Red Dacha, Green Dacha, Golitsyn baroque: Perovo and Novogireyevo main landmarks

 

Mos.ru continues a series of articles based on the Museum of Moscow’s project “Street Lecture Hall: Local History.” During the summer months of last year, Moscow researchers and architectural historians gathered in front of audiences in courtyards in various parts of the city and talked about mysteries and secrets belonging to various districts of Moscow. The “Street Lecture Hall” will resume its work this coming summer, and until that time, lectures on Khamovniki, Shabolovka, Ramenki and Maryina Roshcha are available in written forms.

Maria Kalish: there are not so many architectural landmarks in Perovo and Novogireyevo: these districts are still new. Before 1962, it was one of Moscow’s satellite towns. This idea arouse in the 1920s, when industrial colonies were turning into workers’ townships and then becoming actual towns. There are few historical buildings preserved here, however, we can distinguish two churches: Znamenskaya Church (the Church of the Holy Sign-painter) in Perovo and the Church of The Saviour Not Made by Hands in Novogireyevo as well as dachas built at the beginning of the 20^th century.

Znamenskaya Church in Perovo (5 Lazo Street)

The manor where the Znamenskaya Church was built at the end of 17^th – the beginning of the 18^th century belonged to the Golitsyn family and later was bought by the state. By the way, there was a wooden palace built next to the church at the beginning of the 18^th century. The legend has it that Elizabeth of Russia’s lover and secret husband, Alexei Razumovsky, lived there.

The construction is usually dated back to the year 1699. The famous Swedish architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger who created the Znamenskaya Church in Dubrovitsy supposedly worked on this one too. The churches are of similar size and many of the decorations are the same: they are small, a bit ornate, and both have tetrapetalous layout.

The image of the Znamenskaya Church in Perovo changed several times. Probably the most serious change was that one the side chapels suffered in 1906. At that time, a massive Seraphim of Sarov’s Church with a bell tower was built instead of St Nicholas’ Chapel. In order to avoid disharmony, the new church was baroque in design and not the usual Russian Revival style. In the 20^th century, Pyotr Baranovsky, architect and restorer of Old Russian architecture, worked on the building.

In 1930, the 1906 church and bell tower were dismantled as part of the renovation. Now such things are considered barbarous, but back then all the buildings constructed at the beginning of the 20^th century were dismantled, and only the historical nucleus was left intact. No services were held in the church and the windows were boarded up: the upper ones with bricks and the lower ones with steel shutters which were only removed in the 1990s, when it was decided to give the church back to the community.

Church of the Saviour Not Made by Hands in Gireyevo (4а Svobodny Prospekt)

The Znamenskaya Church in Perovo was built on the orders of Prince Pyotr Golitsyn in his manor. Approximately at the same time, maybe a bit later, the Church of the Saviour Not Made by Hands in Gireyevo was built near his son’s manor in Gireyevo. This construction falls under Peter the Great’s ban of stone constructions.

This is a small church with a similar tetrapetalous layout as the Znamenskaya Church in Perovo. Both have one tower but no bell towers (however, in the 19^th century the church in Gireyevo had a wooden bell chamber). The main difference is the decorations: if the Znamenskaya Church is richly adorned, the Church of the Saviour Not Made by Hands is simple and humble, but it still is an interesting example of the transition between Russian and European architecture.

Alexei Diky’s Dacha (16 Alexei Diky Street)

The old wooden dacha in Alexei Diky Street in Novogireyevo is a testimony to the theatrical history of this area. At the beginning of the 20^th century, Alexei Diky, actor and director who worked at the Moscow Art Theatre at first and founded his own theatre in 1931, lived here. This building was bought by his mother; and Diky loved this place very much and called his estate “Gireyevka.” Here Diky received such people as Konstantin Stanislavsky, the iconic Art Director of the Moscow Art Theatre, and Alexei Bakhrushin, philanthropist and founder of a private literature and theatre museum.

Today this dacha looks unusual for someone who comes to Diky Street for the first time: a small wooden house surrounded by multi-storey buildings. The dacha is not a museum, but it is protected as a site of cultural heritage.

Red Dacha (7 Novogireyevskaya Street)

This three-storey brick house not far from Entuziastov Motorway also conserves the memory of artistic people who lived there at the beginning of the 20^th century.

The Red House (named so because of the colour of unplastered walls) was a dacha for artists. The area in Gireyevo was given to Vladimir Favorsky, Ivan Yefimov and Lev Kardashov in 1936 to build studios with adjoining residences. The building constructed after their project looked great among the neighbouring wooden houses. The studios were located on the ground floor and the living space on the first floor and in the attic.

After the artists died their descendants lived here, as well as artist Yelena Korovai and her daughter Irina Korovai, the last apprentice of Vladimir Favorsky; artist Dmitry Zhilinsky with his wife, sculptors Nina Zhilinskaya and Dmitry Shakhovskoi married to Maria, potter and Vladimir Favorsky’s daughter.

People still live in the house and the work continues in the studios. The artists’ descendants keep the building as it was, but it will be difficult to get in there: the Red House, like Diky’s dacha, is not a museum.

Museum of Naïve Art (Green Dacha) (15а Soyuzny Prospekt)

Another dacha with a history is situated in Soyuzny Prospekt: it is the Museum of Naïve Art.

Today’s Novogireyevo District was a most interesting village in the past, built by Torletsky traders at the beginning of the 20^th century (today a variant of this name is preserved in the name of sights connected with them, such as Terletsky Park and the Terletskiye Ponds). Like in New York and Berlin, this district was divided into prospects. The names sounded beautiful: Dumsky or Baronsky (now they are more modern: Soyuzny and Federativny). Here on offer were individual plots of land ready to be developed  with both running water and electricity.

The advertising booklet, which invited people to Torletskys’ village, promised proximity to the capital: “Only eight versts and 20 minutes away from Moscow,” it read. By the way, one dacha, which is an excellent example of Art Nouveau that was featured in this antique advertisement, has survived until today. It has been hosting several museums for a long time. The Museum of Naïve Art is located at 15a Soyuzny Prospekt, the Perovo District Museum.

Vadim Sidur Museum (37а Novogireyevskaya Street)

It is not an architectural landmark but also an interesting building. The Vadim Sidur Museum opened in 1989, after the sculptor died. During the Soviet times, Sidur had no exhibitions: he was excluded from the Soviet Communist Party for his “formalism and pacifism.” In 1987, his first exhibition opened with supported by the Perovo Local Executive Committee: it was held in a small room of the local Perovo Exhibition Hall in Novogireyevskaya Street. In 1989, the Perovo Museum was renamed Vadim Sidur Museum.

During the time of perestroika, this small area between Novogireyevskaya Street and Zelyony Prospekt, where the museum is located, became the district centre. A monument to those without burial (“Mourning Mothers”) to the soldiers who perished in Afghanistan was unveiled in the public garden behind the museum.