The house where Gorky lived on Malaya Nikitskaya. Classics of Moscow Art Nouveau - Navody — LiveJournal. After the latest fashion
Original taken from galik_123 in Moscow Modern Classics
The history of this building in the center of Moscow is associated with the names of three famous people Russia, although the memorial plaque on the building mentions only one. The Art Nouveau mansion was built by the architect Shekhtel for the millionaire Ryabushinsky, and the writer Gorky lived there for the longest time. This mansion linked the lives of these outstanding people forever in history, and talking about the house, it is impossible not to tell about each. They lived at the same time, but their fates were different...
In general, there are not many mansions of the early 20th century open to the public in Moscow. Especially such as the Ryabushinsky mansion - a masterpiece of Moscow Art Nouveau, a classic of the genre. I have long wanted to go inside and see the famous interiors. After all, it’s quite difficult to get into other Moscow mansions located in the center, because they either have embassies different countries, or other important state institutions, and besides, the interior space has long been redone in accordance with modern requirements facilities. And in this mansion you can see what was conceived by the Master.
1. The mansion for S. P. Ryabushinsky was built by Fedor Osipovich Shekhtel (1859-1926) - the greatest Russian architect of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, holder of the Orders of St. Anna and St. Stanislav, creator of Russian and Moscow Art Nouveau. The future architect came from a family of colonists from Bavaria, who arrived in June 1766 in the Shukk colony near Saratov. His father was a process engineer, and his mother Daria Karlovna, nee Rosalia-Dorotea Getlich, Later she worked as a housekeeper for Tretyakov. Many of the architectural monuments built by Shekhtel in Moscow are included in the Golden Fund of Russian Architecture and are under state protection. According to his projects, more than 50 buildings were created in the capital, and many of them have survived to this day. His main buildings in Moscow: the mansion of Z.G. Morozova on Spiridonovka (1893), Art Theater (1902), Yaroslavl Station (1902). An excellent example of the neoclassical style, in which Shekhtel also worked, is the Khudozhestvenny cinema on Arbat Square.
Fedor Osipovich Shekhtel
After the revolution in 1918, Shekhtel managed to sell the mansion on Bolshaya Sadovaya, built by the architect for his family. He settled on Bolshaya Dmitrovka with his daughter Vera. Residents were moved into the apartment, and in last years the great architect lived in a communal apartment. He was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery. And his masterpiece - the mansion on Malaya Nikitskaya is still the decoration of the capital.
2. The mansion was built in 1900-1902 by order of 26-year-old businessman S.P. Ryabushinsky. In it, the architect thought of everything, from planning to interior decoration premises. The house combined the achievements of the Art Nouveau style (the rejection of straight lines and angles in favor of more natural lines, an interest in new technologies) with the Russian architectural tradition.
A small mansion consists of several volumes, each of which is unique. The facades are faced with light-colored glazed bricks; on top, the house is decorated with a mosaic frieze depicting orchids. The building is a two-story, but multi-level windows various forms create the effect of multi-storey.
3. Attention is immediately drawn to the amazing mosaic frieze with orchids, made according to Shekhtel's sketches. In the aesthetics of Art Nouveau, a symbol and a riddle played a special role, for example, a bud was perceived as symbol of emerging life. The decoration on the facade of the mansion indicates the presence of some secret in the house.
4. Stepan Pavlovich Ryabushinsky (1874-1942) - a well-known Russian businessman, banker, collector, representative of the Ryabushinsky dynasty. Known as a collector of icons. The collection of Ryabushinsky's icons was considered one of the best in Russia. Largely thanks to Stepan Pavlovich, a systematic scientific study of icons began, many masterpieces of icon painting were discovered. Stepan Ryabushinsky organized exhibitions of icon painting, including the famous exhibition dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty in 1913.
The Ryabushinsky family - Stepan Pavlovich, Anna Alexandrovna and Boris
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Stepan Ryabushinsky emigrated to Milan. The collection of icons of Ryabushinsky entered the State Museum Fund, most of them (54 icons) are in the Department of Old Russian Art of the State Tretyakov Gallery, the rest are sold or transferred to other museums.
5. After the emigration of the Ryabushinskys, the building outlived many owners. It housed various state structures. Some pieces of furniture were missing lighting of that time, made according to Shekhtel's sketches, the ventilation system was destroyed and a unique fireplace made of Carrara marble was dismantled. In 1931, M.A. Gorky moved into the mansion, and now this building is a memorial house-museum of Gorky. We can assume that Maxim Gorky indirectly saved the mansion from complete destruction, distortion beyond recognition and transfer to the jurisdiction of any institution.
6. The main entrance overlooked Malaya Nikitskaya, on the other porch one could go down to the garden. Now the main entrance is closed.
