The A. A. Polovtsov Dacha is the palace of diplomat Alexander Polovtsov on Kamenny Island in Saint Petersburg, built between 1912 and 1916 based on a design by Ivan Fomin. It is a benchmark of early 20th-century Russian neoclassicism.
In 1810, Alexander I granted the plot on the southeastern spit of Kamenny Island to his physician Karl Sauserotte (C. A. Sauserotte), for whom a two-story wooden house with service buildings was soon constructed according to a design by Vasily Stasov. By 1816, the estate was purchased by Baron Ludwig Stieglitz. Nearly twenty years later, in 1835, a mansion was built based on the design of architect Anton Matveyevich Kutsy (1800–1855). After Ludwig Stieglitz’s death, the estate was inherited by his son, Baron Alexander. During this period, the neighboring Chelishchev dacha adjacent to the estate was purchased, and it was decided to expand the manor complex. For this, architect Alexander Ivanovich Krakau was invited, who between 1865 and 1867 created an ensemble with a formal garden, greenhouses, service, and utility buildings.
In 1861, Stieglitz’s adopted daughter Nadezhda married Alexander Polovtsov. In 1884, their eldest son inherited the estate, and in 1910 he decided to rebuild the dilapidated mansion of Stieglitz, which had suffered from floods, incorporating the building’s walls into the new palace.
Gokh I. A. Salon in Baron Stieglitz’s house on Kamenny Island in Petersburg. 1850s. Watercolor
Fomin designed a symmetrical U-shaped building facing the garden, featuring a wide colonnade and a Greek portico. The facades were executed in a strict neoclassical style. The technical aspects of the reconstruction were developed by architect Karl Schmidt—he was responsible for the design of water supply and sewage systems, heating, and electricity. By 1913, the old garden was replanned to harmonize with the neoclassical appearance of the new palace. Under the supervision of civil engineer Ivan Vasilyevich Ekskuzovich, all the dilapidated wooden structures on the estate were dismantled, new ones were designed, old greenhouses were relocated, and a garage was built.
The palace’s interior rooms have an enfilade layout, with all the ceremonial halls located on the first floor. The second floor was allocated for living quarters—bedrooms, children’s rooms, studies—which featured more restrained decoration. Auxiliary rooms such as a cloakroom, buffet, and washrooms were located in the transverse wing adjacent to the main building. For the interior decoration, Fomin engaged colleagues: decorative painting was done by artist Usein Bodaninsky, and wood carving by Robert-Friedrich Meltzer.
The ceremonial enfilade of the first floor opens with a round vestibule-rotunda with a coffered dome. Following it is one of the palace’s most remarkable rooms—the Tapestry Hall. Its entrance is located in a deep niche covered by an arch; one of the end walls connects it to the adjacent hall, offering a view of the oval staircase and the high dome ceiling.
The walls of the hall, clad in artificial gray-yellow marble, were adorned with six tapestries titled "The History of Emperor Constantine" by Peter Paul Rubens. These tapestries were woven between 1622 and 1625 in Flanders by order of Louis XIII; it is believed that Napoleon gifted them to Count Pyotr Tolstoy upon signing the Treaty of Tilsit with Alexander I. Alexander Polovtsov Sr. purchased them from Pyotr Alexandrovich’s son. The hall also housed a fireplace relocated from the Mikhailovsky Palace.
Following the Tapestry Hall is the White Column or Dance Hall, extended along the palace’s main longitudinal axis. Two rows of Ionic columns divide it into three naves, and the painted barrel vault ceiling dates back to Stieglitz’s dacha. To its right was the Pink Drawing Room, whose walls were covered with pink damask. The hall’s floor was laid with parquet made from nine types of wood, and the ceiling was decorated with paintings. The drawing room contained a fireplace made of white Italian marble.
Through five glazed doors from the White Column Hall opened the winter garden, the last hall of the ceremonial enfilade. The room had a semicircular shape, and the far wall was entirely glass. The winter garden housed the sculptures "Girl in a Chiton" and marble statues of dogs, which previously stood in the park near the main entrance.
After the revolution, the building was nationalized, and by 1920 it was converted into a sanatorium for the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (VTsSPS). Photographs from the opening ceremony show Rubens’ tapestries still hanging on the walls of the White Column Hall. Soon after, they were replaced by a canvas depicting Vladimir Lenin; some tapestries were transferred to the Hermitage, while others were sent to the Commission for the Improvement of Children’s Lives store. Thanks to the efforts of museum workers, in 1926 these works were also transferred to the Hermitage, reuniting the collection.
In 1996, singer Shura filmed a music video for the song "Cold Moon" in the mansion. The video features the Tapestry and White Column Halls, as well as the winter garden.
In 2003, by decision of the arbitration court, the Polovtsov dacha was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Presidential Administration. In 2008, the palace was restored and handed over to the Navy as an officers' club. Copies of the paintings housed in the Hermitage were woven for the Tapestry Hall.
Sources:
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Дача_Половцова
