The founder of the Znamyenka estate was stolnik of Peter I, Prince Ivan Ivanovich Rzhevsky, and his wife Darya Gavrilovna. The tsar often visited them as a guest. Only in 1714, the "Campaign Journal" recorded about a dozen such visits. For example, on March 22, 1713, Peter I was returning to Petersburg after a months-long journey. "...He wished to travel all night... and on the same day dined at the prince-abbess Rzhevskaya's," states the "Campaign Journal." Rzhevsky, fulfilling the tsar's demands to "build amusing palaces of stone with excellent architectural work," constructed stone chambers "with wooden structures."

Peter visited the estate repeatedly. The first record of this in the "Campaign Journal" dates back to October 16, 1714. Therefore, by this time, the Rzhevskys had settled in such a way as to be able to receive such a distinguished guest. The estate's name originated during the Rzhevskys' time, at the church consecration in 1718. From then until 1787, many documents and literature refer to the estate by a paired name: "Vasilyevskoye, also known as Znamenskoye." On July 19, 1732, by order of Empress Anna Ioannovna, the former Rzhevskaya dacha was granted to Admiral Count Nikolai Fedorovich Golovin. In 1739, it was sold to the brother of the temporary ruler Gustav Biron, but after the arrest and exile of the Birons, it was returned to Golovin.

In 1755, this dacha was purchased from the Golovins by Count Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky, the favorite and secret husband of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. From this time began a burlesque phase in the development of the Znamenskaya estate. Razumovsky laid the foundation for the modern palace, created the Lower Park, and built greenhouses where, according to legend, the "devil's apple" — the potato — was grown.

The Empress often stayed at Znamyenka while traveling to Peterhof. It was then that the magnificent Znamensky Palace was built, presumably designed by Rastrelli, which has survived to this day, albeit in a rebuilt form. A park in the French style was laid out around the palace. Soon, a three-domed Peter and Paul Church was erected next to the palace, adorned with two four-columned Corinthian order porticos and partially rebuilt in the 19th century.

After Razumovsky's death in 1771, the owner of Znamyenka became his younger brother Kirill Grigorievich Razumovsky (1728–1803). In 1777, after a devastating flood when the water level rose 310 cm above the ordinary mark, the old Lower Peterhof Road was moved to the upper terrace on the section between Sergievskaya Pustyn and Peterhof. From this period dates the surviving stone bridge with granite railings on the Petersburg highway near Znamyenka. After the completion of the Upper Road, the southern facade of the Znamensky Palace became the main one, and the Upper Park was newly created as the ceremonial entrance to the estate.

In 1789, Znamyenka was acquired by Senator and Director of the Assignation Bank, Petr Vasilyevich Myatlev. Under him, the palace was extended with a third floor. The Myatlevs, among the wealthiest aristocrats of their time, invested considerable funds in the estate's improvement. Brilliant balls were held here, attracting the entire capital's high society. Myatlev was educated, known for his sharp mind and cheerful disposition, and was friends with many literary figures: Fonvizin, Dmitriev, Karamzin. The senator's son, Ivan Petrovich Myatlev (1796–1844), was known as a poet famous for his impromptus and puns. The first line of his poem "Roses" was used by Turgenev in his prose poem "How beautiful, how fresh were the roses." Myatlev's song "Lanterns" gained wide popularity. Among his friends were Pushkin, Vyazemsky, and Zhukovsky.

In 1835, Emperor Nicholas I bought Znamyenka for one million rubles from the heirs of Senator Myatlev and gifted it to his wife, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, annexing the estate to the neighboring Alexandria. Connected by common management and a system of roads, Znamyenka and Alexandria became a single estate.

The Empress's favorite architect, Stakenschneider, was commissioned to rebuild the palace. Initially, he proposed giving the building a Gothic appearance to stylistically unify it with the Alexandria structures. However, Stakenschneider later abandoned the Gothic towers and preserved the Elizabethan Baroque style of the mid-18th century. According to his design, the lavish interiors of the palace's ceremonial halls, staircases, and winter garden were decorated.

Twenty years later, on September 11, 1856, the Empress gifted the estate to her third son, Nikolai Nikolaevich, who by then was married and a father. The architect of Znamyenka was appointed to be Gerald Ernestovich Bosse. By 1859, the decoration of the striking, exquisitely decorated Baroque facade of the palace—the compositional center of the grand duke's country residence—was completed, followed by the construction of the stable building, greenhouse, and kitchen wing.

In the same style, the facade of the Stable Yard (1853–1856) and the two-story Kitchen (Cavalier) wing (1856–1859), connected by fences to the one-story house of the overseer, were executed.

 The Stable wing was especially beautiful, hardly differing from the palace itself, whose quadrangle was framed by towers, and the gate arches with ornate wrought-iron gates created a brilliant perspective. The vast estate complex included a stone stable yard with a riding hall and guest boxes, a dozen horse stalls, a hospital, smithies, and living quarters for grooms and beretors in the corner towers. The Znamensky stables housed horses of all the most famous breeds in the world—the grand duke Nikolai Nikolaevich the Elder, being the general inspector of cavalry, had a passion for horses. Annual exhibitions of purebred horses were held at Znamyenka, attracting stud farm owners and horse breeding enthusiasts.

Next to the palace, on Church Alley, stands the Church of St. Peter and Paul, built in the neoclassical style: white with blue domes, it introduces a dissonance in the stylistic unity of the estate. Since 2004, services have been resumed in the church.

At the park entrance, according to Benois's design, in 1867, a chapel of St. Joseph was built in the "Russian" style from red brick with funds from a simple non-commissioned officer, in memory of the failed assassination attempt on Emperor Alexander II on April 4, 1866, near the Summer Garden.

The park around the palace was designed by the grand duke himself. In the Upper Park, from the central part of the southern facade of the palace, beautiful symmetrical straight alleys extended; the central alley crossed the St. Petersburg highway and the railway, built by 1857, and continued into the Ropsha highway.

To the north, in front of the palace, lies the Lower Park. The natural terrace on which the palace stands was decorated with a complex composition of stairs and pergolas with elegant pylons, ornate railings, and vases. From the viewing platforms, there was a charming view of the blue distant Gulf of Finland. Along the palace, just below the terrace slope, runs a straight section of the old Peterhof road, called the Lower Road, which here became a park alley. The park was adorned with numerous sculptures, pavilions, grottos, cascades, and fountains. In its center, on a small glade surrounded by benches, stood a monument to the late mother, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, surrounded by her favorite flowers—forget-me-nots.

On the days when the grand duke's court was at the estate, a white standard with the grand ducal coat of arms, invented by Nikolai Nikolaevich himself, was raised above the palace. The double-headed eagle with the imperial crown crowning the coat of arms, the golden chain of the Order of St. Andrew around the shield, four golden and four silver lion heads on a black background as on the Romanov family coat of arms—all indicated the owner's belonging to the ruling house. The Varangian helmet, shield, and crossed golden axes testified that the estate owner was a military man. The floral wreath and blue background of the shield symbolized beauty and grandeur. From Peterhof to Strelna along the Tsar's (Lower) Road in the 19th century.

During the Great Patriotic War, German troops were stationed at Znamyenka; the estate suffered damage and was mostly restored only in the 1970s under the direction of architect Plotnikov. However, the relatively well-preserved stables, which in the 1970s were intended to be transferred to the boarding house located on the estate, were never restored and are gradually deteriorating. The Church of Peter and Paul with the chapel of Joseph the Hymnographer was restored only in the 1990s.

Sources:

https://peterhof.ru/usadba-znamenka

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Знаменка_(усадьба)