7. Compared to the beginning of the 20th century, the interiors have been partially changed, even the entrance to the building is now located from Spiridonovka, but the main part has been preserved. In addition, the museum has albums with photographs and sketches of interiors that have not been preserved.
8. Previously, this entrance was considered black and was intended for servants.
9. At the mansion there is a fairly large plot, surrounded by a low decorative fence in modern style.
10. An outbuilding was built on the territory of the mansion, where there were a stable, a laundry room, a janitor's room and the servants of the Ryabushinskys lived. From 1941 to 1945, the writer A.N. Tolstoy, now here is his museum-apartment.
In the autumn of 1913, in the mansion of Stepan Pavlovich Ryabushinsky on Malaya Nikitskaya, one of the last meetings (without strangers) of a large family of Ryabushinsky millionaires took place. At that time, the Ryabushinskys were known throughout Russia: from Riga to Baku, from Arkhangelsk to Tiflis. They came from free peasants-Old Believers of the Borovsko-Pafnutevsky monastery. By the beginning of the 19th century, Borovsk turned from the first spiritual centers of Russia into an ordinary provincial town halfway between Kaluga and Moscow. The grandfather of the famous Ryabushinsky brothers, Mikhail Yakovlevich, grew up there. At the age of twelve, he was sent to Moscow, to be apprenticed in the trade department. Trade was successful, and at the age of 16, Mikhail Ryabushinsky signed up for the third merchant guild, presenting at that time a solid capital of a thousand rubles. This is how millions of Ryabushinskys began.
His son Pavel Mikhailovich Ryabushinsky was already very different from his father, the founder of the dynasty. He represented the second generation of domestic entrepreneurs who were interested in politics, arts and sciences. P.M. Ryabushinsky was elected from his estate to the members of the Moscow Duma, the commercial court, the Moscow Exchange Society. He handed over to his sons a well-established and vigorously developing business, as well as 20 million banknotes - a huge fortune.
The third generation of Russian entrepreneurs, the Ryabushinsky brothers, received an excellent education. They graduated from the Moscow Practical Academy of Commercial Sciences and knew two or three European languages. For the most part, they were smart, active, ready for large-scale activities and wide charity.
From left to right - Pavel, Mikhail, Vladimir, Stepan, Nikolai, Sergei, Fedor, Dmitry Ryabushinsky
Pavel Pavlovich Ryabushinsky, Chairman of the Partnership, owner of the Moscow Bank, Chief Editor newspaper "Morning of Russia", one of the leaders of the Progressive Party - the most prominent representative of Russian big business. It coexisted with the peculiar business ethics of the Old Believer environment, the broad nature of a Russian merchant and philanthropist with the iron tenacity of an educated entrepreneur of the twentieth century. By the beginning of the 1910s, Pavel Pavlovich headed the largest financial monopoly. Wherever possible, his "Middle Russian Joint-Stock Company" resisted foreigners: geological exploration in the North, in the Ukhta region, logging, expanding interests in the oil industry, the first steps of domestic engineering, the automotive and aviation industries and other areas.
His closest associates in business - the brothers Stepan, Sergey and Vladimir, stood at the origins of the domestic automotive industry, founded the first Russian automobile plant AMO (ZIL), and besides - archaeologists, collectors and experts in ancient Russian icon painting. Michael was also a collector. His collection of Russian and Western European artists became the pearl of the collections of several leading Soviet museums. Nikolai, a well-known writer, founder of the Golden Fleece magazine, who published poetry and prose under the pseudonym N. Shinsky in Musagete and other fashionable publishing houses of the beginning of the century. Dmitry, one of the world's largest experts in the field of the theory of aeronautics, set up in 1904 at the Kuchino family estate the only private "Aerodynamic Institute" in the world. He subsequently emigrated to France, where he continued his studies and became a French academic.
That's what Russian millionaires were like! Most prominent representatives of the Russian business community at the beginning of the last century, the Ryabushinskys always focused only on the Russian market. After the Ryabushinskys in the new Russia, which they no longer knew, there were beautiful buildings, factories, plants, and scientific institutions.
11. The main entrance hall was made in the Art Nouveau style.
12. Ryabushinsky's house was decorated with nine unique stained-glass windows made according to Shekhtel's sketches. They also performed architectural tasks. For example, an image with pine trees and fields receding into the distance created the illusion of a window, thereby visually enlarging the space.
13. All rooms of the house are grouped around the main staircase 12 m high in the form of a gray-green wave of marble, at the very beginning of which a jellyfish-lamp emerges. There is a column at the top of the stairs.
14. The staircase is made of Estonian Vazalemma marble. beautiful stone processed in the Moscow workshop of M.D. Kutyrin. At the beginning of the stairs there is a very interesting marble bench: in order not to freeze, sitting on it, a stream of warm air was sent to it from a special grill, now this heating system is no longer working.
