The first wooden house for the fortress commandant was built in 1704, then rebuilt in 1718. The main stone building of the Ober-Commandant’s house was constructed according to the design of military engineer Christian de Marine between 1743 and 1746 at the initiative of Commandant Stepan Lukich Ignatiev (since the wooden structure had deteriorated in the 1730s; the project by de Marine was refined by I. de Kolong). In 1747–1748, a separate one-story stone service wing with gates on the western facade was built on the west side of the house. In its layout, the Commandant’s house (like the Engineer’s house) resembled the Petersburg Post, Stable, and Gostiny Dvors (overall, the placement of the upper floor on a basement and the layout are characteristic of Russian architecture of the first half of the 18th century).
The house is designed as a closed quadrangle with an inner courtyard. The main facade faces east; the lower floor is built as a basement, separated from the upper floor by a strong horizontal molding. The white window casings and the relief rustication bands on the basement floor serve as striking decoration against the pink walls. The central part of the Commandant’s house is crowned with a triangular pediment. The roof is high but lacks the characteristic break typical of the Petrine era. In 1750, the main building and the service wing were connected by constructing a gate passage on the northern facade, which finally formed the building complex with a rectangular inner courtyard. The apartment of the commandant of the Petersburg (Peter and Paul) fortress occupied both floors of the main building. The Commandant’s house acquired its current appearance in 1893, when the service wing was extended with a second floor.
The position of commandant was responsible and considered honorable. Trusted people of the emperor, battle generals often wounded in war, were appointed commandants. Their duties included managing the fortress’s economic life, maintaining the fortress garrison’s readiness, and overseeing prisoners. The commandant also kept the “money chest” of the Peter and Paul Cathedral and the keys to the reliquaries in the imperial and grand ducal tombs.
In addition to the commandant’s quarters, the building housed a house church dedicated to the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple, servant rooms, and service premises. The office of the Commandant’s administration was also located here. In the 19th century, investigations and trials of the Decembrists, Petrashevtsy, and Narodniks took place in the commandant’s apartment. On July 12, 1826, the Decembrists heard their sentence in the Parade Hall.
The room in the Commandant’s house where the condemned Decembrists were read their sentences. They were brought here from the Secret House of the Alekseevsky Ravelin in a carriage with windows tightly curtained, and taken back the same way.
In September 1843, the grandson of commandant I. N. Skobelev was born in this house — M. D. Skobelev, a hero of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878.
Along the eastern wall of the Peter and Paul Cathedral is the Commandant’s Cemetery. From 1720 to 1914, nineteen commandants of the Peter and Paul Fortress were buried here.
Next to the Commandant’s house is the building of the Guardhouse.
During the days of the October Revolution of 1917, the headquarters of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee was located in the Commandant’s house.
The Commandant’s house was restored in the 1960s according to the project by S. V. Chekanov and T. S. Shikhina. The restoration aimed to return the facades to their 18th-century appearance; in this regard, the gate opening on the northern side was uncovered, and the gallery added in the 19th century was dismantled. The original interiors, their layout, and decoration had not survived by the start of the restoration, but in three rooms on the second floor, where the investigative commission sessions took place, the decoration of the corresponding period was restored with historical accuracy, including marble-like painting on the walls and window slopes.
Sources:
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Комендантский_дом_(Петропавловская_крепость)
https://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/ruwiki/647553
