Millionnaya Street

[Joanna]

There are fascinating reminiscences of Ella Woodhouse Cordasco, the daughter of the British Consul in St. Petersburg A.W. Woodhouse. She writes of living in a dacha in Strelna commuting daily with her father to St. Petersburg, of the days of the revolution, leaving for England while her father remained after the departure of Ambassador Buchanan, and a lengthy report of the Times correspondent of the raid on the British Embassy on August 31st and their subsequent incarceration in the Peter & Paul Fortress before finally been allowed to leave.

http://www.zimdocs.btinternet.co.uk/fh/ella2.html

She also writes of her mother's marriage to Mikhail Sergeievich Plaoutine. "...Their house in Petrograd was also in the Millionnaya, the street parallel to the Palace Quay, leading out of the great square in front of the Winter Palace, alonside which, was the famous "Hermitage" art gallery; next to that was a military establishment, and a few doors along, the Plaoutine's..."

I have read that N.P. Sablin had an appartment on the Millionnaya and GD Michael Alexandrovich took refuge in one. I am curious of the history of these houses along the Millionnaya and who lived there. Does anyone know of sources, photos c1900's, state of these today?

Mike, in your post of Films-Hermitage of July 29th you wrote of your school at 204 Millionnaya. Do you know the history of the building? Is it possible it was Plaoutine's!

Joanna

[Antonio_P.Caballer]

I have read that N.P. Sablin had an appartment on the Millionnaya and GD Michael Alexandrovich took refuge in one. I am curious of the history of these houses along the Millionnaya and who lived there. Does anyone know of sources, photos c1900's, state of these today?

Hello Joanna!

I think it was in Prince Putiatin´s flat on the Millionnaya, not in Sablin´s. There are recent photos of the building. I´ll try to post tomorrow(It´s 6.30 in the morning in Spain!)

[Mike]

Mike, in your post of Films-Hermitage of July 29th you wrote of your school at 204 Millionnaya. Do you know the history of the building? Is it possible it was Plaoutine's!

Joanna, 204 was (and still is - it is now a school witn an extended learning of Finnish language and culture) the school number. Municipal schools in Russia (as it also was in the USSR) are designated by numbers rather than by names. The school address is 14, Millionnaya. Unfortunately I have no information on the building's history.

[Belochka]

In the article provided by Joanna, the author claims that the English Club was on Millionaya Ul.

However I believe the club was actually situated on Dvortzovaya Naberezhnaya facing the Neva.

[Mike]

The club was then situated at 17, Millionnaya. However, like all buildings at that side of Millionnaya, it had a second facade facing Dvortsovaya Embankment.

[Julia]

The Plaoutine house on Millionnaya is #25 (it's on the other side from the Finnish school and closer to the Winter Palace). The first house on this place was built at the time of Peter the Great. Then it was re-built and reconstructed a number of times. The last reconstruction was made in 1913 by order of Sergey Nikolaevich Plaoutine.

As concerns Millionnaya 14 (Finnish school): 1737 - a house owned by General Vasiliy Levashov, although there is some strange information that in 1740 the house was owned by the "royal cook Paton". Then there were a number of owners, including colonel Rubanovsky, merchant Menshikov and Siromiatnikov.

Millionnaya 17 - English club - initially owned by General Andrey Ushakov (secret police general...). His daughter Ekaterina was married to the Count Peter Chernishov (godson of Peter the Great) and ingerited this house afther father's death. Then there was a number of owners and finally the house was bought by the Enlgish Club (which existed there until 1917). I am happy and proud that I bought an apartment in this house this summer!  

The British Ambassy rented Millionnaya  3 from 1863 until 1918.

Millionnaya is a great street and nearly each house has a long and fascinating history. Love it so much!

[Joanna]

My many many thanks Julia for your fascinating description of the Millionnaya! I am in awe of your apartment and may you have much happiness in your new home!

Do you know the address of Nicholas & Alexandra's close friend N.P. Sablin on the Millionnaya? Also do you have any information about his life after the revolution and where his papers may be located?

Joanna

[Antonio_P.Caballer]

The British Ambassy rented Millionnaya  3 from 1863 until 1918.

Hello Julia,

First of all, it sounds just too great to have an apartment on Millionnaya... so i can not even imagine how must one feel having a window that looks over that street!!!

Now, i think there must be some mistake, since the British Embassy was located in one half of the Saltikov palace, at Dvortsovaya Nabereznaya 4, with the facade looking over the Neva. The other half of the palace, looking over the Champ de Mars, was still occupied by the Saltikov family until, i think, the revolution.

[Julia]

Thanks, Joanna and Antonio!