15. A lamp in the form of a jellyfish.
16. Between flights of stairs there is a place for rest.
17. Medusa, when viewed from above, turns into a turtle (personifications active life and contemplative life). The ladder becomes not just a device for physical ascent, but a symbol spiritual ascent of man.
18. Stepan Ryabushinsky was one of the first to restore old icons. Therefore, a place for a restoration workshop was provided in his house. Already in 1914, the Russian Icon magazine reported that Ryabushinsky was going to open an icon museum in his house on Nikitsky.
19. Doors, handles, plafonds of the house are algae, shells, seahorses, turtles.
20. Shekhtel provided for the house and the chapel, which traditionally has a round dome. The room itself is located in the attic, in the northwest side of the house. During the construction of the building, this room was made secret. To get into it, the owners walked along the second floor. (We didn’t have time to take a photo of the chapel - the museum was closing.)
21. A column with a massive capital is decorated beautiful lilies, a symbol of purity, and disgusting salamanders - a symbol of evil. The narrow gallery was of particular importance. She meant that the path to goodness is narrow and thorny. Then the believers walked up the back stairs.
22. A decorative balcony inside the house adorned the rise (view from the second floor platform). All wall cabinets were made by order of Gorky.
23. Office of Secretary A.M. Gorky.
24. In five memorial rooms (library, office, bedroom, dining room and secretarial room), the original furnishings and personal belongings of A.M. Gorky, who lived here from 1931 to 1936. The personal library of the writer is used in scientific research.
28. The windows of the first floor are simply amazing in their shape and size.
29. Fine wood carvings decorate the doors. Floral motifs and waves - symbol of perpetual motion in the drawing of the parquet of the hall and the dining room.
30. The library has a beautiful view from the window, the window frame has an unusually intricate shape.
31. Stucco ceiling of the library - fantasy aquatic plants, snails.
32. Office of A.M. Gorky.
33. Along the walls are cupboards, which housed an impressive collection of bone carvings by masters of the 18th-20th centuries (netske).
34. View from the window of Gorky's office.
35. On the desk are objects that apparently belong to the writer.
36. Gorky's bedroom on the first floor. The writer occupied the rooms on the first floor, and on the second floor there was the writer's family - his son with his wife and children.
37. The view from the bedroom window is also pleasing to the eye.
38. On the second floor there is now an exposition dedicated to the writer A.M. Gorky - paintings, gifts. The writer spent the last years of his life in this house, working on the epic novel The Life of Klim Samgin.
39. In the halls of the second floor there are originals of famous artists who were friends with Gorky and gave him their works.
B. Grigoriev. Portrait of A.M. Gorky, 1926
Italian landscapes V. Khodasevich
V. Khodasevich. ON THE. Peshkova, 1920s
42. Two paintings by M. Nesterov: left Evening on the Volga (Loneliness), 1932; on right sick girl, 1928
43. In this amazing mansion, the lives of prominent people of their time intertwined. Difficult fate and this house ...
Walking through the city center, I have repeatedly paid attention to an unusual mansion, decorated with a colorful panel with orchids. Despite the fact that the house is surrounded by trees, there is something in it that catches the eye. Later I learned that this building was built by the famous architect F.O. Shekhtel for the wealthy industrialist S.P. Ryabushinsky at the beginning of the 20th century. The main highlight of this mansion is the famous wave staircase, which the architect installed in the lobby and which is insanely similar to the creations of the Spanish architect Gaudí in Barcelona.
This house is also known as the last refuge of the great writer M. Gorky, in which he lived for several years after returning to his homeland. Now the house-museum of M. Gorky, which belongs to the Literary Institute, is located inside. As a result, no entry fee is charged. They say that the writer himself bequeathed that the working people were allowed inside for free. As long as this covenant is fulfilled. The Ryabushinsky mansion is located on Malaya Nikitskaya street, 6, next to the Great Ascension Church, in which A.S. Pushkin and N. Goncharova.
Ryabushinsky's mansion
Ryabushinsky's mansion
The entrance to the territory of the museum is open from Spiridonovka street. As I have already said, you can independently inspect the interiors of the Ryabushinsky mansion for free, you will only have to pay for photography or a group tour. Mostly elderly people work in the museum, who talk very interestingly about this amazing house. At the entrance, you will either have to put on official slippers, or purchase shoe covers so as not to spoil the parquet made of precious wood.
Then we immediately get into the hall and see what we should definitely come here for - a fabulous marble staircase designed by F.O. Shekhtel. It symbolizes perpetual motion, without which life is unthinkable.
