Tea House on Myasnitskaya

First Owners

The first mention of the territory where the tea house is located dates back to the beginning of the 18th century . At that time, the land consisted of several courtyards, one of which belonged to the clerk Fedor Mironovich Sorokin. In 1719, Prince Grigory Volkonsky acquired the entire plot, but due to financial difficulties he laid the house for Princess Maria Vyazemskaya, he could not buy back the property. Six years later, the landlady resold the estate to Lev Vasilievich Izmailov , and then the house was inherited by his grandson Lev Dmitrievich Izmailov . He used the estate during his winter visits to Moscow . Being a quick-tempered and self-willed man, in 1831 Izmailov fell out of favor with Nicholas I , and in 1834 died ^{[1] [3] [4]} .

After his death, the site for a long time passed from one owner to another. It is known that in a certain period the land belonged to the head of the wool factory Nikon Ivanovich Volkov, and in 1839 the premises were converted into a women's boarding house . Later, the Kusovnikovs couple, who lived in the house from 1843 to 1870, bought the property. According to legend, Pyotr Petrovich Kusovnikov and his wife Sofya Ivanovna found a room in the house with Masonic attributes belonging to Lev Dmitrievich Izmailov, and, frightened, ordered them to pound the door ^{[5] [6] [7]} .

Pearl

In 1875, part of the estate was bought by the tea magnate Sergei Vasilyevich Perlov, according to the tradition of that time, the building was designed in the name of his wife Anna Yakovlevna. According to other information, the estate was originally acquired by the father of the merchant Vasily Alekseevich Perlov, and only after his death the building passed to the youngest son Sergei, who in 1875 reissued the documents in the name of his wife ^{[8] [9] [10]} .

The Perlov family has been known since 1752. Presumably, in those days, merchants were engaged in the extraction of river pearls . In the second half of the 18th century, they became one of the first tea sellers in Moscow. After the death of the head of the family, Vasily Alekseevich, the management of the V. Perlov and Sons ”passed to two brothers Semyon and Sergey. In 1890, Sergei Perlov decided to establish his own company. He ordered the architect Roman Klein to design a three-story stone house on Myasnitskaya Street in the late Renaissance style , where the main store of the new company was to be located. Construction work lasted two years and ended in 1893. A tea shop is located on the ground floor of the building, and the owner's apartments and rented apartments are on the second and third. Perlov was famous for his love of Asian culture and placed a collection of works of art of the East in his new dwelling. Musical evenings and performances of the family theater were often arranged in the house ^{[1] [7] [11] [12]} . Within the walls of the store for some time there was a public reading room where social events were held and the pastor John of Kronstadt arranged prayers ^[5] .

Tea House

In 1895, it became known about the arrival of Ambassador Extraordinary and Chancellor of the Chinese Empire Li Hongzhang to the coronation of Nicholas II . In the hope of attracting the attention of a high-ranking guest and concluding exclusive contracts for the supply of tea, Sergey Perlov decided to rebuild his own house in an oriental style. The entrepreneur turned to the young architect Karl Gippius . At that time he worked in the workshop of Roman Klein, who also took part in the implementation of an unusual project ^{[13] [14]} .

It is not known for certain whether Gippius visited China , but art historians say that he was able to accurately reproduce folk motifs. The architect preserved the symmetrical composition of the existing building, endowing it with bright protruding roof volumes. The main entrance to the store was made of dark purple marble , and the portal above the door was decorated with animal faces and a relief panel with a gilded peacock ^{[15] [10]} . The facade of the building was decorated with an abundance of sculptural details and ceramic tiles made to order by Chinese craftsmen. The main theme of decorative elements was mythical animals ^{[11] [16] [17]} . The front of the house was crowned with a two-tier pagoda turret, hung with small bells. In panels above the windows, the architect placed signs stylized as hieroglyphs , and above the doorway there was an inscription: “Sergei Vasilyevich Perlov - the main store” ^{[18] [1] [19]} .

To decorate the interiors, Perlov ordered two half-meter vases and a silk panel “Chinese” and “Chinese” from Chinese masters. Soft ottomans were installed in the room, on which it was possible to taste the products of the store. The coffered ceiling was decorated with gilded ornaments and light bulbs that the architect intentionally left without shades : at the time of the rebuilding of the store, electric lighting was rare and emphasized the institution's premium status. Construction and finishing work was completed in 1896 ^{[13] [18] [20]} .