Although I have to say that having an apartment on Millionnaya (actually, I have two means a lot of headache, first of all. They are in such a bad condition after more than 80 years of hell, that one really has to restore them. I receive some preliminary calculations today and, for example, the restoration of the beautiful ceilings in one of the apartments would take more than 1 year. Anyway, they are worth it (as does the view from the balcony to the two palaces

As concerns Nikolai Sablin – I could not find any info on him. I have some info on the ownership titles on Millionnaya, but could not find him on the list. Probably, he was renting an apartment: at the end of XIXth century there was a few apartment houses for rent. After the revolution he immigrated to France and died there in 1937, as far as I know. I do not think I can find any information here in Russia on this period of his life.
I’ve found a couple of pictures of him: don't think they are rare or new for you, but just in case you can see them here: http://photo.newyork.ru/thumbnails.php?album=354

Millionnaya 3 – I think you are right and there are some confusions.  It’s very difficult to find out what exact address the documents refer to when it concerns Millionnaya and Dvortsovaya. The problem is that there always has been a confusion between houses on the embankment and Millionnaya, because in many cases the parcels of land for the construction were limited by both. My title for the apartments on Millionnaya reads (and therefore the official address of apartments, which face Millionnaya only) is Millionnaya _house number_-Dvortsovaya_house number_.  Actually, this address includes: a building on Millionnaya, a building on Dvortsovaya and a few buildings between them in the yard. I meant just to mention the fact that the British Embassy was in the Saltikov house at the time of revolution and until those awful events in August 1918.

When in August 1828 The St. Petersburg Vedomosty made an announcement it stated that “stone building… facing the embankment and the Suvorov Square, including all furniture, bronze items, marble items and other decorations” is for rent. It’s known that Saltikov lived on Millionnaya again in 1870, but at the same time he owned a big country estate Chernevo in Pskov (?) region and invested a lot into its development and reconstruction. In 1986 he became the owner of a cottage on Chernaya Rechka in St. Petersburg and a big house on Stroganovskaya Street.

[Antonio_P.Caballer]

Hello Julia,

WOW, two apartments made into one is certainly much better than one

So you´re planning to restore the rooms to its past splendour? I suppose they were partitioned into smaller quarters after the revolution, weren´t they?

I wonder if your book on Millionnaya is "Panorama Millionnoi Ulitsy serediny XVIII Veka". Is it that book?

[Julia]

was still occupied by the Saltikov family until, i think, the revolution.  

Oh, even after the revolution. There is some info Saltikovs stayed there until 1918 and in March 1918 Dutches Anna Saltikova gave a permission to locate the Royal Swedish Mission in the house. I think they tryed to use this as a protection for the family.

There is also an anecdote (have no idea whether this is true or not) that Anna Saltikova was a post-revolutionary legent in St. Petersburg. When some Kommisars came to the house to "confiscate" things, she started to sing them the old Russian hymn of Cathrine the Great time Seems to me Anna Saltikova was a very nice lady.

[Julia]

Actually, the apartments are in two different buildings. One - in 17, the other - in 11. If you wonder about their condition, have a look here

http://photo.newyork.ru/thumbnails.php?album=353

. This is the interior of the one on Millioannaya 11. You are right - the rooms were just "cut" into smaller rooms. It was amazing when we stareted to take off the wallpaper, we found that one can see the whole design on the walls - sovients just cut off stucco moulding and put some wall paper on. We also found some signatures on the wall dated 1928 and some papers dated 1908 under the wallpaper.

It's going to be a long resotration period for the one on Millionnaya 11 (it's pretty big - around 290 sq.m.)

The other one on Millionnaya 17 - there is nothing to restore. All interior decorations have been destroyed a long time ago. But the staircase is very beautiful.

[Antonio_P.Caballer]

Thanks so very much Julia for sharing the wonderful photographs. It seems a huge apartment. And well, 290 sq.m. is, for modern standards, quite a palace of a flat( not to say its location...)

The ceiling looks very beautiful, so i just hope i could see the apartment when the work is finished!

[Joanna]

My many thanks also Julia for sharing your photographs. It will be exciting to see your restoration work as it progresses! Of the door that you uncovered, is the room on the other side part of your appartement?

Joanna

[BobG]

I have been carefully following this thread in hopes of identifying two buildings I photographed on Millionnaya Street when I was there in 2002. � Maybe someone could tell me the numbers of the buildings shown in my pictures.
They are both on the same side of the street and adjacent to each other. � Through various methods, I have identified one as #12 but I'm not sure I'm right. � Any help would be appreciated.
Photo 1:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/BobG_AP/AP%20Discussion%20Board/12MillionairesStonright.jpg
Photo 2:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/BobG_AP/AP%20Discussion%20Board/MillionairesSt.jpg

Thanks as always. � 
BobG