The Travel Entertainment Palace appeared on the Tsarskoye Selo highway by order of Catherine II. The project was undertaken by the famous architect Yuri Felten between 1774 and 1777, in honor of the Russian fleet's victory over the Turks in the Battle of Chesma. According to legend, the Empress, on her way to Tsarskoye Selo, received joyful news from a messenger about the glorious victory precisely at this place, nicknamed the "Frog Swamp" due to its marshiness. The palace's architecture, created in the style of so-called "false Gothic," clearly imitated the ancestral castles of feudal Europe. The building's plan was an equilateral triangle, with its corners reinforced by towers (a specific prototype often cited is the similarly planned Longford Castle in England). The rooms are arranged around the perimeter of the Chesme Palace, and in the center is a large round Parade Hall, whose outer walls rise above the mass of the entire building in the form of a peculiar battlemented crown.
Today, the building houses the University of Aerospace Instrumentation.
The interior decoration has been partially preserved. In 2005, after restoration, the Throne Hall was opened, although it is now called the St. George Hall – it was here that Empress Catherine announced the establishment of Russia's highest military order. Instead of a chandelier, the ceiling features a lampshade shaped like the St. George Cross, and opposite the main entrance hangs a portrait of Catherine the Second. Celebrations are held in the renovated hall, and at other times it serves as the reading room of the University of Aerospace Instrumentation's library.
From 1831 to 1836, the palace was converted into a hospice for disabled veterans of the Patriotic War of 1812. The reconstruction was carried out according to the project of architect Staubert – three identical two-story wings were added (later extended to four stories). At the same time, the battlemented parapets and two stone Gothic gates were destroyed, and semicircular domes were built over the towers. The cast-iron fence and gates that were constructed have not survived, nor has the park from the 1830s.
The architecture of this relatively small palace (each side of the triangle is just over 40 meters) is cold and austere. Massive "fortress" walls and belvedere pavilions above the corner towers are pierced by pointed-arch windows, which stand out in sharp contrast against the smooth plaster of the facades.
The interior decoration of the palace was completely at odds with its formidable exterior appearance. The walls were adorned with floral garlands, wreaths, and medallions. A portrait gallery of Russian tsars and grand princes was created in the central hall, intended to demonstrate the historical continuity of Catherine II's reign.
In the 1830s, architect Staubert rebuilt the building to house a veterans' home (military hospice). During this work, three two-story wings were added to the palace, which were later raised in the 1930s.
Sources:
https://открытыйгород.рф/kuda-shodit/mesta/chesmenskiy-dvorets/
https://saint-petersburg.ru/m/thebest/rubin/372284/
https://www.citywalls.ru/house1443.html
https://saint-petersburg.ru/m/thebest/rubin/372284/
