Description of the attraction
The house of Adamini in St. Petersburg is called the house that rises on the corner of the Moika embankment and the Field of Mars. The house was named in honor of the one who supervised its construction in 1823-1827. Italian architect D. F. Admini.
For a long time, the place where this building now stands was empty. Only in 1756 a wooden building for the Free Russian Theater was built on this site, which was also called the Knipper Theater. But during the reign of Paul I, the building was demolished, because it interfered with the parades, which the autocrat liked to arrange so much. For a long time, the site stood in desolation again until it was acquired by the merchant Antonov for the construction of his mansion.
Construction began in 1823. The head of the construction, a representative of a renowned family of architects, Domenico Adamini skillfully fulfilled his task.
The building is made in the style of Russian classicism. The portico of eight columns is in perfect harmony with the porticoes of the Pavlovsk barracks, despite the fact that Adamini preferred a more elegant and complex composite order to the strict Doric order used in the design of the barracks. The rounded corner of the building is decorated with pilasters, which rest on a balcony lying on consoles; a stucco frieze of griffins, which is made according to the sketches of the architect himself, runs around the entire building. The walls of the building are of a calm yellow color, at the level of the first floor they are rusticated, and the middle wall is pushed forward. The first floor windows are arched and decorated with rich white décor on top.
The interior layout of the building is quite common for apartment buildings of the first half of the 19th century. The arcades of the building were supposed to be, like galleries, open, since Antonov was going to arrange trading shops on the ground floor of the building overlooking the Moika.
The house of Adamini fits perfectly into the surrounding landscape and architecture of this place: on the one hand, it completes the perspective of the Griboyedov Canal, and on the other, it closes the ensemble of the western part of the Field of Mars.
The construction of the house of the merchant Antonov was completed in 1827. The first inhabitant of the house was the famous scientist at that time, Baron P. Schilling von Kanstadt, who possessed remarkable knowledge in many scientific fields. He invented a mine with an electric igniter, as well as electrical insulated cables. It was in this house on the corner of the Moika embankment and the Field of Mars that the world's first demonstration of a key electric telegraph, invented by Baron Schilling, was held, which was attended by Emperor Nicholas I himself. After the death of the baron, his inventions were forgotten, and Morse is now considered the creator of the telegraph. Only in 1859, in a scientific article, the rights of Baron Schilling to the title of the discoverer of the electromagnetic telegraph were restored.
After the death of the merchant Antonov, his wife became the mistress of the house. In 1846, at her request, a warm gallery was built. Most likely, it was then that the first floor was rebuilt. When Antonov's widow also died, the Department of Appanages was located in the house. Since the beginning of the 20th century. concerts and exhibitions of works of art were held in the house of Adamini. In 1915, the first exhibition of Russian avangardists took place here, where the works of Malevich, Rozanova, Tatlin were presented for the first time.
In 1916, in the basement of the house, Meyerhold organized a literary and artistic cafe "Halt of Comedians", where later famous artists, poets, artists, writers such as Mayakovsky, Bryusov, Blok, Akhmatova and others met, talked and performed. painted by S. Sudeikin, B. Grigoriev and others, but during the flood of 1924. they were lost.
During the Great Patriotic War, two bombs hit Adamini's house, but in 1946.according to the project of Ginsberg, the building was restored. In 1948. the famous writer Yuri German lived in this house, and his son, the famous film director A. German, also grew up here. Today, Adamini's house has barely changed in appearance. All apartments are also located here, and on the ground floor there is a restaurant.
