The Kamennoostrovsky Theater is the only surviving wooden architecture monument of the Classicism era in Saint Petersburg. The building was constructed in 1827 based on the design by architect Shustov. Since 2005, the Kamennoostrovsky Theater has been part of the stage complex of the Bolshoi Drama Theater.

The idea to build a summer wooden theater in the vicinity of Petersburg arose in 1826 because the main opera and ballet stage of the capital, the Bolshoi Theater on Theater Square, was closed for reconstruction after an unsuccessful restoration of the building that burned down in 1818.

Initially, it was planned to build the summer theater on Yelagin Island, near the suburban residence of Emperor Nicholas I. This work was entrusted to architect Shustov. By early December 1826, he had completed the drawings and estimate for the theater's construction. The theater was intended to be built of wood. The lower, wider part was planned to house service rooms (decor storage, dressing rooms, etc.). It was designed as a terrace with galleries for the public to stroll. The upper part of the building, decorated externally with columns, was to contain only the auditorium and stage. The theater walls were to be lightweight — made of separate posts covered on both sides with boards. To ensure wall rigidity, braces were to be installed, hidden in the lower part by the terrace cladding and in the upper part by columns. The construction cost exceeded 170,000 rubles, so Nicholas I, after reviewing the project documentation and estimate, ordered the construction to be postponed.

The question of building the theater arose again six months later. Architect Shustov prepared a new project and estimate. This time, the construction site was chosen on Kamennoostrovsky Island on the bank of the Bolshaya Nevka River near the 1st Yelagin Bridge, offering a view of the emperor’s suburban residence — Yelagin Palace. On April 27, 1827, the Department of Domains allocated 40,000 rubles for construction. The theater’s foundations were planned to be made of wooden piles. The walls were a frame structure. The auditorium’s parterre was sloped toward the stage so that the front rows would not block the view for those seated behind. Since the theater hall was also intended for meetings, balls, and masquerades, architect Shustov provided for a "masquerade floor that could be raised, similar to the Bolshoi Theater, operating on beams with buttresses, so that it could be raised and lowered at both ends." Painter Shiryaev, contracted to "paint the ceiling with flowers according to the drawing... and decorate the boxes with arabesques," completed his work by June 11. All work was supervised by the architect. Decorative fabrics played a significant role in the theater’s interior decoration. The sides of the boxes were upholstered with blue velvet, the benches of the 3rd tier with woolen fabric covered with canvas on top. These works were carried out by master P. Slushansky. Theater furniture made of Karelian birch — 213 armchairs and 108 chairs of the 1st tier — was created based on Shustov’s sketches.

Work began on May 10 and was completed on June 25. Research conducted during the 2007–2012 restoration dispelled this beautiful legend: in reality, 40 days were spent assembling the building from pre-prepared elements.

One of the best masters of landscape gardening, Bush, who embodied Rossi’s artistic ideas in creating the landscape park of Yelagin Island, supervised the work on creating the park surroundings of the theater. About 400 plants — various shrubs and trees — were ordered by the garden master for planting in the garden surrounding the theater.

The theater’s main facade is decorated with an eight-column Corinthian portico. On the tympanum of the triangular pediment is a relief depicting attributes of theatrical art — a lyre, masks, musical instruments, thyrsi. The relief was carved from wood based on Shustov’s drawings. Stucco work was carried out by contractor Sokolov and master Balin. Statues "Apollo with Pan" and "Castor and Pollux" were installed on the platforms in front of the facades but were lost in 1917. The auditorium was designed to seat 750. The stage dimensions allowed for operas, dramas, comedies, and ballets to be performed.

The theater’s grand opening took place on July 1, 1827, with Karatygin’s comedy "Two out of Four" and A. Shakhovsky’s vaudeville "The Cossack-Poet," featuring the well-known musical figure Vielgorsky. From its opening until 1839, more than 400 performances were held on the theater’s stage. The stage area was also used for summer classes and performances by students of the theater school. Each season improvements were made to the building: for example, in 1828, a water supply was installed, and in 1830, the side porches were glazed.

