantinovich, hereditary honorary citizen, businessman, monarchist, prominent collector. His wife and daughter were members of the Union of Russian Women. According to the memoirs of his adopted grandson (son of his stepson), the writer L. Panteleyev, he lived in the Tolstoy House.
- S. G. Kalmanovich (1947–2009), businessman and sports manager.
- Tatyana I. Satz (Kolesnikova) (born 1964), world-class gymnast, coach of the Leningrad gymnasts (1984–1990). Silver medalist of the world, two-time champion of the USSR, five-time champion of Leningrad. Lived in Tolstoy House in the 1990s.
- V. Knyazev (Sedykh) (1887–1937), poet and revolutionary. A writer of satirical topical poems and author of the lyrics to the song March of the Commune (chorus: "Never, never, never, never will we be slaves to the commune...", inspired by the lyrics of the British anthem Rule Brittania). Before his arrest he lived in apartment 301.
- Vitaliy Dmitrievich Sobol (1934–1997), journalist, writer, historian of the city of St. Petersburg. He lived in the Tolstoy House as a child.
- Vladimir G. Garshin (1887–1974), professor, pathologist, academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences (1945), a nephew of Vsevolod GarshinVsevolod GarshinVsevolod Mikhailovich Garshin ; was a Russian author of short stories.- Life :When Garshin was seven years old, he witnessed his father commit suicide.During the Russo-Turkish War, Garshin,...
and a friend of Anna Akhmatova. He lived in apartment number 459 during the Siege of LeningradSiege of LeningradThe Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...
, as the chief pathologist of Leningrad. - Zoya Petrovna Samoletov (1930–1999), twice member of the Supreme SovietSupreme SovietThe Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union was the Supreme Soviet in the Soviet Union and the only one with the power to pass constitutional amendments...
, member of the Council of the Union, seamstress and Brigadier of the Bolshevichka garment production association. Lived in the Tolstoy House in the 1940s and 1950s.
Recent and current residents
- Andrei Petrovich Gagarin (born 1934), doctor of technical sciences, professor at STUSaint Petersburg Polytechnical UniversitySaint Petersburg State Polytechnical University is a major Russian technical university situated in Saint Petersburg. Previously it was known as the Peter the Great Polytechnical Institute and Kalinin Polytechnical Institute .-Imperial Russia:...
, a descendant of the princes GagarinGagarin familythumb|right|250px|The Gagarin Coat of ArmsGagarin is a Rurikid princely family descending from sovereign rulers of Starodub-on-the-Klyazma.-Origins:...
and chairman of the St. Petersburg branch of the provincial nobility. - Bella Moiseyevna Kupsina, producer for Alexander RosenbaumAlexander RosenbaumAlexander Yakovlevich Rosenbaum is a Soviet and Russian bard from Saint Petersburg. He is best known as an interpreter of the blatnaya pesnya genre...
. - Eduard KhilEduard KhilEduard Anatolyevich Khil , sometimes anglicised as Edward Hill, is a Russian baritone singer and a recipient of the People's Artist Award of the RSFSR.- Early life :...
, singer most famously known for appearing in the "Trololo" video, which was recorded in 1966 and later went viral in 2009. - Irina KolpakovaIrina KolpakovaIrina Kolpakova is a Russian ballerina.For many years, she was the prima ballerina of the Kirov State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet in St. Petersburg...
(born 1933 or 1935), ballerina. She has been active in the effort to preserve the historical appearance of the Tolstoy House. - Marina Kolotilo (born 1963), art historian and cultural scientist, member of the International Association of Art CriticsInternational Association of Art CriticsThe International Association of Art Critics was founded in 1950 to revitalize critical discourse, which suffered under Fascism during World War II. AICA was initially affiliated with UNESCO as a non-governmental organization...
, member of the Russian Geographical SocietyRussian Geographical SocietyThe Russian Geographical Society is a learned society, founded on 6 August 1845 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.-Imperial Geographical Society:Prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917, it was known as the Imperial Russian Geographical Society....
, chairman of the HOA Tolstoy House. - Mariss JansonsMariss JansonsMariss Ivars Georgs Jansons is a Latvian conductor, the son of conductor Arvīds Jansons. His mother, the singer Iraida Jansons, who was Jewish, gave birth to him in hiding in Riga, Latvia, after her father and brother were killed in the Riga Ghetto...
, conductor. - V. G. Semyonov (born 1932), dancer, teacher, People's Artist of the USSR. He lives with his wife Irina Kolpakova in the Tolstoy House.
- Vladimir Kehman, director of the Mikhaylovsky TheatreMikhaylovsky TheatreThe Mikhaylovsky Theatre is one of the oldest opera and ballet houses in Russia. It was founded in 1833 and is situated in a historical building on the Arts Square in St. Petersburg...
. - Vladimir Kiselev, producer of the band ZemlyaneZemlyaneZemlyane, is a Soviet, and later Russian rock band which enjoyed great popularity in the early 1980s. The band was formed in Leningrad, Soviet Union in 1979 and remains active to this day....
.