Demidov Estate
The Demidov industrialists were known for their passion for eccentricities and engineering innovations.
In their estate, hidden among later buildings, at least two proofs of this passion have survived to this day: the first bowling alley in Russia, still with an earthen floor, and a unique cast-iron veranda with a luxurious, also cast-iron, staircase.
The Demidov family became famous and rich during the time of Peter I, when the Tula blacksmith Nikita Demidov went to the Urals to develop ferrous metallurgy.
He forged such capital, which was enough for all his descendants to live in luxury and indulge their whims. The St. Petersburg estate on the Moika was built in 1755-1759 by the grandson of the first industrialist, creating it in a classical style, with then fashionable Baroque elements: Ionic columns with four-sided capitals and bas-reliefs with female and male faces (there is a legend that they were made from members of the Demidov family) . And the main attraction of this building is the huge cast-iron lattice of the veranda with cast-iron stairs, symmetrically curved and placed on both sides of the facade, advertising the family business.
Only Demidov could afford such use of such valuable material in those years. The first architect of the building, as evidenced by the sign on the house, Chevakinsky Savva Ivanovich, implemented his project in the mid-eighteenth century. Time decreed that the luxurious facade ended up in the courtyard, hidden by the garden and later buildings, and the building for many years belonged to a design bureau that designed nuclear icebreakers.
As a cultural object, it apparently has not been considered until now, the gates to the courtyard are closed, the house is hidden behind an overgrown garden, and its architectural beauty can only be seen in photographs. — per. Grivtsova, 1/64.
The Demidov family became famous and rich during the time of Peter I, when the Tula blacksmith Nikita Demidov went to the Urals to develop ferrous metallurgy.
He forged such capital, which was enough for all his descendants to live in luxury and indulge their whims. The St. Petersburg estate on the Moika was built in 1755-1759 by the grandson of the first industrialist, creating it in a classical style, with then fashionable Baroque elements: Ionic columns with four-sided capitals and bas-reliefs with female and male faces (there is a legend that they were made from members of the Demidov family) . And the main attraction of this building is the huge cast-iron lattice of the veranda with cast-iron stairs, symmetrically curved and placed on both sides of the facade, advertising the family business.
Only Demidov could afford such use of such valuable material in those years. The first architect of the building, as evidenced by the sign on the house, Chevakinsky Savva Ivanovich, implemented his project in the mid-eighteenth century. Time decreed that the luxurious facade ended up in the courtyard, hidden by the garden and later buildings, and the building for many years belonged to a design bureau that designed nuclear icebreakers.
As a cultural object, it apparently has not been considered until now, the gates to the courtyard are closed, the house is hidden behind an overgrown garden, and its architectural beauty can only be seen in photographs. — per. Grivtsova, 1/64.