The Yellow Dacha was built by architect Maximilian Mesmakher for his brother Georg, a well-known lawyer, on the territory of the former Shuvalov estate. Maximilian Egorovich began designing the dacha in the late 1870s, but construction was only completed in 1902. It is the only wooden building by Mesmakher that has been preserved without changes.
The land lease agreement from 1899 indicates that Georg Mesmakher paid 250 rubles annually for the plot.
The L-shaped mansion on a high plinth faces the park with its front facade. The architectural composition is distinguished by particular expressiveness: the dacha is full of unexpected angles, elements of varying sizes, and at the same time harmoniously fits into the landscape. The three-sided balcony on the second floor is unusual. A decorative frieze runs along the entire perimeter; the windows, bay windows, and consoles are decorated with applied details. The wood on the facades was painted in a shade of light ochre, which is why the dacha earned the nickname "Yellow."
On the northeast turret is a monogram with the owner's initials GM and the year of construction — 1902. Although by that time both Mesmakher brothers were abroad, Maximilian continued to work remotely on his projects in Russia and planned to return to the country, as he was involved in unfinished legal disputes with the imperial family over unpaid fees.
Since 1948, the entire Shuvalov Park, including Mesmakher’s dacha, was owned by the Volodin Research Institute of High-Frequency Currents. In the 2010s, the owner received several fines from the Committee for State Control, Use and Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments (KGIOP) for violating the terms of the preservation agreement. By 2018, the building was in a state of disrepair: the main walls had sagged, beams had rotted, and the brickwork began to crumble. In the spring of the same year, a partial collapse of the roof and facade occurred.
In 2020, at a state auction, the mansion was purchased by a private individual for 5.63 million rubles. The new owner stated that after restoration, they plan to create a public space in the dacha. So far, restoration work has not begun.
Sources:
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Дача_Месмахера
https://www.citywalls.ru/house13780.html