Ryabushinsky's mansion
In the Ryabushinsky mansion
Shortly before starting work on the mansion of Stepan Pavlovich Ryabushinsky, the famous architect visited Paris and got acquainted with the work of the French architect Francois-Xavier Schelkopf. It was he who was the founder of the plastic direction of Art Nouveau. Shelkopf noticed that in nature there are practically no straight lines: both the features of a human face and the branches of a tree are curved and rounded. Shekhtel embodied these ideas in the design of the Ryabushinsky house. He took the theme of the sea as a basis.
Ryabushinsky's mansion
Ryabushinsky's mansion
And the dark green walls of the hall, and the streamlined shape of the staircase, which ends with a jellyfish lamp on one side and an elegant bench on the other, and the muffled light penetrating through the stained-glass windows on the second floor, all evoke thoughts of the water element.
Stained glass on the stairs
On the second floor, the figures on the capitals of the marble column are interesting. Lilies, symbolizing purity and salamanders, depicting evil, speak of the endless struggle of two principles.
Even the Estonian greyish veined marble of which the staircase is made resembles sand from which a wave has just receded. At the Ryabushinsky hall and the dining room were a single whole. Later, the arch was laid and replaced with doors, making the room isolated and thus losing the main idea of the architect.
Door to dining room
Many interior items created by Shekhtel were lost. So, in the dining room, a unique snow-white marble fireplace decorated with a butterfly woman was dismantled, a frieze of tulips, which were a symbol of happiness, was painted over, and a chandelier in the shape of snowdrop flowers disappeared forever. These changes are connected with the disgrace of the Bolsheviks on the Ryabushinskys, and with living in the mansion of M. Gorky. When in 1900 the project for the construction of this bold building for those times was approved, the owner of the estate, Stepan Pavlovich Ryabushinsky, was only 26 years old. However, he was one of the eight Ryabushinsky brothers, owners of a huge fortune and several enterprises, and was highly respected and famous person. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was the industrialists who shaped the face of the new Moscow, making lucrative orders for fashionable Moscow architects. Art Nouveau Shekhtel relished Ryabushinsky.
Except unusual interior one of the first air conditioning systems in Moscow was created in the house, an elevator in the basement, raising dishes to the dining room, electricity and a telephone were installed. In addition, a garage was built for one of the first cars in the city. This house could not but attract attention, but Stepan Pavlovich did not have to live in it for long. In 1917, together with his family, he hastily left Russia and moved to Italy, where he opened a fabric store. His brothers also dispersed to different cities in Europe. Their property was nationalized, and for some time the mansion on Malaya Nikitskaya housed a foreign mission, an institute of psychoanalysis and a kindergarten.
However, when M. Gorky returned from Italy to his homeland in 1931, he was given this house to live in. The writer did not particularly like him, he was alien to art that sought to depict the non-existent, and Gorky remade much inside the mansion for himself. So throughout the house, including on the central staircase, bookcases appeared, in which the writer placed his impressive library. Gorky occupied the first floor, as he was already seriously ill, and it was hard for him to climb the stairs. On the second floor lived his son with his wife and children.
Rumor has it that Gorky had a special relationship with his daughter-in-law, perhaps even a love affair. Nadezhda Alekseevna Peshkova remained to live in the Ryabushinsky mansion after the death of her husband and father-in-law until 1965. According to rumors, I.V. himself was in love with her. Stalin, and precisely for this reason, all her lovers after some time fell under arrest and died in prison dungeons. After 1965, the M. Gorky Museum was opened in the house on Malaya Nikitskaya. So, the first floor remained as it was during the life of the writer.
Playwrights and writers gathered in the dining room, meetings of the writers' council were held, and discussions were held about the fate of literature in the new workers' state.
Dining room
Adjacent to the dining room is the library, on the ceiling of which an amazing stucco molding depicting flower buds and graceful curls has been preserved.
Ceiling in the library
front doors
M. Gorky's clothes were transferred here and the place where he undressed was marked. The guests, getting into the house, as conceived by the architect, immediately saw an amazing stained-glass window, which visually expanded the space. Also, earlier stained-glass windows decorated a small screen in the hallway.
Stained glass in the hallway
On the right is the writer's office, which has a fireplace created under the Ryabushinskys. In this room, M. Gorky spent the first half of the day, working long and fruitfully. Made by his order desk, in cabinets and on shelves, the writer placed his collection of oriental figurines, which he was very proud of.
Writer's office
Everything is thought out to the smallest detail. This is what they look like, for example door handles.
Door handles
M. Gorky's bedroom adjoins the office. The decor in the room is very simple: small bed, bedside tables and wardrobe. The favorite corner of the writer was the chair under the bookshelf, on which the writer placed books to read before going to bed. Then we go up to the second floor, admiring the original stained glass windows. The bay window has a seating area near the window.
