Today we will visit the palace of the Great Prince Michail Alexandrovich located on Angliyskaya naberezhnaya (river-front) of Neva River.
The building was constructed beginning of XVIII century (as Menshikov’s private mansion) rebuilt in 1870-1874 (architect K. K. Rehay) and again in 1910-1913 (architect P. Ph. Melzer)).
In the building resides Cultural Center of St. Petersburg Society for the Deaf.
Building facade surface is ceramic tile “carrera.” Whose name is in relation to the Italian city Carrera, where existed marble-finishing workshops.
“Russian
Order of
“Sign of Distinction”
Society for the Deaf
Leningrad Committee
Cultural Center”
Judging by “Leningrad” and “Sign of Distinction,” the plaque is of the USSR time, even though looks almost new.
From the postulate of the Central Fulfilling Committee on 25 November 1935:
“Order of “Sign of Distinction” is issued to honor achievements in areas such as production, science and technology, government, cultural, athletic and other social beneficial activity, as well as, for the demonstration of citizen courage.”
Architectural style of the building is neoclassicism.
I wrote this and am reading the following in one of the sources: “The architectural style of the palace of the Great Prince Michail Alexandrovich designated the departure from traditional palace building techniques. The desire for the compact layout, insignificant building size and the restraint in decorative detail make it more of a private mansion.”
Entrance.
Note the smaller rectangular door inside the main one.
It was used in the winter, so as to not let the cold air inside.
The ticket window likely pertains to the events of the Society for the Deaf.
Truly magnificent grand staircase rises to the upper floor.
The paintings on the walls are from the Soviet times. Pictured on the right, I presume, is the riot at the Winter Palace.
Those of us that are more impressionable may lose sleep after seeing a face like that. :)
Parallel to the grand staircase runs the, so called, rear staircase.
Let’s see what’s over there…
Very unusual elevator (does not operate) and a grand piano to match (did not check).
Rear staircase is also in decent shape.
Photo in different perspective.
Interiors as a whole are quite modest. Decorations are partly missing; however, as was noted above it is more of a private mansion rather than a palace.
On the left behind the door is a small but very curious space.
The main purpose of this space is to provide sunlight to the staircase.
There is also a small greenhouse located here.
This is the view from below.
Another room.
This room has a somewhat contemporary interior, but more or less true to the original style.
Let me note here, that such decoration style is called modern.
What looks like a very old sliding door.
Two old fireplaces with different bas-relief styles.
A marble windowsill.
Notice the metal handles on windows.
We will see in the next album the views that open from this window.
