House of V.S. Kanshin

The house of V.S. Kanshin, located at Kuznechny Lane, 6, despite its history, magnificent decoration, and extraordinarily beautiful entrance hall, is not even recognized as an object of historical and architectural value, unlike its counterparts, houses No. 2 and No. 4. In Kuznechny Lane, three houses by V.S. Kanshin stand one after another: No. 2, 4, and 6.

The fate of the Kanshin family is very unusual. The old noble family was stripped of its noble title in 1706 by order of Peter I. He demoted them to odnodvortsy (state peasants) for persistent evasion of military service. But they did not want to accept this and became wealthy merchants almost a hundred years later.

Vasily’s father, Semyon Ananyevich Kanshin, was the city head of Kozlov in the Tambov province and bequeathed to his two sons—Vasily and Alexander—to restore their noble title at all costs. Semyon Ananyevich was considered not only a very wealthy man but also a generous patron. During the war of 1812, he supported an infantry regiment and a detachment of the zemstvo militia. The three-story mansion at Kuznechny Lane, house 6, was purchased by Vasily Kanshin in 1870 for his daughters to secure their future. Initially, the building had no decoration.

Kanshin decided to decorate the facade and arrange the interior rooms so that the apartments could be rented out.

The project, in the eclectic style, was prepared by architect Barch Gustav Martynovich. The house acquired its beautiful decoration in 1869. According to the architect’s design, the house was adorned outside with lush stucco decoration and inside decorated with stucco, cupids, and caryatids.

The house was home to Yulia Vasilyevna Telyakovskaya (née Kanshina) and her husband Arkady Zakharovich Telyakovsky—a lieutenant general, professor, and author of a textbook on fortification. They had seven children; their youngest son, Vladimir Arkadyevich Telyakovsky, became the director of the imperial theaters.

Portraits of Yulia Vasilyevna and her husband, painted on their 10th wedding anniversary by artist Gavriil Yakovlev, are now kept in the Hermitage. After the revolution, communal apartments were made in the house, as in many Petersburg houses at that time. The beautiful halls were divided by partitions, and the stucco was knocked down. The decoration has been preserved only in one hall on the second floor of the building and in the house’s entrance hall.

Although no major repairs have ever been carried out, the building is excellently preserved. Only the railings of the main staircase were installed from another house. And this is noticeable. They are in the Art Nouveau style, while the vestibule is decorated in the Baroque style.

Sources:

https://dzen.ru/a/XMiCx_-qIwCzUsN4

https://www.citywalls.ru/house1194.html