Bedroom
Exhibition on the second floor
Behind them is a door to a secret narrow staircase leading to a secret chapel. The Ryabushinskys were Old Believers, and before the decree of Nicholas II of 1905 on religious tolerance, it was not safe to openly pray to them. Therefore, a chapel decorated with ancient Russian painting was built on the top floor. The iconostasis and the altar were lost after the revolution, and numerous ancient icons collected by Stepan Pavlovich were also stolen. The owner of the mansion was going to open a museum of icons in his house, but these plans were not destined to come true. Now, apart from the restored painting on the walls of the chapel, nothing has been preserved here. In a small room on the third floor, photographs are exhibited that tell about the Ryabushinsky family.
Chapel in the Ryabushinsky house
Chapel in the Ryabushinsky house
The house, built by the famous architect Shekhtel on Malaya Nikitskaya, makes an indelible impression. The fabulous staircase, which has stood without repair for more than a hundred years, with its streamlined forms takes you to the colorful underwater world. From above, the jellyfish lamp turns into a multi-colored turtle, and the light penetrating through the stained-glass windows only adds to the place of mystery. The Ryabushinsky Mansion serves as an eternal monument to the talent of an outstanding architect, who unfortunately ended his life in poverty.
Building houses for the richest families of the Morozovs and Ryabushinskys, Shekhtel, in his declining years, was forced to wander around rented apartments. The new government did not like his bold projects, thought out to the smallest detail. However, fortunately, his many works have been preserved, among which the Ryabushinsky mansion has survived to this day in fairly good condition and, unlike the Morozov house on Spiridonovka, is available for visits.
How to find the Ryabushinsky Mansion (M. Gorky Museum)
address: m. Pushkinskaya (Tverskaya, Chekhovskaya), 20 minutes on foot.
Moscow, st. Malaya Nikitskaya, 6/2.
Opening hours - from 11 to 17-30 (Wednesday-Sunday). Last Thursday of the month - day off
The city mansion at 6, Malaya Nikitskaya Street was built in the early modern style by architect Fyodor Osipovich between 1900 and 1903. The architect Ivan was brought in as an assistant. The famous businessman Stepan Pavlovich Ryabushinsky became the customer.
The architect managed to combine elements of the Moorish style and English Gothic in the forms and decor of the building. The facade is decorated with glazed bricks of light shades. The upper central part is decorated with a mosaic frieze, which depicts irises.
Photo 1. This is how the main facade of the Ryabushinsky mansion in Moscow looks today
The height of the building is only two floors, but multi-level window openings, moreover, different in shape, create a visual effect of a multi-storey building.
The grilles on the windows are made in the Art Nouveau style, representing intricate wavy patterns in shape. The low fence on the side of Malaya Nikitskaya is decorated in the same way.
The interiors were also decorated in the Art Nouveau style. The famous artist Mikhail Alexandrovich Vrubel was involved in the work.
Fyodor Osipovich Shekhtel created an illusion on the theme of the underwater world in the interior of the hall at Malaya Nikitskaya Street, 6. This is emphasized by the "melting" front staircase, made in the form sea wave from white marble. The chandelier under the ceiling resembles the shape of a jellyfish, and internal walls painted turquoise green. The door handles, molded in the likeness of seahorses, did not go unnoticed.
A few more words about the marble staircase. It was made in the Moscow workshop of Mikhail Dmitrievich Kutyrin. The material was Vazelem marble brought from Estonia.
Impressive with their beauty and nine stained-glass windows, which, in addition to decorative functions, also solve some architectural problems. Thus, the largest landscape stained-glass window with pine trees painted on it and fields extending into the depths was designed to create the illusion of a window in a small interior space, which made it possible to visually expand the limited volume.
The drawings for all the stained-glass windows were personally made by the architect Shekhtel, and the artist Vinogradov performed them.
It should be noted that marine and plant motifs are also present in the design of other rooms of the Ryabushinsky mansion.
Since the Ryabushinsky family belonged to the Old Believers, the architect Shekhtel specially entered a secret chapel in the attic space, which is located on the northwestern side of the house. The domed part and the walls of the room are stylized in the spirit of an ancient church. It is impossible to guess about its presence, peering into the mansion from the outside.
The forms of the house are made with a clear use of cubic volume, which is emphasized horizontal lines cornice slabs extended beyond the plane of the facade. This idea is carried out both by asymmetrical projections of the outer walls, and individually executed balconies, as well as massive porches.
The owner of the house at Malaya Nikitskaya, 6, Stepan Pavlovich Ryabushinsky, left a significant mark on Russian culture. He was one of the first people in Russia who began to work on the restoration of ancient Russian icons and their scientific cleaning. In this house, he equipped a restoration workshop, and over time, plans were made, according to publications in the Russian Icon magazine for 1914, to create an icon museum here.
