The time of the creation of the Konstantin Palace dates back to the late 18th century. The construction of the palace began in the Catherine Park of Tsarskoye Selo in November 1792. The location of the palace can be imagined from Quarenghi's drawing "The Squeaky Gazebo and the Zubov Corps of the Grand Palace in Tsarskoye Selo." The palace was situated on a large meadow near the Kagul Obelisk (in the part hidden by the tree trunk).
The palace was built from November 1792 to June 1793 according to the project of architect Giacomo Quarenghi. It is known that it was a rectangular two-story building, 58 meters long and 23 meters wide. The central part of the main facade with three Venetian (triple) windows was crowned with a pediment. Ten Ionic half-columns were installed between the windows. The exterior of the palace was clad with boards, the walls painted yellow, and the roof green.
On the first floor, there were 22 rooms, including the ceremonial hall. The living room and bedroom, located on either side of the hall, were decorated with columns and pilasters painted to imitate marble, with molded capitals. The ceremonial rooms were interconnected and opened into corridors. One of the corridors housed a staircase and a mezzanine floor with a flat balustrade. The second floor had 8 living rooms and a large bright corridor. The ceilings were adorned with painted plafonds. The walls were covered with canvas, white damask, and the floors were laid with oak and pine parquet. Marble fireplaces and tiled stoves were installed in the rooms.
The years of existence of the Konstantin Palace in Tsarskoye Selo represent only the first stage of its history. On August 19, 1797, when Paul I ascended the throne, a decree was issued to relocate the Konstantin Palace with its kitchen to Pavlovsk. The relocation began in February 1798 and lasted more than five months. The construction of the palace was carried out under the supervision of architect Brenna.
The surviving drawings indicate the floor-by-floor layout of the rooms: on the first floor - vestibule, central hall, living room, lounge, dining room, two bedrooms, several studies, and servant quarters; the rooms of the second (mezzanine) floor were used as living quarters. The palace is depicted in view albums. An earlier drawing shows a two-story building topped with a triangular pediment. In the center is the ceremonial entrance in the form of an arch. Arched windows with decorative balconies are at the edges of the main facade. The building was plastered, and the walls of the risalits imitated stone masonry. On the pediment stood a statue of Flora, and the ceremonial porch was decorated with sculptures of centaurs.
The number of rooms on the first floor was 22, on the mezzanine floor 14, connected by two staircases. In the 1803 atlas, the facade is depicted without sculptural and stucco decoration. The external design of the palace, compared to the Tsarskoye Selo one, acquired a different character.
The Konstantin Palace was recreated based on Quarenghi’s original project but with Brenna’s adjustments.
In 1809, repairs were carried out under the supervision of Voronikhin. The changes made included converting the open balconies on the mezzanine floor into living rooms, the ceremonial entrance became rectangular, and the pediment was decorated with stucco. New fireplaces were installed in the palace, and the upholstery of the rooms was changed. The palace was adorned with decorative paintings. In 1809, these were executed by Pietro Scotti. In 1823-1824, painters Barnaba Medici and Giuseppe Bernasconi created new paintings. In 1801, the palace’s picture gallery housed 49 canvases; by 1848, there were already 135.
In 1844 and 1848, repair works were carried out in the palace according to the projects of Stakenschneider. The windows of the central parts of the main and garden facades received arched tops. In 1851, two facade porches were rebuilt—they acquired the appearance of covered terraces.
The extensive area in front of the palace—the Parade Field—became known as the Konstantin Place. From 1805 to 1810, according to the decorator Gonzaga’s project, this area was transformed into a garden—soil was added, a pond was dug, trees were planted, and alleys were laid out. The cast-iron gates, which served as the park boundary, were moved from the end of the Triple Linden Alley behind the parade field.
The palace was provided in the summer to court officials and visitors of the women’s patriotic school. In the 1870s, musical evenings were often held in the Konstantin Palace.
After the October Revolution, the palace was occupied by various institutions. From 1920, it was allocated as a dormitory for students of the Agronomic Institute. Then it housed the Leningrad Regional Speech Therapy Institute (LOLI), which in 1932 was transformed into the 5th orphanage for children with speech disorders. The main building contained the dormitory and classrooms, and the service buildings housed workshops. In the summer of 1938, the palace temporarily housed the conscription office of the Pushkin city military commissariat.
During the Great Patriotic War, the Konstantin Palace was destroyed.
Sources:
https://www.citywalls.ru/house25728.html