Near the theater, in 1827, the House of the Theater Directorate was built. Then, a rehearsal house and a summer residence were built for the theater school students. By early 1840, the lower wooden structures of the building had rotted, and that season performances at the Kamennoostrovsky Theater ceased.

In early June 1843, a project for a new theater building was approved by imperial decree, attributed to architect Cavos.

During the 2007–2012 restoration, it was revealed that the building erected by Shustov was not dismantled to the foundation by Cavos, as previously thought. Cavos carefully preserved the building, carrying out its reconstruction.

To extend the wooden theater’s life, wooden load-bearing elements were replaced with rubble foundations. Under the hall’s interior volume, as proposed by Charlemagne, columns made of Tosno slabs were installed. The theater facades were decorated with rustication imitating stone masonry. All stonework was inspected by architect Ruska and stone master Adamini. The greatest changes affected the interior layout, following Cavos’s method of theater hall geometry construction, ensuring optimal visibility and acoustics (Traité de la Construction des Théâtres). In keeping with the fashion, the sides of the boxes were upholstered in purple trip, decorated with wood carving and painting on a white background. The lemon-yellow curtain was replaced with a purple-red one with a geometric pattern.

The grand reopening of the theater on Kamennoostrovsky Island after reconstruction took place on July 11, 1844. The French troupe presented Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois’s "Dangerous Remedy" and the vaudeville "Fairies of Paris."

In the late 1870s, based on engineer Nicolas’s designs, a house for the theater school manager and a second summer residence for the students were built (the entire theater complex was dismantled in 1919–1920).

After several decades, the theater’s popularity, where French performances were staged, declined. By the late 1870s, performances at the Kamennoostrovsky Theater were held only in July, and by the early 1880s, the building was converted into a decor warehouse. In 1900, the theater management decided to demolish the dilapidated building. The Petersburg intelligentsia actively spoke out in favor of preserving the building. Renowned architectural historian V. Ya. Kurbatov called the Kamennoostrovsky Theater the best work of S. Shustov and "an outstanding work of the era." Historian and art critic Lukomsky urged all efforts to save the theater from inevitable destruction. A particularly heartfelt article was published by Polilov-Severtsev in the magazine "Capital and Estate."

In the first decade after the October Revolution, the theater building on Kamennoostrovsky Island continued to deteriorate. By 1928, the threat of dismantling loomed. However, by 1932, concrete steps were taken to save this unique architectural monument. After Professor V. Ivanov gave an expert opinion on the theater’s restoration, restoration work began. It was decided to replace deteriorated parts with similar new ones without changing the building’s overall composition. In addition to strengthening, renewing, and restoring the building’s structural parts and decorative elements, the ceiling painting (with oil paints directly on the wooden ceiling lining) and the box sides painting (on plywood sheets covered with synthetic dyes, patterns were applied with oil paints) were carried out. The decorative decoration of the auditorium, new ceiling paintings in the form of tongues of flame, and box sides with geometric patterns reflected the artistic innovations of that time. According to researcher V. A. Vityazeva, the theater began to resemble a "large village club."

On March 20, 1935, by decision of the Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR, the building was taken under state protection. However, very soon, the poor quality of a number of restoration works became apparent, and by 1938, the need for a complete building repair was obvious, which was never carried out before the war.

Until 1938, the theater was mainly used for showing films, occasionally for leisure evenings. In 1940, attempts were made to adapt the theater for winter use by Stakhanovites resting in holiday homes.

In December 1941, a group of specialists gathered to develop measures to protect the building from incendiary bombs. By early April 1942, all fire protection measures were completed. The architectural monument was under constant supervision. During the war, the theater building was under the jurisdiction of Anti-Aircraft Defense Hospital No. 107. There were no direct hits; only some window frames were blown off by the blast wave, causing snow and rain to enter the building.

Until 1960, while attempts were made to adapt the building for sports facilities, warehouses, and attractions, it continued to deteriorate catastrophically.

