Where Gilyarovsky took Stanislavsky: the five main buildings of the Basmanny District

Let us go straight away back to the 19^th century. This was a period in time when you had to watch out if you decided to take a walk around Khitrovka because there were thieves lurking all over the place. Let’s take a walk around the oldest building here, where the homeless shelter was located that inspired the Moscow Art Theatre actors who staged “The Lower Depths” in 1902. Later, we will go to the northeast while studying the magnificent Art Nouveau buildings as well as the industrial architecture.

Mos.ru completes a series of publications created with the help of the Street Lecture Hall, a project developed by the Museum of Moscow. In the framework of this project, throughout the summer of 2017, Moscow researchers and historians spoke about the history of several Moscow districts. The project will once again be launched during the summer months, but until that time  people will be able to be guided on their spring walks thanks to the lectures in written form.

Yaroshenko’s revenue house on Khitrovka

11/11/1 Bld. 2 Podkopayevsky Pereulok

There are two reasons why this building on Khitrovskaya Square is unique. Firstly, it was built in the 17^th century. It is still unknown who it initially belonged to, probably to commander Buturlin. No one knew how old it is until 2004, when a piece of plaster came away from the wall revealing huge stones, a characteristic trait of the mid-17^th century. In the inner yard, there are the remains of a red porch, whole tiles and bricks with markings from the time of Tsar Alexis of Russia. Everything had been hidden underneath plaster for centuries.

Balconies are the second characteristic of this building. Let’s go from Khitrovskaya Square under an archway leading to the first yard, where the rooms are situated, and then to the second one. Here we can see the wooden balconies constructed much later: a rare sight for today’s Moscow (there are only two such buildings in Moscow; the second being on 4 Pokrovka Street). Their facades resemble coastal cities, such as Odessa or Batumi. But 150 years ago there were hundreds of buildings with such balconies in Moscow.

In the 19^th century, after serfdom was abolished in Russia, the poor rushed to Moscow in search of money. Khitrovka, which had been an elite district, partly became the place in the city were the underworld lurked. There was a real labour exchange for pre-revolutionary illegal workers described in books by Vladimir Gilyarovsky. At that time, in the late 19^th – early 20^th centuries, the building belonged to Yelizaveta Yaroshenko. It was her who had these wooden balconies built. It was by no means for beauty’s sake but simply to save money. She decided to open a shelter for the homeless in the building. It was something like a cheap hotel for the poorest of poor without any heating or water and with only one utility room on each floor.

By the way, for Yelizaveta Yaroshenko (who was rather wealthy and had a villa in Italy) the shelter was not a way to earn money but for charity. The shelter was the place where the most decent of the Khitrovka beggars lived: former intellectuals who had spent all their money drinking, play copyists and princes who had lost their fortunes. In 1902, workers from the Moscow Art Theatre who rehearsed “The Lower Depths” performance came here to watch how the prototypes behaved in a natural environment.

Gilyarovsky took Konstantin Stanislavsky, Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko and artist Viktor Simov to the shelter. Gilyarovsky was well-liked on Khitrovka and considered an insider. The participants of that meeting recollect a conflict that took place in the shelter: seasoned thieves found out about the visit of the honoured guests, and attacked Simov with stools and bottles. It might have ended sadly if not for severe Gilyarovsky who stopped the chaos by means of blurting out insults together with curses.

Makayev’s revenue house

18/5 Podsosensky Pereulok

This is one of the best examples of Art Nouveau architecture in Moscow and one of most interesting revenue houses. This is beautiful yet completely crazy Art Nouveau, not designed by Shekhtel or Kekushev, but by the little-known architect Makayev, who only constructed three buildings in Moscow.

Makayev used to sign his name as Prince Makashvili: he was born in Georgia, and Georgian surnames were usually russified in these cases. This building is probably his masterpiece: Art Nouveau without concessions and not even the slightest bit of symmetry. It has one façade for Kazarmenny Pereulok and an entirely different one for Podsosensky Pereulok: the details are completely different from left and right; and the windows are shaped differently (by the way, the authentic wooden frames have survived in several places).

In general, the Moscow Art Nouveau is a mixture of everything that came from Europe: from Vienna, the north, France, Belgium and Germany. Some experts can see the influence of Latin America in Makayev’s building, but it is more likely the ideal combination of Northern and Viennese motives that, at first sight, do not combine (these turrets, rough plaster and pastel  colours: initially, the building was painted gray).

This building has several names: House with Cats, House with Poppies and even House with Cacti. Its main decoration is white flower stems on the façade ending with elements resembling cat’s heads. Red poppies were there before: on a ceramic panel that adorned the attic above the ledge from Kazarmenny Pereulok. Unfortunately, a significant part of the decoration was lost during the repairs in the 1980s.

Gas holders of the Arma plant

5 bld. 15–18 Nizhny Susalny Pereulok

Brick gas holders are rare today. Few European cities have well-preserved examples like those in Moscow. But we are lucky because we had a gas plant that left five excellent cylindrical gas holders from the mid-19^th century.