At the intersection of the quietest Malaya Nikitskaya and Spiridonovka, in luxury home in the Art Nouveau style built by F.O. Shekhtel, located. And before the revolution, Stepan Ryabushinsky was the owner of the house. Therefore, someone calls the mansion the Ryabushinsky house, and someone calls the Gorky Museum. Museum staff talk about the life of the writer, his family, his work. And if you don’t like long excursions, you can just relax on a bench in a cozy shady courtyard, and then see the unearthly beauty of the interiors of the House on your own.
The facades of the building are lined with glazed bricks, wrapped around with a ribbon of mosaic frieze depicting irises ( pictured above), and the smooth walls are cut by squares of large windows. This is what the former main door looks like. Today, the entrance to the museum is through the "back door".
In the summer of 1900, construction began on Malaya Nikitskaya luxurious mansion for Stepan Pavlovich Ryabushinsky - one of the representatives of the third generation of the dynasty. Stepan Pavlovich Ryabushinsky - Russian entrepreneur, banker, collector, philanthropist, together with his brother Sergei, founded the first AMO automobile plant in Russia, now the Likhachev Plant. Malaya Nikitskaya Street in those years looked very provincial: low wooden or stone houses, chickens walking along the cobblestone pavement, the aroma of samovar smoke. To place here an urban estate with an exquisite house, a courtyard and services - a laundry, a janitor, a pantry, a garage and a stable - an experienced architect capable of thinking outside the box was required. The order for the construction was received by Fyodor Osipovich Shekhtel (1859–1926), whose work Stepan Pavlovich especially liked. When the construction of the house on Malaya Nikitskaya began, Ryabushinsky was 26 years old. The architecture of his residence intertwined the motives of English Gothic and Moorish architecture; interior decoration, which was created by M.A. Vrubel, strikes with magnificence. After the October Revolution, Stepan Ryabushinsky hastily emigrated to Italy with his wife and two children (Elena and Boris); descendants in the line of daughter Elena (1902-2000) live in Milan, bear the surname Rijoff (Ryzhovs). Since 1919, the building housed the state publishing house (Gosizdat), from 1925 to 1931 - the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, and then the mansion was placed at the disposal of M. Gorky, who had just returned to the USSR. In 1965, the museum of the writer was opened here.
Gorky himself did not participate in the choice of his dwelling and did not express any wishes. Back in 1928, he received a letter from a certain Soviet worker with a request not to leave again for Italy and to abandon his villa there, to which he replied in the newspaper Rabochaya Moskva: “ By the way, I don't have my own villa there. I never had and never will have my own houses, my “real estate”. The writer M. Slonimsky recalled how once a flattering guest raised a toast "To the owner of the house!". Gorky's face turned purple, and he interrupted the speaker with a question: For what owner? I am not the owner of this house. The owner is the Moscow City Council!' Then he got up and left the room.
The main highlight of the house was the front staircase of the hall, made in the shape of a wave (“melting staircase”). A cascade of marble waves throwing a jellyfish chandelier high up, greenish walls imitating the sea, subdued lighting, seahorse-shaped door handles create a picture of the underwater world. Shekhtel continued this game in the design of the rest of the rooms - plant motifs, marine theme, whimsical snails and butterflies disguised in interior details - a special life is in full swing in this house. The fate of F.O. Shekhtel. The architect and his family stayed in Russia, trying to find their place in the new country of socialism. The Shekhtel family was evicted from the mansion on Bolshaya Sadovaya, and the great architect, who stood at the origins of Russian modernity, built for the Morozovs, Ryabushinskys, Smirnovs, wandered through rented apartments and houses until the end of his days and died sick and poor. Today, according to his projects, they study the history of architecture, and in the sky there is a small planet named after him.
The mansion also has its own secrets - a secret Old Believer chapel located in the attic of the northwestern part of the house; you can't see it from the street. The walls and the dome in the chapel are covered with a unique abstract temple painting - a small room is maximally stylized as an ancient church. To get into the secret room, one had to go up to the second floor, go through a narrow gallery and up the back stairs. Outsiders had no idea that there was such a room in the house.
Gorky lived in the house on Nikitskaya for the rest of his life, until 1936. He settled on the first floor - it was difficult for the sick writer to climb the twelve-meter stairs. And upstairs his family settled down - son Maxim Alekseevich with his wife Nadezhda Alekseevna (at home her name was Timosha) and granddaughters Martha and Daria.
In order not to freeze on a marble bench, a stream of warm air is directed at it from such an intricate lattice. The system has not survived to this day. After 1917, the Ryabushinsky mansion passed into the possession of the city and belonged alternately to the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, the State Publishing House, the Psychoanalytic Institute, kindergarten. Over the years, the Ryabushinsky furniture and lighting fixtures, made according to Shekhtel’s sketches, were lost, the ventilation system was destroyed and the unique Carrara marble fireplace in the dining room was disassembled, according to rumors, it is now somewhere in Arkhangelskoye, at the former dacha of the Ministry of Defense authorities.
