Floorplans of the Alexander Palace

[BobG]

Mandie,
There was an entresol (Mezzanine) Floor and the plan for it lists the room below rooms 27 & 28 as room 8 of the entresol and the translation I have labels it "8. The room for the Aleksey`s things."  As most rooms on the entresol were used for wardrobes (ie The Tsar's Wardrobe, Alexandra's wardrobe, Marie Fyodorovna's wardrobe), it is logical to assume that "Aleksey's things" would refer to his wardrobe as well as other thinngs.
Just an assumption on my part, but maybe someone has a more definitive answer.
BobG

[Maria_Pavlovna]

thank you, now is much clearer to me.

[pastpalacelife]

Do you (anybody) remember the picture that shows the "gate" where Alexandra and Marie talked to the guards, etc.  I don't have that pic.  Anyway, is that a picture looking into the courtyard of  the palace Kitchen?  Or, is the picture just labeled incorrectly. 

[EmmyLee]

The only gate I know about near the palace is the front gate heading out onto the street. I don't know if that's the one they went to, but it would make sense to me since it's so near the palace.

[Joanna]

There was the fence that went from the left wing to right wing that enclosed the courtyard. A gate was next to the steps of the left wing entrance.

Joanna

[EmmyLee]

Is this plan of the second floor when the concert hall existed?

[Sarushka]

The caption says "alternate plan of the first floor," so maybe it was a variant floorplan that was never used. The large room that occupies most of NII's family wing is labeled as a ballroom.

[BobG]

EmmyLee,
I have never seen second floor plans when the concert hall existed, but here is the plan of the first floor:

The Concert Hall is the large double room just before Alexandra's Formal Reception Room and the Small Library.
As I underdstand it the Concert hall was the full height of the first floor and mezzanine, so it would have been the same height as The Maple room and Nichollas' New Study including the balconies.  I do not believe it would have gone into the second floor at all and I imagine the floor plan of the second floor would look fairly similar to the way it looks today. I thinks most of the changes made by N&A were adding internal walls to make the larger rooms into several smaller ones.  The left side of the second floor was probably very similar to the right side as that side wasn't renovated by N&A as far as I know and would be an clues as to what the Children's floor might have originally looked like.
This plan came from the section of the Alexander Palace Time Machine under the AP Palace Tour/Plans, Maps and Churches section where there is a link to Designs for the Alexander Palace by Quarenghi.  Unfortunately, this link seems not to be working.
BobG

[EmmyLee]

Thank you, Sarushka and BobG. Yet another reason why I wish I knew Russian.

Perhaps this question should be in a different thread, but do any photos or watercolors exist of the concert hall?

[G.Michael]

EmmyLee,

I hope you will find this link interesting and helpful.

http://tsarselo.ru/photos/20/2102

[londo954]

The plan that includes a ballroom was an early plan for the palace that was initially to be built in St. Petersburg and later transfered to Tsarskoe Selo

[EmmyLee]

G. Michael, I'd seen the first photo before and not realized that it was the concert hall, so thank you. And thank you, londo954, for your information. Any idea why the palace was NOT built in St. Petersburg?

[pastpalacelife]

There was the fence that went from the left wing to right wing that enclosed the courtyard. A gate was next to the steps of the left wing entrance.

Joanna

Thanks Joanna, as usual you know the answers to my questions!  Any chance you have a picture of the gate near the steps of left wing?  Thanks, Tracy

[londo954]

From what I understand it was budget and space that was the ultimate deciding factor but I also understand that Catherine by that time in her life largely lived at Tsarskoe Selo and she preferred Alexander to be close. His mother lived at Yelagin in the city. Also the Alexander Palace was meant to be a Summer residence. I think in the city Alexander lived at the Winter Palace or at Kemensotrovsky (traditional home of the heir) but I could be wrong.

[londo954]

Somewhere, I believe on this site, there exists a drawing of the facade of the Palace as it was proposed for St. Petersbrug and it would have truly been yet another jewl in Petersburg crown. What I find fascinating is how Quarenghi adopts a slightly different plan for this plan. Russian grand palace architecture seems to follow the same general pattern with a garden facade and main facade that would act as a principal entrance which the Alexander Palace has. There would be a center block and from that extend wings on either side. One need only look at the plans for the Catherine Palace, Peterhof and even Pavolovsk although its wings cirve around a center court. From one of the facades one would enter the main entrance hall which always had some form of a grand staircase. The Alexander Palace lacks this feature. They almost always incorporated a ballroom for entertaining and for court functions as well as Parade rooms. The Alexander Palace lacking the former and having a scaled down version of the later. I would say it is save to say that the Palace design, location and purpose was altered as a cost cutting measure. From my research I firmly believed when the Palace was never intended for functions of state but rather for the functions of family it was first and foremost a summer home.