House with towers

In the middle of the XIX century, this site belonged to the heirs of official A. Kopeikin and was undeveloped, then on this site stood a wooden house with a garden of the Prussian national K.F. Felkel (her brother S.F. Felkel owned a cocoa warehouse). Since 1895, there has been a velodrome and ice rink on the free territory of the site, where in 1898 the first hockey game in Russia took place, as well as (May 31, 1898) the first demonstration boxing match . By 1899, ownership was transferred to F.F. Felkel, and a five-story building with a perpendicular outbuilding along the boundary line in an eclectic style with elements of Romanesque architecture was built from the direction of Bishop's Street . The building did not overlook the square , but was turned to it by a round tower with a faceted dome . The building housed the women's primary urban school.

In 1909-1910, Bolshoy Prospect was extended to the Karpovka River , which was accompanied by extensive planning work, in which K. I. Rosenstein participated. The former possession of V.K. Felkel, a substantial part of which went under the Bishop's Square, was transferred to him.

In 1909, the territory of the courtyard of Felkel’s house was reduced by extending Bolshoi Avenue towards Karpovka . From F.K. Felkel, widow of F.F. Felkel, the plot was transferred to K.I. Rosenstein , who took part in drawing up a new layout of this area. He himself began designing a tenement house, drew up a planning decision, but then invited the architect A.E. Belogrud to collaborate. The latter at that time was fond of the Middle Ages and stylized the building as an English castle . Belogrud abandoned the order scheme and added variety to the composition, boldly combining elements of the Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Gothic . Symmetric hexagonal towers rise above the main array of the building. The outlines of window openings are varied. Windows of the third and fifth floors from the street. Leo Tolstoy is deliberately shifted in relation to other floors. Belogrud emphasized the corners of the towers with a rustication , and placed a decorative dial with zodiac signs in the wall of one of them.

On the facade from the side of Leo Tolstoy Street, two bay windows protrude. The design of this part of the building with offset rows of windows is due to the fact that on this side the existing five-story building was included in the new building, which also retained a number of design elements: “Romanesque” windows in the courtyard, molded fencing and stairwell doors.

For all its picturesqueness, the building was built with a high margin of safety. Interfloor ceilings carried custom-made multi - span I- beams . The engineering equipment of the house corresponded to the highest standards of the time: the apartments had gas stoves , sunken bathtubs , heaters for drying towels, and built-in wardrobes. In the courtyard of the building was a garage . The internal layout, made by Rosenstein, was compact.

The construction was completed in 1915 .

The “House with Towers” ​​was the last in time and first in importance construction on a new stretch of Bolshoi Prospekt. The powerful dominant of Leo Tolstoy Square acquired the significance of one of the symbols of the Petrograd side.

- B. M. Kirikov

At different times, they lived in a house with towers : one of the authors of the project, architect Belogrud (in 1914), writer Leonid Andreev (in 1915), singer Alexander Davydov (in 1914-1917, on the 4th floor), father .but. Russia Tamara Davydova, artist Andrei Ushin , commandant of the MPVO at home during the blockade ^[1] .

In the early 1920s on the ground floor of the “House with Towers”, from the square, the 5th registered cash desk of the People’s Commissariat , later became the savings bank , then the Sberbank branch, from February 1, 2013 the St. Petersburg Russian Entreprise Theater named after Andrei Mironov has been located in these rooms to the restoration of the premises in disrepair, where Sberbank was previously located.

Also on the ground floor, but from Bolshoi Prospekt, there was a cinema for 248 seats (from 1921, according to other sources ^[2] since 1915), first called "Elite", then "Competitor", and since 1925 - "Rezets", and since 1930, Ars. In 1972 it was closed, and the premises were transferred to the Leningrad television studio, which was located here until 1978 . After the reconstruction, carried out according to the project of the Institute’s architects, the B. G. Ustinov and L. Travin Giproteatr and the engineer M. B. Mednik in early 1978, the cinema premises were converted for the theater. In the design, a special place was occupied by elegant cast-iron grates, chandeliers , frames and tables of Kasli casting . On September 12, 1985, this room was occupied by the Experiment miniature theater, opening its seventh season here.

On the action and the word has its patent

On Tolstoy Square, the Experiment Theater

- wrote Mikhail Dudin , congratulating the theater on the housewarming.

The Experiment Theater was closed in 1995 , and since 1996 there has been the St. Petersburg Russian Entreprise Theater named after Andrei Mironov , founded in 1988 and directed by the famous entrepreneur , director and actor , People's Artist of Russia Rudolf Furmanov . Shortly before the revolution, Andrei Mironov’s grandfather - Semyon Menaker - acquired a deed of purchase for a part of the house.

• During the Great Patriotic War , a powerful high-explosive bomb exploded in the neighborhood, which caused a wall to move, but powerful I-beams saved the house from destruction. ^[3]
• On May 29, 2009, during the repair of the building’s facade, a fire occurred that affected almost the entire attic of the house, but was safely extinguished. ^[4] At the theater, the performance “Lie Detector” was interrupted, the audience was evacuated. Smoke from the fire was visible from all over the city. Extinguishing continued all night.

• Leningrad: Travel Guide / Comp. V.A. Vityazeva , B.M. Kirikov . - 2nd edition, stereotyped, with changes. - L .: Lenizdat , 1988 .-- S. 203 - 248. - 366 p. - ISBN 5-289-00492-0 .
• Kirikov B.M. The house of K. I. Rosenstein // Monuments of architecture and history of St. Petersburg. Petrogradsky district / Ed. B. M. Kirikov. - SPb. : Publishing House "Kolo", 2007. - S. 446-456. - 584 p. - ISBN 5-901841-21-2 .
• Privalov V.D. Kamennoostrovsky Avenue. - M .: CJSC Centerpolygraph, 2005. - S. 355-366. - 639 p. - ISBN 5-9524-1882-1 .
• Nikitenko G.Yu., Privalov V.D. Petrograd side. Big avenue. - M .: Centerpolygraph, 2009 .-- S. 284-290. - 349 p. - ISBN 978-5-9524-4515-4 .

• House with towers on the site "Walks in St. Petersburg"
• House with towers on the site "Encyclopedia of St. Petersburg"
• House with towers on the Zanevsky Chronicler website