Other Balconies?

[EmmyLee]

I was looking at the plans of the AP and noticed that there are two other possible balconies on the left wing, coming off of the music/billiard hall and chapel. The other one is around the corner of the blue drawing room. I've never seen any photos of them (and for all I know they aren't balconies at all).



In this photo from either 1948 or 1949, you can see that there's nothing there, though it might look like there once was something around the foundation that was stripped off later.



Does anyone have any photos where these balconies are visible? When and why were they removed? Possibly around the same time as Alexandra's balcony was torn down?

[Tasia]

How weird!!! Now I'm interested too!! I hope that someone can answer this ^^

[PAVLOV]

Yes. I am so glad you spotted those balconies as well. I was going to ask about them myself. This side of the palace is an unknown area, because it was occupied by the Navy and nobody could even walk around there. But the balconies were there. They are clearly marked on the plans. So perhaps they were removed when they took away Alexandra's balcony.
This is very interesting, I am dying to know the answers.
The rounded balcony would have exited out of the room which is earmarked as a restaurant / coffee shop after the present restorations. Would'nt it be wonderful to sit out there and have tea ?  I may be wrong about the room, but I think so.

[EmmyLee]

No, you are correct Pavlov. The rounded balcony is directly off of the Blue Drawing Room, which is the room that will become a restaurant. I really hope someone knows more about these balconies, and I can't believe it took me this long to even notice them. But we never hear about them.

[PAVLOV]

Hi Emmylee

Of course you realise what the problem is going to be, dont you ? We are all desparately going to start searching for more plans and photographs of the balconies !!

So my next question is......does anyone have any photographs of the Blue Drawing Room ?

Regards
P

[EmmyLee]

Good question! I don't believe I've ever seen (or at least realized that I was looking at) any photos from the left wing's rooms, unless the photo I have labeled as the Crimson Room really is the room labeled on the plans over near that wing. I would be very interested to see some, especially if they could help solve the mystery of the other two balconies.

[pastpalacelife]

A while back, someone posted  a watercolor painting of the balcony off the blue room.  Unfortunately, I don't think I have a copy (and I've forgotten how to do that) but I'm sure someone on here will come up with it for you!  I've always wondered what the main front door by the semicircle room looks like.

[Tasia]

I don't have photos of the blue drawing room or the balcony! But I think that someone here has the photo of the blue drawing room & the balcony, lol.!!

[EmmyLee]

A watercolor? The only paintings I've seen of the AP, or at least that I have saved, are these two:



If the image name is correct, the first one was painted in 1841, plus it is not from the correct side of the palace, so we can't see if the balconies existed then. I have no idea if the other two balconies were original to the palace or added somewhere down the road. We do know, of course, that Alexandra's balcony was added while the family lived there.

The second painting is of the correct wing, but with all of the shrubbery in the area in question, I can't tell what's over there. Under the awning on the side of the palace, there's a door with what looks like just plain steps leading down from it. According to the plan, you can see steps on there, but I assume they lead down from the balcony. They also don't lead out away from the palace itself. Of course, the same question applies for this painting. I don't know when this one was done, nor do I know when the balconies were part of the palace, so perhaps this was before the balconies were constructed, and it used to be that there was just a door with stairs. The shrubs also seem to be right up against the rest of the palace too, so it seems doubtful that there's supposed to be a balcony hidden behind there. My depth perception may be off, considering it's just a painting, but I don't think there's a balcony there.

It just occurred to me that for all I know this painting might be flipped and maybe is actually of the right wing. :/

My, information on these balconies is elusive!

[pastpalacelife]

Yes EmmyLee, thanks for posting and I believe that is the right wing.  Sorry Tasia if my response was not very helpful.

[Tasia]

Yes EmmyLee, thanks for posting and I believe that is the right wing.  Sorry Tasia if my response was not very helpful.

OPS! I wanted to mean someone here = in the whole forum, not mentioning just you xD *sorry  *
Just trying to help us is very cool, pastpalacelife!! It was very helpful!! hehe
Thanks EmmyL! And I believe too that is the right wing, pastpalacelife!
Pretty Paintings *_*

[Joanna]

This painting is from 1858 prior to the death of Nicholas I's wife Alexandra. There is a brown door from #36 (which may have been part of their son's enfilade of rooms) onto concrete steps leading to what appears to be an arbor next to it. After Alexandra's death, a new circular balcony was made for AIII & MF. The photo of the Blue Drawing Room does not show the windows so we are unable to know which window was made into a door.

The Faberge egg reveals the overhang of this balcony:
http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fab/39/alex-p3.jpg

The balcony off the Marble/Billiard Hall did not have an overhang. There is a photo where you can just discern the railing. The door was the middle window of the Crimson Room #25 but it is difficult to know if it remained when the room was reconstructed into a chapel. The Marble hall had a window also that could have lead off onto the balcony but it is difficult to tell with the watercolor or G. Lukomskii's photo c1918 as the curtain is closed.

Joanna

[EmmyLee]

Very good, Joanna! I hadn't even thought to consult the Faberge egg, even though that picture is saved in my collection. So the balcony off of the Blue Drawing Room was built for AIII and MF's use-- I still wonder what year it was built. Joanna, which photo of the Blue Drawing Room do you mean? Do you have it? I would like to see it if so. Also, you mention a photo where the railing from the other balcony is barely visible. Do you also have this one? Thank you so much for your help!

[Joanna]

EmmyLee, here is a link to the Blue Drawing Room photo from Nemos' site:
http://pushkin-history.info/component/option,com_datsogallery/Itemid,26/func,detail/catid,257/id,476/

Of the date of the right wing balcony, now I am wondering if it was reconstructed at the same time as Alexandra's in 1996. The egg shows a similarity of roof although configured circular. In the Repairs to the AP on the AP site, 1846 - two iron balconies on garden side designed by Brullov and Monginetti and 1896 - iron balcony outside A's rooms by Danini. To help us, we need access to the albums of AIII&MF to identify changes and to all of Danini's architectural drawings.

I will have to search for the Marble/Crimson railing - could it have been from Bronshtein's that I saw it possibly. Traces of all were still there c1930s and by the time of 1948 were obliterated with resurfacing. It is the same with the Winter Palace, iron balconies were removed after 1926 and yet in 1944 the door from MF's #304 was still there and only later resurfaced as a window.

Joanna

[EmmyLee]

Thank you Joanna. Regarding the roof over the balcony off of the Blue Drawing Room, if it was indeed built in 1846, is it possible that when Danini did Alexandra's balcony, he tried to match the roof over hers to what already existed on the other side of the AP?