Description of the attraction
The most romantic and mysterious house in Saratov is the mansion of E. Borel, which is located at the intersection of Gimnazicheskaya (now Nekrasov) and Armenian (now Volzhskaya) streets. Built in the early twentieth century in the Art Nouveau style, this compact mansion with a complex multi-facade composition and a loggia in the form of a keyhole is simply mesmerizing. The history of the mansion has come down to our time thanks to the legends and the work of modern local historians, who have not found official historical confirmation.
In 1901, the great-grandson of the salt industrialist P. V. Anosov, the merchant Semyon Isaevich Anosov, the owner of sawmills and an estate at the corner of Sovetskaya and Radishchev Streets, decided to give a small house to the delight of his wife Elizabeth and the envy of the neighbors. Having invited a talented architect for this (according to local historians, he was PM Zybin), Semyon Isaevich told about his desire to make an original "gift". The architect's rich imagination and ingenuity was appreciated not only by the Anosov couple, but also by the architectural critics of that time. But soon there was a discord in the Anosov family, and in 1909 the small "castle" was sold to Karepanov, who in turn sold it profitably to I. E. Borel in 1910.
The new homeowner Ivan Emmanuilovich Borel, a merchant of the first guild, one of the recognized "kings" of millers, the owner of the Trading House at the intersection of Pervomayskaya and Gorky Streets, made this beautiful mansion his favorite place to live. Borel was a versatile, hospitable and passionate theater-goer. Many guests often gathered in his house, literary and musical evenings were held on an impromptu stage. The original mansion matched the extraordinary owner, erasing former homeowners from history.
In 1917, the building passed to the new government and was used as an administrative building. In 1960, a decision was made to transfer the mansion to the city registry office. Nowadays, the Wedding Palace has been restored and is on the balance sheet of the state as an architectural monument.
