Why did the city authorities "hide" the masterpiece of architecture together with the residents: Savvinskoye courtyard on Tverskaya

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Savvinskoe courtyard is an amazing building. Despite its beauty, as well as architectural and historical value, it is hidden in such a way that many townspeople are not even aware of its existence. It is called a hidden landmark of Moscow, because at one time it was really purposefully removed out of sight. And who would have thought that this masterpiece of architecture is located right on Tverskaya!

Monastic apartment building with a film studio

Several centuries ago, on Tverskaya Street, there was a building that belonged to the famous Zvenigorod Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery. It survived two Moscow fires, but during the last, in 1812, it burned out so that there was no point in restoring it. And at the beginning of the last century, at the request of the Mozhaisk Bishop of Parthenia and with the permission of the authorities, a new four-story building began to be built on the site of the burned-down building - with a courtyard and utility rooms.

The construction was supervised by the famous architect Ivan Kuznetsov, who designed the building in the style of pseudo-Russian architecture with the addition of Baroque and Art Nouveau elements, as well as using Abramtsevo tiles. This combination turned out to be very successful, which is not surprising given the architect's talent and experience.

In pre-revolutionary times, the first floors of the building were occupied by various offices, including the Savvinsky bishop's office, editorial offices and shops, and the novices of the monastery lived on the upper floors. But most of the premises were rented out, as in an ordinary apartment building.

In the courtyard there were two stone buildings, in one of which there was a house church in honor of Savva Storozhevsky.

By the way, the Moscow Diocesan Society located here was in charge of a school for the homeless poor, an orphanage and a workshop for boys.

Immediately after the construction of the courtyard, Aleksandr Khanzhonkov's film studio ("Khanzhonkov's Trading House") became one of the tenants. The filmmaker even managed to get permission from the bishop of the monastery to build a film studio in the backyard of the building. According to legend, at first the clergyman opposed such an undertaking, considering it seditious, but after Khanzhonkov invited him to a session and introduced him to the cinema, the bishop was so impressed with what he saw that he gave the go-ahead.

Filming and editing of films have been going on here for almost ten years. During this time, many feature films and documentaries have been created.

The townspeople liked the courtyard of wondrous beauty

The building on Tverskaya, which looks like a Russian tower and a European castle at the same time, has become a real decoration of the street and the whole of Moscow, organically blending into the landscape.

Its tiled facade, decorated with glaze, stucco and mosaics, aroused the admiration of passers-by, and two tall pointed turrets, visible from afar, became its hallmark.

The inner (courtyard) facades turned out to be no less beautiful: arches, columns, original bas-reliefs and windows, decorated with flowers and sea shells, were created with great taste and imagination. The inner courtyard resembles a chic palace hall.

After the revolution, the building, like other Moscow apartment buildings, was densely populated by Soviet families, arranging communal apartments here, and the first floor was given to shops and utility rooms.

The house was driving very smoothly

In 1935, during the expansion of Tverskaya Street, which in those years was already called Gorky Street, the courtyard building was not touched, but four years later its existence was under threat. As part of the General Plan for the reconstruction of the capital, they wanted to remove the house in order to build a stalinka in its place.

However, they did not demolish the courtyard, but moved deep into the street by about 50 meters. It is believed that collective appeals of local residents to the highest city authorities helped to save the back ones. According to another version, the authorities decided not to destroy the building, since they nevertheless recognized it as an architectural monument. The practice of transferring buildings in Moscow at that time already existed and the technologies that Soviet city planners had at their disposal, accordingly, allowed it.

The talented engineer E. Handel supervised the relocation of the building. Preparations took more than one month, but the move itself was quick. In just one night, the 23-ton house was neatly cut from the foundation and, with the help of a huge winch, along the pre-laid rails, it was neatly moved to a new place. Moreover, this happened so smoothly that the tenants were not even resettled during the movement of the building - all this time they were in their apartments.

So the unique building turned out to be on the second line of Gorky Street, hiding from prying eyes behind a newly built massive Stalinist house. Accordingly, the number of the transferred building has changed.

Today, in this building, which, incidentally, is well preserved, there are mostly various organizations, including Orthodox and charitable ones. There is even an art gallery dedicated to Russian and Byzantine icons. An Orthodox chapel is also open here.

And in continuation of the theme of interesting buildings of the capital - The mystery of a fairy tale house in the center of Moscow.