Small Nicholas Palace in Kremlin

[Almedingen]

Does anyone know what happened to the Nicholas Palace (where Sergei and Ella lived) in the Kremlin?  I've been reading Education of Princess by Marie Pavlovna (in which she mentions it) and was wondering what it looked like and what happened to it.

[jda]

The Nicholas Palace was destroyed in the late 20's early 30's.  Also destroyed was the Chudov Monastery, the church of St. Catherine,the Monastery of the Ascension,the church of the Metropolitan Alexis and the Cathedral of the Annunciation.  On the site of these was built  The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet which I believe is where the president's office is now located.  An interesting sidebar to the above is that when the building and surrounding areas were being refurbished in the 90's Grand Duke Serge's grave was uncovered.  He had been placed in the crypt of the Church of the Metropolitan Alexis and when the church was destroyed he remained under a parking lot.  The coffin was removed and buried in one of monasteries around Moscow I forget which one.  If you want to see what the palace looked like on the inside look in  the book The Moscow Kremlin in watercolour edited by Emmanuel Ducamp.

[Mike]

Small Nicolas Palace in Kremlin looked in 1850. The palace was built by Matvey Kazakov in 1775-1776 as the Archbishop's House and converted into a palace in 1817-1818. When it was demolished in 1929 (together with other historic buildings, as mentioned by previous posters), the site was used for a new "14th Wing". It housed consequently the VTsIK School of Red Officers (whose elite cadets also guarded the Soviet leaders in Kremlin), the Supreme Soviet's chancery, the office of the Kremlin commandant, the Kremlin Theater and, after 1968, the Supreme Soviet's assembly hall.

[James1941]

I am no expert on the lives of the GD Sergei and the GD Elizabeth, but I believe that when he was Governor General of Moscow they lived for most of the time in the Governor General's Residence outside the Kremlin walls.
Only when it became so unsafe for them because of the 1905 revolutionary turmoil did they move to the Small Nicholas Palace in the Kremlin. It was to the Governor General's Residence that the GD Sergei was going to finish packing when he was assassinated. He had just resigned as Governor General. This building, the Governor General's Residence is still in existence. I believe that it is now the Duma for the City of Moscow, or something associated with the Moscow City government. The Soviets remodeled it, adding several floors and moving it back from the street when it was widened in the 1930s. If I am incorrect I would welcome correction on the details.

[richard_1990]

Bump. This is what the Nicholas Palace looked like before it was destroyed inside the Kremlin. Other than what it looks like I know absolutely nothing about it, could anyone enlighten me?

[susana]

Hello, for safety the GD Sergei and small family moved into the Small Nicholaevsky Palace in the Kremlin; it had become too dangerous to reside in the Governor General's Palace on the Kremlin end of Tsverskaya Ulitsa the main street. I don't believe they were in the Kremlin very long before the (Feb 5th?) bomb was thrown. The Pavlovich children who lived with the GD and his sife stayed inside when they all heard the bomb but the Grand Duchess left immediately to help gather the parts of her husband and bring them into the Chudov Monastery.
Then the children were allowed to join the mourners. I believe a finger or ear was found much later on a rooftop but his head was never found.

[Svetabel]

Btw, in the Small Nicholas Palace Emperor Alexander II was born in 1818 year.

Here are some images of the Palace in 1890s-1900s.

[Svetabel]

For those who are still interested in this Palace.

In 1874 Alexander II ordered to restore and renovate the old Palace. It became stone, got new interiors in empire style.

This is how looked the facades of the Palace before 1874




This is the restored Palace after 1874 and till 1929





This is a plan of the buildings of the Palace. Not a floor-plan, alas, but anyway an interesting view.



Two-storied  stone building aka seni, instead of wooden building which was before.
Main building of the Palace is  three-storied .
Kitchen Wing is 2-storied
Suite’s building is 3-storied

[Joanna]

Excerpts from the diary of Grand Duke Konstantin about the Small Nicholas Palace in Moscow

https://winterpalaceresearch.blogspot.ca/2018/05/a-century-of-history-in-small-nicholas.html

Joanna