What secrets are kept in the most pompous tenement house for the elite, built 100 years ago in St. Petersburg

2023 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 13:10

This stately house on Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt is one of the architectural masterpieces built in the northern capital by the father of St. Petersburg Art Nouveau Fyodor Lidval. The building is decorated with mushrooms, animals, owls and other interesting elements. At the beginning of the last century, it was one of the most pompous apartment buildings erected in St. Petersburg for the elite. And even now it is very prestigious to live here.

Home for mother

The territory at the beginning of Kamennoostrovsky Prospect, on which the famous house was erected at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, changed owners many times. At the end of the last century, Yakov Koks bought it, combining the two plots previously located here into one, and soon sold this land on credit to Ida Lidval, the mother of an outstanding St. Petersburg architect. The architect Fyodor Lidval, who is rightfully considered the father of St. Petersburg Art Nouveau and the master of the so-called Northern Art Nouveau (a style that spread mainly in Scandinavian countries), personally designed this apartment building for his mother.

It is interesting that the building on Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt was the first independent construction of Fedor Lidval. And, I must say, this first experience turned out to be more than successful. By the way, the house is not located on the red line, but, as it were, goes deeper.

Until her death, Ida Lidval lived in this house (she died two years before the revolution), in apartment No. 18. And the great architect himself lived in apartment number 23 - until his emigration in 1918.

Father of St. Petersburg Art Nouveau

It is believed that it was Fyodor Lidval who determined the architectural appearance of St. Petersburg at the beginning of the last century, and in terms of the importance of this outstanding master, perhaps, can be compared with Shekhtel - the father of Moscow Art Nouveau.

The Lidval house has several buildings with a different number of floors, united by a courdoner, and one of the buildings was actually the Lidval family mansion with apartments.

The building is finished with natural materials of various textures (the base is made of red granite, the floors are faced with potting stones, ceramics, plaster). This building, unusual for the beginning of the last century, does not have strict symmetry, moreover, it has a strange shape of windows. Unusual intricate window openings, some of which are crowned with arches and platbands, as well as balconies and bay windows.

When looking at the house from a close distance, the letter L on the wrought-iron railings immediately catches the eye - by the name of the original owners - Lidvall.

As a true Art Nouveau building, the Lidval tenement house is replete with incredible decorative elements. There are owls, hares, birds, branches, and many other interesting images.

The house is separated from Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt by an exquisite forged lattice, which is installed on pillars made of Finnish granite. The lantern pylons at the gate are also granite.

In the front houses, fireplaces made of marble and tiles were originally installed. Interestingly, with such an intricate layout, there were no sharp or obtuse corners in the rooms of the apartment building.

The house had all the trappings needed for modern life: electricity, hot water, laundry and ironing facilities. There were stables in the courtyard. Rooms were provided for doormen, janitors (some of them, in fact, played the role of guards), and so on.

As for the tenants who settled in the apartments, there were many outstanding scientists, financiers, and artists among them.

After construction, the Lidval house received an award at the 1st competition for the best facades of St. Petersburg. And, of course, this project was included in the textbooks for aspiring architects.

Living here is prestigious now

After the revolution, the apartments of the apartment building were equipped for communal services, ordinary people from the outskirts of the city settled here. Some of the former residents were allowed to stay (and, of course, to make room at the same time), but there were also those who were evicted, moreover, those who left were not allowed to take furniture, paintings, interior items with them.

According to the surviving documents, A. S. was settled in the apartment of the late Ida Lidval. Korovin with his wife and daughters and A. A. Antipova. The room in which Ida Lidval's belongings were kept was closed and sealed. In the 1930s-40s, composer and musicologist Valerian Bogdanov-Berezovsky lived in apartment # 18.

During the Soviet years, famous people of their time also lived in this house - scientists, art workers, translators. In addition, the building housed various organizations.

Now wealthy people live in the Lidval house, as in pre-revolutionary times. Apartments here are expensive, because, in addition to the fact that the building is located in the very center of St. Petersburg, in close proximity to the metro, the living conditions here are also good. The house has excellent sound insulation, high ceilings, large windows, bright spacious rooms. And there are not many apartments: there are only about a dozen in each front entrance (entrance).

By the way, those who like to discover interesting buildings of the city on the Neva will certainly be interested to know what is famous for the only Stalinist skyscraper in St. Petersburg and what relation did Viktor Tsoi have to this building.