Unique stained-glass windows, precious wood parquet, picturesque ceilings, luxurious chandeliers, stucco work - the house on Malaya Nikitskaya did not really correspond to the tastes of a writer from the people. Gorky spoke about him more than once : “Magnificent, grandiose, nothing to smile at”. And this is a cozy library with a huge window, spacious wardrobes, a sofa and leather armchairs. Note the magnificent ceiling of the library ( pictured below).
The biggest room pictured below) served as a dining room, living room. Gorky's permanent place at the table is marked with a tea set. Breakfast usually took place in a narrow circle, it became more lively at dinner and evening tea. Here Gorky met with numerous guests, primarily writers, people of art; there were numerous discussions about the then method of literature, called "socialist realism". Almost all famous writers of the 1930s visited Gorky - his house served as a writer's club for them. There were literary lunches, dinners, and simply on any issue they came there. In the memoirs of K.I. Chukovsky (first volume), for example, you can read about it.
Cabinet. In this room, the writer spent the morning hours from 9 to 2 in the afternoon, devoting the most productive time to working on his works: creative activity Gorky in these years was huge. This room more than others reflects the tastes of Alexei Maksimovich. The office was similar to the writer's working rooms where he lived - in Sorrento in Italy, Teselli in the Crimea, at a dacha in Gorki near Moscow. “It seemed that he was carrying his workroom with him,” recalled S.Ya. Marshak. In the afternoon, Gorky worked here on the manuscripts of novice writers, answered letters from numerous correspondents, and was engaged in editorial work for the publications he supervised.
The working table (by the window), large, taller than usual and without drawers, was made at Gorky's request - he was used to working at such a table. Books, notepads with notes, sharpened colored pencils with which the writer corrected texts, his own and others', all lie neatly on the table, waiting for the owner. Along the walls there are cupboards housing an impressive collection - Gorky collected bone carvings by craftsmen of the 18th-20th centuries (netsky).
Bedroom ( pictured below). Here, only the essentials. The antique bedroom set is an accidental purchase when furnishing the house and does not reflect the writer's inclinations. In the closet and chest of drawers are Alexei Maksimovich's personal belongings and clothes. At his request, a corner was hung bookshelf on which books were placed for daily evening reading. The last selection included: "Folk Russian Tales" collected by A. Afanasiev, "Songs" by Beranger, works by R. Rolland and poems by N. Yazykov, books by K.S. Stanislavsky and V.G. Korolenko and others. Sometimes Gorky jokingly called himself a "professional reader."
On the nightstand next to the bed is a picture of Alexei Maksimovich's eldest granddaughter, Martha. This is one of the latest photographs of his son, Maxim Alekseevich. He died on May 11, 1934 from lobar pneumonia. Gorky actually could not bear this loss and survived his son by only two years.
Hello dear readers. This report will focus on one very interesting house, lurking at the corner of Spiridonovka and Malaya Nikitskaya Street. I've heard about this building for a long time, but never got around to it. But recently, we nevertheless got together and, in terms of the program for my birthday in November, visited it. The Ryabushinsky Mansion is a wonderful example of a modern style house built by the architect Fyodor Shekhtel by order of the industrialist and philanthropist Ryabushinsky in 1900-02. History and photos are at the link below.
... Nearby was expropriated
mansion in a lavish Art Nouveau style.
Gorky did not like him:
"Eh, decadence is mannered in everything." (With)
Firstly, I advise everyone who has not yet visited this architectural monument to do so as soon as possible) Very beautiful house, decoration, interiors, stucco, decorations. Moreover, the condition of the house is just excellent. And entry is free. Secondly, I will briefly tell the history of the mansion:
"The Ryabushinsky mansion is a wonderful example of a house in the Art Nouveau style, built by the architect Fyodor Shekhtel by order of the industrialist and philanthropist Ryabushinsky in 1900-02. The first owner of the mansion, Stepan Pavlovich Ryabushinsky, came from a large merchant Old Believer family, but, in addition to entrepreneurship, was fond of art and collecting.The collection in the Ryabushinsky mansion included more than 100 masterpieces of painting and a large number of icons, some of which were restored and saved by the owner from death. Ryabushinsky did not long own this wonderful property. After the revolution, the family was forced to leave Russia, and their mansions and paintings were left to the Soviet authorities. Part of the collection ended up in the Tretyakov Gallery and some other museums, but much was lost.
Two-story building with an open plan; the rooms are grouped around the internal staircase; the arrangement of the volumes follows the logic of the "organic" growth of the building
Composition: asymmetrical; a massive porch overlooks the red line of the street; the facades recede from the crane line of the street, the mansion is surrounded by a low lattice fence; the main façade faces the Church of the Ascension (to the north).
