Palace layout

[Michael HR]

Hello,

I saw this photo and it got me thinking. From the plans on the AP website it gives the impression that from the Imperial bedroom you could walk into the Mauve Room in a straight line and then into the Pallsander Room. Then the door into the Maple room was in the middle of the wall and from the Maple room there was no straight exit only the side exit into the corridor. However, this photo seems to show a straight line of sight from the Imperial bedroom to the Corner/Reception room which on the plans and old photos should not be possible.

When the room were ripped out did it reveal original doors that had been hidden by the redesign in the Tsar's time and this therefore is the original design when the Palace was built? It has been driving me mad all week-end and has had me going through plansa and the AP website for hours.

Michael HR 

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll186/MikeHR_UK/alex_palace_11-1.jpg

[Michael HR]

Photo direct for your assistance

[BobG]

MikeHR:
Unfortunately the link to "Designs for the Alexander Palace by Quarenghi" on the AP site doesn't seem to work (ADMIN, PLEASE NOTE AND REPAIR).  I can't find them on the main site.  However, from copies of them, I can tell you that the Quarenghi's layout of the left side of the palace did not have an "enfillade." (the series of rooms connected by doors in the same location--as shown in the photo you posted).  The rooms all opened on the hallway which ended at the no longer existing Concert Hall.  The rooms on Nicholas's side of the corridor were designed as an enfilade up to the Concert Hall.  The Quarenghi Concert Hall had only the door in the approximate location of the end of the corridor leading to the what later became the Corner Reception room.  So the direct connection seen in your picture was added and was not part of the Quarenghi plan or N&A renovations.

Here is the Quarangi plan:
 

BobG

[Michael HR]

Dear Bob,

Many thanks for the reply. The plan was intresting as I had not seen this one before. How odd it all is. I never thought there was a series of doors in line but there they are in the photos and they seem to be original rather than very recent additions. They are clearly not there in the time of Nicholas and do not seem to tbe there when the music room was present so one wonders when they were put there, why and if they were hidden or covered over by the redesignn by Alexandra before they moved into the wing.

Michael HR

[Michael HR]

On studying the plan further it is clear that originally the rooms that became the bedroom, mauve room etc opened from the hallway and did not as you say connect. Therefore I assume that when they removed the music room for Nicholas and Alexandra they also blocked up the doors that led into the bedroom and Mauve room and created the linking doors along the wall by the window. This would make sense from the layout that we know today and from the time of the Tsar. Perhaps the doors that led straight to the corner room were added at this time but the plans changed when the maple room and Pallasander room were created to the design authorized by Alexandra and those doors covered over. The door that leads into the corner room would have been where the Marie Antoinette hung and for photos of the time there is no sign of this door.   

How very intresting it all is

Michael HR

[xirbis]

Dear Michael HR,
the rooms on a straight line... this happened, i believe in the 1940s (after the war), when the palace was partially restored in order to become a home to A.S.Pushkin Museum. The later was moved to the Lyceum building (connected to the Katharine Palace) in the 50s, unless i am mistaken. Alexander Palace, in turn, was handed over to the military then.
Hence the positioning of the doors - straight line - the idea was, to make it look very 1820-1830 - ish, as it was common in Pushkin's lifetime. It does look, however, as the original XVIII-XIXth centuries layout. i am guessing that was the intention of the 1940s partial remodeling.

[Michael HR]

Dear Xirbis,

Many thanks for that information and it indeed explains why the doors are not where one might think they should be. Now, that brings up another question. Are the walls as they are today where they were on the Tsar's time. I think the bedroom and the Mauve room are as they both should be as they seem to have two windows, which is correct from the plans. I think the Pallasander Room is right as it also should have two windows and be the same dimensions as the first two. The Maple room should have four, twice the size of the other rooms, windows and then a wall between it and the reception room. However, from this photo there seems to be an extra wall between the Maple Room and the Reception Room cutting it thus in half from it's original; dimensions. Any one know if this is correct in that someone has cut the Maple room in half with a wall that was not there originally. Thinking back to other photos I remember thinking that the Maple room seemed smaller than it should be and this would explain it now.

Does anyone know if there are plans to restore the rooms back to what they were doorway wise?

Regards,

Michael HR

[xirbis]

Yes, Michael HR, your guess is right. The Maple Room (originally with 4 windows) was divided into two rooms (2 windows each, half size of the original Maple Room) during the 40s reconstruction. I visited the palace in 1998 and during the tour our guide explained it all in detail.

[Michael HR]

Hi Xirbis,

What a strange thing to have done with the Maple room as it had never been two rooms. Perhaps when the Navy used the wing they divided it into two rooms for offices? And how very sad to have done this to what must have been a wonderful space in the Palace even without the decor that the Tsarina had put in place. It hasto be put back at some point.

Michael HR

[xirbis]

No, I believe that "division" took place in order better accommodate Pushkin Museum exhibition. Very briefly in the 40s, after the war was over but between the time when the palace was give to the Navy. This reconstruction took place with the museum in mind. It would make little sense for an office building. Navy just kept this particular layout it as it was.The whole story with the short-lived Palace-based Museum is rather a little-known fact.

[Michael HR]

Dear Xirbis,

That was very informative. Althuogh I had seen many photos taken in recent times none of them showed the doors and the extra wall as such and it was only when I saw this one that the penny dropped. Many thanks for your assistance.

Michael HR