Side Alley, 1, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 197376
The dacha is located in the central part of Kamenniy Island. After the "highest" approval in 1897 of the plan to divide it into plots for lease, this area began to be intensively developed. In 1898, the widow of the staff rotmistr, Princess Kugusheva, leased a plot between the Middle and Side alleys and the embankment of the Malaya Nevka River for 90 years. In the summer of the same year, according to the project by architect Preis, construction began on a two-story "large dacha," a temporary house, a stable, a janitor's house, and an icehouse, continuing until 1899.
Princess Kugusheva's house represents the style of late eclecticism. The two-story building, at the request of the client Maria Kugusheva, incorporated elements of the "Russian style." The house has a complex square-shaped plan with four projections. One of the most interesting elements of the mansion is the embossed carved pediment. Notably, the first floor of the building is made of gray stone, while the second floor, decorated with ornamentation and carving, is made of wood. The expressive volumetric-spatial composition is based on the contrast between the verticality of the tower and the main volume of the house. The four-tiered octagonal tower is crowned with a high tent roof with a spire and is stylized as half-timbered. It is remarkable that the tower has been preserved in its original form, and the tower windows are equipped with a pivot mechanism. From the top of the tower, there is a view of the Malaya Nevka and Kamenniy Island. The main facade, finished with a high pointed gable, faces the Side alley. The asymmetrical grouping of volumes and the dynamic silhouette solution are characteristic of late eclectic dacha architecture.
From its summit, there is a view of the Malaya Nevka and Kamenniy Island.
In 1900, Kugusheva transferred the lease rights of the plot to her nephew, a student named Konev. Three years later, the plot's tenant became a Finnish citizen named Duke, and ten years after that, Count Grabbe. During the Soviet period, the former Kugusheva dacha was used as communal housing. Since 1973, the building has housed Children's Art School No. 10 of the Petrogradsky District.
The interiors of the dacha have not been preserved, except for the main staircase, designed in the Art Nouveau style.
Decorative glazing of two windows has been preserved on the mansion's main staircase. The opening—on the landing between the 1st and 2nd floors with chamfered corners—has a frame with small square panes. The glass in it is of different colors and textures; some are from the Soviet era, others are modern. Among the frame fillings, presumably dating back to the early 20th century, green glass in three shades is noticeable, as well as three types of pink-brown and purple glass. Most of them belong to the type of cathedral glass.
The second window with the same type of glazing is located along the stair flight on the 2nd floor. The glass is fixed in the window frames with putty, and the hinges of the original hardware have been preserved. In the outer frames of the 1st-floor windows, faceted glass remains in the blind transoms.
Sources:
https://www.citywalls.ru/house9934.html