The bright and unusual building immediately attracted the attention of Muscovites, however, having arrived in the city, Li Hongzhang chose to visit representatives of the older branch of the trading house. He visited the estate of Semyon Perlov, who at that time was managing the enterprise “V. Pearl and sons. " Nevertheless, the architectural features of the house in a pseudo-Chinese style became a successful advertising move and the store was popular. The brothers managed to withstand competition through a competent marketing policy : Semyon Perlov offered a mass product, while the institution on Myasnitskaya was visited mainly by representatives of the aristocracy and the merchant guild ^{[1] [8] [9]} . It was Sergei Perlov who first began selling tea in cans, and the goods were presented to honored customers in crystal boxes ^{[2] [12]} .

Nationalization

After the October Revolution, the building became the property of the state, communal apartments were located on the upper floors, but a tea shop continued to operate in the lower rooms. The Perlovs' family business broke up due to the emigration of most of the family, but the widow of the entrepreneur remained in the house on Myasnitskaya until her death in 1918. In 1920-1930, the building was called "Tea Management" ^[6] . In 1960, the house fell into the chronicle "Architectural Monuments of Moscow". In those days, it was possible to find scarce varieties of tea on the shelves of this outlet, and by its status it was equated to the Eliseevsky store ^{[1] [2] [11]} . The Soviet playwright Valentin Kataev described the structure as follows:

Despite the unique decor and popularity of the tea shop, the building has not undergone major repairs or restoration for a long time. At the end of the 1990s, the structure was very dilapidated: the ceilings were hit by a fungus, the cellars in which tea had been previously stored were flooded, communications were destroyed, and the facade was partially lost ^{[11] [19]} . At this time, the great-granddaughter of Perlova, Zhanna Yurievna Kirtbaya, turned to the Moscow City Hall with the idea of ​​restoring the former appearance of the house. With the support of Patriarch Alexei II , Perlovy & Co, which was headed by Kirtbaya, was given priority in the competition for investment projects , ceteris paribus. In 1998, a contract was concluded between the organization and the Moscow government , according to which the company received premises on the second and third floors for a period of 49 years, subject to restoration of the object. The first floor remained in the department of the tea shop, in which a contract was signed with the government until 2017 ^{[22] [3] [23]} .

Initially, Chinese masters were invited for restoration, but the 148 tiles they put did not survive the frosts and cracked. Later, representatives of the Russian Institute “Special Project Restoration” under the leadership of Natalia Safontseva and Sergey Kupriyanov were attracted to the project. Specialists recreated the original colors of the facades from the original fragments preserved under later layers of paint. Bent lattices made of stainless zinc alloy were installed on the balconies, and recreated bells that were previously lost were placed on the pagoda. The store’s premises reproduced the original counters and cabinets, restored the coffered ceiling and the ornaments of plants and animals that decorated it. Silk Chinese panels were restored in the Kremlin workshops ^{[17] [19] [22]} .

After the reconstruction was completed in 2012, between the shareholders of Perlovy & Co LLC the dispute between business entities escalated, the proceedings of which have been held since 2007. Zhanna Kirtbaya accused FINAM JSC of raider seizure of power, while representatives of the investment holding suspected the CEO of the company of deliberately eroding their share. The ruling of the Moscow Arbitration Court of Appeal of September 2015 confirmed the legality of the removal from office of the head of the company, Jeanne Kirtbay. As of 2018, the head of Perlovy & Co LLC is Leonid Yurievich Venzhik ^{[23] [24] [25]} .

In 2015, during the city program My Street , the storefront was updated and varnished ^{[17] [18] [26]} . In 2017, there were rumors about the termination of the tea shop on Myasnitskaya in connection with an increase in rents , however, as of 2019, the outlet continues its work ^{[27] [28]} .

• Dzhandzhugazova E.A. Tea house on Myasnitskaya: time travel // Modern problems of service and tourism. - 2011. - S. 103-107 .
• Moscow, which is: The best examples of scientific restoration of the XXI century. / Alekseev A. - Moscow: Department of Cultural Heritage of the City of Moscow, 2013. - P. 122-123, 220. - 239 p.
• Makarevich G.V. Monuments of Moscow architecture: White City. - Moscow: Art, 1989 .-- S. 265-266. - 380 s.
• Fochkin O. V. Urban legends . - Moscow: Ripol-Classic, 2016 .-- S. 249—252. - 628 p. - ISBN 978-5-386-08511-7 .

• Vesti.ru report on the reconstruction of the tea house on Myasnitskaya
• The history of the Perlov family