Restoration of House with Atlases begins on Solyanka Street

The revenue house and teashop on Solyanka Street is known under the tradename D. & A. Rastorguyev Trading House. Its owner has launched the first restoration phase, involving accident prevention work. The project has been authorised and will be complete in early 2019.

The building, better known as the House with Atlases on Solyanka Street, has been acknowledged a cultural landmark. It was built in 1882 to a design by architectural academician Vasily Karneyev.

“The accident prevention work is vital. It is a preparatory stage in the restoration process which will eventually reinstate the historic appearance of the House with Atlases. Specialists are now reinforcing the walls, repairing hazardous sections of brickwork and installing posts to support the floors. In other words, they are ensuring the safety of the building so that further work can take place. Our department controls the entire process,” noted Head of the Department of Cultural Heritage Alexei Yemelyanov.

The landmark has a troubled past. The former owner of the revenue house acted irresponsibly, failing to carry out any repairs over a long period of time. As a result, after a court ruling, the building was transferred to a new owner who acknowledged it as a non-core facility and put it up for public auction. In May 2018, the house again got a new landlord.

“The remarkable House with Atlases on Solyanka Street was designed as a trade and residential building for noted tea merchant Alexander Rastorguyev. The truly famous landmark is very popular with Muscovites. Now we are working towards having it entered in the register of cultural heritage sites,” Alexei Yemelyanov added.

The first floor of the revenue house was originally meant to house the landlord’s teashop, and the two upper floors, very expensive flats. In the basement, there were storage areas for household goods, wine cellars and a boiler room.

The main façade features an elongated, symmetrical, elongated composition, typical of late 19^th century eclecticism. The building has historical and cultural value as an example of a small experimental elite revenue house with the most up-to-date technical equipment for the period. The revenue complex, which took shape in 1882, never underwent a major overhaul.  In 1909, sugar manufacturing millionaire Pavel Kharitonenko bought the house. After the revolution, it was nationalised. Building 1 accommodated the Scientific and Research Institute of Roentgenology and Radiology, with its technical laboratories occupying the first floor. Former rental flats were now adapted for communal use. The building’s tenants included the institute’s first director, prominent physicist and radiologist Pyotr Lazarev and chemist Sergei Namyotkin, noted for his work on the chemistry of oil.  

A revamp of the Barbican Tower on Izmailovo Island will start soon. The three-tier brick structure was constructed between 1671 and 1679, forming part of the arched stone bridge across Serebryany (Izmailovsky) Pond. The bridge was used by those passing along the driveway into the estate from Vladimirskaya Highway (today’s Entuziastov Motorway).