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Video: Mansions-masterpieces of Lev Kekushev - "the father of Moscow Art Nouveau" and a man of a mysteriously dramatic fate
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
If we talk about the buildings built in pre-revolutionary Moscow in the Art Nouveau style, we must certainly mention the two mansions of the architect Kekushev. They are unusually original and, interestingly, they were built by the architect not to order, but for himself. Fortunately, both houses are in excellent condition, and we can admire them to our fullest, admiring the fantasy and talent of the “father of Moscow Art Nouveau”.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Lev Kekushev was a very famous and successful architect and teacher. The architect usually began to work at six or seven in the morning and, fulfilling orders, sometimes got so carried away that he often left the client's estimate, but he did not give up his ideas and did "unnecessary" at his own expense. On the one hand, this obsession and passion for work eventually drove him into debt. On the other hand, now we, the descendants, have the opportunity to admire the masterpieces of his architectural thought, not constrained by the framework of circumstances.
The style, developed by a Moscow architect and based on the experience of the famous Belgian modernist architect Viktor Horta, even received the name "Kekushevsky Art Nouveau" in its time. His unique handwriting has always been recognizable.
House on Ostozhenka
At the time of the construction of the Gothic building on Ostozhenka, Lev Kekushev already had his own apartment building, and he erected this small but elegant "castle" next to it, for his wife. Therefore, the house is also called Anna Kekusheva's mansion.
The asymmetrical building, reminiscent of the European castle of the Middle Ages, embodies the versatility and ambition of the architect. Different volumes and shapes, original window openings and their decorated frames, stucco moldings, mosaics, a hipped-roof tower, an unusual combination of colors - all this makes the house unlike any other in Moscow and very romantic. The combination of brick, plaster and ornamental inserts is also very successful. The painting was completed by a huge lion, made by Austrian master Otto Wagner, mounted on a high pediment of a street facade.
Everything inside the building was arranged very rationally and, at that time, fashionable: in the center - the main staircase, on the ground floor - the living room, hall and Kekushev's office, in the attic parts of the house - bedrooms. There were 15 rooms in the house.
It is interesting that this project was originally intended for the future house of Savva Mamontov, which was to be built in the area of Tverskoy Boulevard (a successful joint work of Kekushev with V. Kuznetsov). However, due to the bankruptcy of the merchant, the grandiose plans could not be realized. “Such an interesting idea should not be lost! - thought Lev Kekushev and used the project to build his own house, adding new magnificent details.
The construction was completed in 1903. It is believed that in this work, Kekushev, as a master of modernism, realized all his capabilities accumulated over the years and revealed all his talent.
About how the life and career of the architect developed after the construction of the mansion is known only fragmentarily. According to some reports, he had a dramatic break with his beloved wife, after which they tried to reunite several times, but in vain. As for his projects, after the revolutionary events of 1905, the popularity of Art Nouveau in architecture began to fade, which led to the decline of Lev Kekushev's career.
About his architectural projects, created after 1912, nothing is really known. His last work was an Old Believer hospital and a warehouse on Preobrazhensky Val, after which his name was no longer mentioned in the newspapers. According to some sources, the architect died in 1913. According to others, from 1913 to 1917 he was in a psychiatric clinic, where he died.
In the 60s of the last century, this castle house housed the military attachés of the United Arab Republic, then the Defense Department of the Egyptian Embassy. Alas, during its existence, the building has lost most of its decor and interior interiors, but at the end of last year, work was completed to recreate the original appearance of this unique building.
Specialists have updated the stucco, plaster, metal decor, restored ornaments. As a result of the work carried out, the house even became a laureate of the city competition "Moscow Restoration" in several nominations at once.
In December 2017, the copper lion reappeared on the building. The fact is that some time after the construction (most likely after the death of the architect) the king of animals disappeared, and modern historians do not have exact data on the circumstances of the loss. Modern restorers managed to recreate the sculpture using the only photograph preserved in the archives.
House in Glazovsky
Speaking about Kekushev's talent as a modernist, it is worth mentioning his other mansion, which is also called "Liszt's Mansion". This house is considered the first building built in the Art Nouveau style in Moscow.
It should be immediately clarified that this building, located in Glazovsky Lane, has nothing to do with the great composer: a Moscow entrepreneur of foreign origin, the nephew of the owner of several large factories Gustav Liszt, Otto Adolfovich Liszt, settled in it.
Initially, the building, erected on the site that belonged to the wife of Lev Kekushev, Anna Ionovna, was designed by the architect exclusively for himself. The house looks austere and festive at the same time. An interesting combination of brick and black granite and, again, "Kekushevskaya" asymmetry and different-shaped windows.
Moreover, the house appeared here a couple of years before the construction of the aforementioned mansion on Ostozhenka.
A building was also built on the territory with service premises - a stable, rooms for janitors and coachmen, an area for storing carriages, and so on.
About how Otto List became the owner of the building, there are two hypotheses based on the memoirs of contemporaries. According to one, the handsome mansion of the architect liked the rich industrialist so much that he decided to get it by all means and offered the owner such an astronomical amount for it that he simply could not resist. According to the second version, Kekushev did not initially intend to live in this house, but built it with the aim of selling it at a higher price in the future. This is indirectly confirmed by the fact that he decided to move into the house on Ostozhenka, and not here.
Having experienced the financial crisis, Liszt sold the house of Natalia Koussevitskaya, the daughter of the richest tea merchant Ushkov and the wife of the conductor and composer Sergei Koussevitsky. This house was often visited by great musicians - for example, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Chaliapin, Grechaninov …
Shortly before the revolution, the house was bought by the banker and owner of factories Alexei Meshchersky. Alas, he did not have a chance to live here for long. After the 1917 revolution, Lenin tried to negotiate with a major industrialist, however, after hearing his terms, he called Meshchersky a swindler, which was followed by an immediate arrest. His factories, as well as the famous mansion, were nationalized. After serving his sentence and released, Meshchersky emigrated to Finland.
The premises of the house in Glazovsky first housed a library. In the 1990s, it was occupied by the Argentine Embassy, and in 2003 it was transferred to the government of the Kaluga Region.
No less interesting is another little-known masterpiece of Moscow architecture, Savvinskoe courtyard on Tverskaya.
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