It was decided back then to illuminate Moscow with gas lamps, and the English-Dutch company “Buqier and Goldsmith” won the tender and immediately started building the plant. It was ready by the end of 1865. Several buildings in Nizhny Susalny Pereulok as well as many gas holders have survived until this very day.

They were designed by architect and engineer Rudolf Berngard and constructed in 1865. Each one is 20-metre-high, is 40 metres in diameter and goes another 10 metres into the ground. Initially they did not have such large windows as now, only narrow openings. Gas was not stored in brick facilities and there was no interstorey framework but an enormous metallic reservoir with liquefied gas. In December 1865, the first gas lamps lit up Moscow and there were several thousand of them three years later.

However, the company was not very successful. Muscovites were reluctant to bring expensive gas into their apartments. In addition to this, their rivals, kerosene dealers, made adverse publicity to the gas lighting pointing out that gas was bad for the health. The plant was sold to French entrepreneurs, and after the end of the concession time it was handed over to the city. Several buildings were reconstructed, but the gas holders remained: they were used to store gas received from the rectification of black coal up until the 1940s.

After a gas pipeline from Saratov to Moscow was launched, the plant changed its specialty: it started producing gas equipment: gas meters and plates. There were workshops in the gas holders: metallic reservoirs were dismantled and frames were built in several of them, dividing the construction into several floors.

The plant closed in the 1990s. The art cluster started forming in it under the name “Arma” (the name comes from the gas holding equipment produced here): photo studios, clubs and bars opened. Gradually, the building and the area around the plant declined. After reconstruction work in the early 2010 Arma became a fashionable urban space.

The Church of Resurrection and the Protection of Our Lady

17 bld. 4 Tokmakov Pereulok

This church is not famous: it seems hidden behind multi-storeyed buildings and probably no one sees it except parishioners and people on tours. It is unfortunate since this is another beautiful sample of the Russian Art Nouveau.

It was prohibited for the Old Believers to build churches in the 19^th century. It was only allowed after the year 1905, when the law on tolerance of religion and freedom of religion was passed. This is one of the churches built after 1905. It is very interesting that Old Believers, very conservative people, chose an Art Nouveau style: innovative, breaking stereotypes and denying everything before it. But there are different kinds of Art Nouveau: in this case, we are talking about the neo-Russian style: a fantasy in the Ancient Rus style, similar to Pskov, Novgorod and Vladimir.

The Old-Believer Church of the Resurrection and the Protection of Our Lady is not like any other church in Moscow. This huge triangle above the campanile looks like some ancient church put on top of the new one: a daring and innovative solution of architect Ilya Bondarenko. The building was constructed with funds donated by Alexei Morozov, a member of the Morozov family, who were millionaires and Old Believers. This branch of the family denied priests, church services and altars, but nevertheless, the church in Tokmakov Pereulok has an altar. In this sense, it continues the traditions of the old church architecture.

It was not dismantled in the 1930s.This was a miracle. Back then, churches were being taken  down as a source of obscurantism and schools, temples of enlightenment, were built in their stead. In this case, a school was built next to it. By the way, the best view of the church is from the school yard.

We know a story from the life of architect Ilya Bondarenko. He was a humble man and rarely spoke about his job, but once he betrayed his principle. It was on a train going to Germany. His fellow-traveller, a young Moscow architect, started sharing his impressions from new buildings, including from the church in Tokmakov Pereulok. “It is clear the architect is foreign!” he said. “Nobody here builds that way; the project is amazing and the area around it is very neat.” “No, I assure you that the architect is Russian. I know him personally,” Bondarenko answered, and when the fellow-traveller asked him to introduce him to this mysterious architect, he offered his hand and introduced himself.

Peasant Frolov’s revenue house

23 Baumanskaya Street

This building is not an architectural masterpiece, but is still very interesting. Firstly, it is a peasant’s revenue house. How could a peasant construct a four-storey pseudo-Gothic building in the centre of Moscow?

It is important to understand that 90 percent of the Moscow magnates in the late 19^th century are former peasants dating back to the first or second generation. Even when they became wealthy and, in fact, traders, they were not ready to officially say goodbye to their social class, because members of the trade guild had to pay higher taxes. The owner of this building, Anton Frolov, was one of these peasants.

The pseudo-Gothic style is a reference to the past of the district, to the German Quarter, where foreigners used to live as of the 16^th century. The German Quarter was flourishing during the era of Peter the Great but became completely Russian by the 19^th century: it was mostly Russian traders and manufacturers who lived here, and there were almost no foreigners. In general, 150 years ago it was a typical industrial Moscow suburb. Architect Viktor Mazyrin, whom Frolov turned to, made a historical parallel and tried to restore everything back to its former glory.

Frolov had a small plot of land, and this influenced the construction of the building. It is very narrow, which is rare in Moscow, but quite usual when it comes to European architecture.

Today Frolov’s revenue house is one of the main sights on Baumanskaya Street. It is a residential building and people live on the first, second and third floors with one family on each floor. The stained-glass windows are the brightest detail in the building resembling those of a Catholic church. The windows were restored not so long ago. When you pass Frolov’s house, don’t forget to enjoy the light reflected through the colourful glass.