In 1917, the Ryabushinsky mansion passed to a new owner - one of the departments of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, the department of visas and passports. In 1919, the diplomats left the mansion on Nikitskaya. Writers appeared instead. The mansion housed Gosizdat, the main publishing house of Soviet Russia.In 1926, VOKS, the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, moved into the Ryabushinsky mansion.In 1931, Gorky arrived in Moscow from Sorrento, and Stalin granted him the Ryabushinsky mansion. Gorky did not really like it: a proletarian writer in a bourgeois mansion, and even modernity, which the writer did not like, but there was nothing to do.Gorky asked to dismantle and remove the unique modern fireplace, which got on his nerves, but left the rest. Gorky lived in this house from 1931 to 1936. Here he wrote the play "Egor Bulychov and Others", the novel "The Life of Klim Samgin". Gorky's apartment was one of the centers of Moscow's literary life; preparations were made for the First Congress of Writers here, and issues of the development of Soviet literature were resolved. In 1935 Gorky visited French writer Romain Rolland (there is a memorial plaque).
The editorial offices of magazines edited by Gorky were located in the neighboring house, writers constantly gathered in the house and the first plenum on the creation and congress of the Writers' Union was held here.
In 1942 in utility rooms Ryabushinsky's mansion was moved from Bolshaya Molchanovka by the writer Alexei Tolstoy, where he spent the last years of his life. Now here is the museum-apartment of the writer.
Later, the Ryabushinsky mansion was the reception house of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1965, a memorial museum-apartment of Gorky was opened in this house.
And now, after a historical background, I will immediately give photographs without further ado.
1. Before going directly into the house, let's take a little walk along a small orchard in front of the house.
2. We go inside, take slippers, buy a ticket for a photo and go to inspect the mansion. Let's start with the front staircase - the key note of the interior. Unusual railings, reminiscent of a running wave, are made of marble. They start from a lamp with a colored stained glass lampshade.
3. A beautiful colored stained-glass window on the 1st floor echoes the stairs.
4. Office of Maxim Gorky.
5. Portrait of the writer, located directly at the beginning of the exposition.
6. Let's move to the living-dining room. There is a large window overlooking the garden. Stucco on the ceiling old furniture, a curious fact is that earlier there was also a fireplace, which the writer asked to remove.
7. I bring an old, pre-revolutionary photo of the living room with a fireplace. It was very beautiful, it is a pity that it is no longer there. It's good that everything else is preserved.
8. Wardrobe with items from the writer's oriental collection.
9. Bedroom.
10. Elements of wooden wardrobe decorations in the bedroom. Above it you can see another small stained-glass window. Painting on the walls + beautiful decoration ceiling. In general, the architect paid a lot of attention to details. Elements of stucco, stained-glass windows, parquet, wood carvings on the doors - you won't notice everything at once.
11. View of the front staircase from the second floor.
12. Exposition about the writer's life on the second floor. It is less beautiful here - after Gorky, people lived here, partially repaired and changed the premises. We won't stay here long. In addition to the exposition, there is an entrance to a small chapel (!) nearby - it’s beautiful there, but, unfortunately, I didn’t take photos. There is also an exhibition of paintings in the neighboring rooms.
13. And again on the front stairs. This time - the view towards the stained-glass window with rain over the stairs.
14. Exhibit items presented in the rooms on the first floor. Here are different things of the writer - pencils with which he wrote, inkwells, scissors and many others.
15. Stunning ceiling in the library. Stucco in the form of flowers on trees, snails, beautiful painting by the window. By the way, the library is an extensive collection of books that are still in the cabinets to this day.
16. A collection of Chinese figurines and a fireplace in one of the rooms of the mansion.
17. Windows on the second staircase. They have handles from the beginning of the last century.
18. Vestibule and main entrance to the mansion. Above our head is a beautiful stained-glass window with a landscape, and the entrance to the corridor is decorated with steel slats in the shape of the legs of two praying mantises.
Alas, it was very dark and it did not work out well.
19. Once again, take a photo of the lamp by the stairs.
20. We go outside. Alas, it was cloudy, but we were very inspired by the museum we visited. Very nice mansion and interesting museum. Let's take a picture of the house, the garden and the Church of the Ascension opposite.
21. Let's cross the road and remove the main facade of the house. The Ryabushinsky mansion is made in light colors, the walls are finished with ceramic tiles.
and majolica depicting bizarre orchids.
Thus, now anyone can wander around the rooms, climb the stairs, admiring the interior decoration. If you haven't been here yet, I highly recommend you do so. This blog continues the theme of the visited buildings of the architect Shekhtel (you can see the estate of the merchant Patrikeevs