The designation of the building as a federal architectural monument accelerated the resolution of the problem, after which the state allocated funds for its major repair and restoration, carried out by the Special Scientific Restoration Production Workshops of the Leningrad City Executive Committee. Architect Benois was approved as the restoration project author. The restoration project provided for preserving the facades as they were, but with restoration repairs to adapt it for use as a youth recreation hall. As a result of the restoration completed in 1967, the sloped parterre floor was lost, the former stage volume was reduced, and the parterre and foyer were significantly altered. Only the 4th floor, intended for utility rooms, remained untouched.

Since 1967, the rebuilt building was transferred to the balance of the Leningrad Television Studio, and for a long time housed the Television Theater of the Leningrad Television Studio, which caused serious damage to the architectural monument.

In the subsequent period, minor defect elimination and cosmetic facade repairs were carried out several times. Afterwards, the building housed a ballroom dance sports club.

In 2005, Vladimir Putin gifted the Kamennoostrovsky Theater to the Academic Bolshoi Drama Theater named after Tovstonogov in honor of the 80th anniversary of its artistic director Kirill Lavrov. In 2007, the Committee for State Control, Use and Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments (KGIOP) organized work on the design, reconstruction, and restoration of the theater.

The idea of restoring the theater building without dismantling it, recreating historical interiors, and constructing an underground floor surrounding the theater belonged to KGIOP head Dementyeva and architect Burygin. The restoration part of the project was developed by architect Rakhmanov (Research Institute "Special Project Restoration"), who also solved the problem of converting the summer theater for year-round use.

Every wooden element of the building was carefully restored, impregnated with compounds increasing resistance to fire and biological damage. Even historic forged nails, which fastened the outer cladding to the load-bearing walls, were preserved. As a result, during the 2007–2010 restoration, specialists from the restoration company "City Paints" gradually dismantled and restored the outer and inner cladding, log wall structures, and ceilings covering up to 3,000 square meters. Traditional carpentry techniques ("Dutch tooth," "long Dutch lock," "skovoroden," "dovetail," etc.) were used alongside the most modern methods. Facades were leveled and insulated, roofs insulated.

Adapting the historic theater building for modern use was made possible by creating a large underground volume beneath the theater building, whose area quadrupled that of the wooden building. It housed theater machinery, decor storage, technical rooms, as well as a foyer, café, and cloakroom for spectators. For the underground space construction, the general designer, the "Georeconstruction" institute led by Shashkin, proposed a technology innovative for the Neva delta, where the groundwater level is near the surface and weak clay soils extend to depths of 20–30 meters. As a result, a spacious underground volume on pile foundations with walls, columns, bottom, and ceilings made of reinforced concrete was created under the building, reliably protected from water ingress. The underground space project was realized by builders from "Geoizol."

Another innovative solution by "Georeconstruction" allowed placing the upper stage machinery, lighting fixtures, and others on independent metal structures resting on their own foundations. This preserved the historic theater structure intact and allowed equipping the stage with modern equipment. The unique theater technology was developed and implemented by the company "TDM."

After the 20th-century reconstructions, most interiors lost their original decorative elements; the two-story volume of the second-floor hall and foyer structures were not preserved. The basis was taken from Cavos’s 1844 drawings, considering architectural detail design features typical of the mid-19th century.

The color scheme of the auditorium, as well as other theater interiors created according to architect Burygin’s project, was based on the idea of restoring the original color palette of grayish-pearl tones described by contemporaries as the "color of white nights." On the other hand, the use of azure-blue tones in the lambrequins of the boxes, stage curtains, tier sides, and upholstery was due to blue being the traditional color of the Bolshoi Drama Theater.

In 2010, at the International Exhibition for Monument Preservation Denkmal in Leipzig (Germany), held under UNESCO’s auspices, the project of adapting the Kamennoostrovsky Theater for modern use and its practical implementation was awarded the gold medal "For Outstanding Achievements in Heritage Preservation in Europe."

On December 30, 2010, the completion of the theater building and premises restoration was officially announced. The first theater season of the Bolshoi Drama Theater on the Kamennoostrovsky Theater stage opened on September 14, 2012, with the premiere of the play "The Mistress of the Inn" based on Carlo Goldoni’s work.

Sources:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamennoostrovsky_Theater