In an elegant merchant's mansion, more reminiscent of a fairytale tower than the residence of an industrialist and merchant, despite a difficult revolutionary time, the lights were on until late. Employees of Goznak, whose club was located in the building, celebrated their professional holiday.
Laughter was heard from everywhere, the sounds of an accordion and the sound of the heels of dancing people were heard. Suddenly, the music died down, and everyone present froze, watching the amazing phenomenon. The transparent figure of a young beautiful woman separated from the wall, she slowly floated through the halls of the mansion and disappeared into one of the walls on the opposite side of the house. Frightened people hastened to disperse to their homes, sharing versions of the extraordinary event that had happened before their eyes.
This year, the building with the ghost of a woman in white turns 120 years old, and from the first days of its existence, the most amazing rumors and legends circulated about the house on Yakimanka. Today one could say that the owner of the mansion, Nikolai Vasilievich Igumnov, was a pre-revolutionary oligarch who owned a large financial and industrial group with enterprises both in Russia and abroad. Before the October Revolution, these people called themselves merchants and gold miners.
Indeed, the future owner of the legendary mansion on Yakimanka owned the largest Yaroslavl Big Manufactory in Tsarist Russia and several gold mines in Siberia. It is not surprising that Nikolai Igumnov, like most wealthy Russian people, was extremely hardworking, distinguished by his breadth of soul and extravagant manners.
But he had one drawback: like all merchants, he liked to amaze others with his wealth and original, often illogical actions. Since the merchant's main enterprise was located in Yaroslavl, and the business of the company required the presence of representative offices in both capitals of the empire, Igumnov decided to build a house for himself in Moscow that could amaze the capricious Moscow public with its magnificence.
The choice of the construction site, for a reason not clear to contemporaries, fell on the beginning of Yakimanka, which at that time was far from the most respectable place in the city. Around the dilapidated houses lived out their days, and the area itself was located quite far from the prestigious streets of Moscow, where Igumnov's colleagues "in the craft" settled.
For the construction of the Moscow house, the merchant invited his friend, the chief city architect of Yaroslavl, Nikolai Pozdeyev, who had already built several stunning buildings in the pseudo-Russian style in the city on the Volga. The architect was given the task: to build a house - not a house, a palace - not a palace, but so that in luxury it would not be inferior to the royal chambers.
Promotional video:
For the entire construction, the industrialist allocated an astronomical amount of one million gold rubles for those times. The young architect did an excellent job with the task - the finished house really looked more like a prince's tower than the house of a merchant of the late 19th century.
DO NOT SHOOT AT THE ARCHITECT
In the opinion of Muscovites, the new Igumnov house resembled Alexei Mikhailovich's palace in Kolomenskoye in style of construction, the St. Basil's Cathedral was used for decoration, and outwardly bore a resemblance to the Historical Museum. The merchant did not skimp on finishing materials for his "tower" - the brick was brought from Holland, and the tiles were made at the famous Kuznetsov factory. The estate was striking in its beauty, although it looked somewhat massive.
The walls of the "tower" were decorated with 17th century tapestries, and the rooms were furnished with Louis XV style furniture. Not surprisingly, having invested a lot of money in the construction of his Moscow house, Igumnov longed for the recognition of the local bohemia - but in vain! Muscovites, most likely out of banal envy, unanimously recognized the building as vulgar and tasteless. The angry merchant summoned the architect to him and gave him a terrible blame, ultimately accusing him of overspending the funds for 250 thousand, which he demanded to be returned.
Offended by such an attitude, Nikolai Pozdeev, who put his whole soul into the house, in turn called Igumnov a sivolapy merchant who does not understand anything in architecture, and, according to legend, said in his hearts: “I curse this house! He will never become a family to anyone, no one will live normally in it!"
WOMAN IN WHITE
Oddly enough, the curse came true! It soon became clear that Igumnov had built a house in this secluded place to keep a pretty mistress, who for months on end had been waiting for the rare visits of her patron. Usually, shortly before his arrival, the merchant sent a servant to the girl so that she could prepare to meet the dear guest. But, as often happens, once Nikolai Vasilyevich arrived without warning and, of course, found his beloved with a young cornet in a very unequivocal position. In a rage, the merchant threw the young man out, and, according to one version, he was alive, and according to the other, he was immured dead in one of the walls of the mansion. It is not known how reliable this story is, but it has been since then that the ghost of a woman in white has been repeatedly seen in the "tower" on Yakimanka.
DANCING ON THE EMPEROR
But the troubles that brought Igumnov to his Moscow house were just beginning. Once in 1901, during another attempt to wow the Moscow public with his wealth, Igumnov gave a ball. It would seem that there is something, but the Moscow bohemia has seen enough balls … But this has not happened yet!
The floor of the dance hall was literally covered with gold ducats depicting the emperor, and the coins were stacked so that those present, willy-nilly, had to dance right on the head of the monarch. It is not surprising that among the guests there were people who reported to Petersburg about the desecration of the reigning dynasty.
Nicholas II was in anger and immediately issued an order instructing Igumnov to go into exile without the right to return to Moscow. Moreover, if some of the exiles went to places that from the standpoint of today could be called almost resorts, then Igumnov had to go to a place that was really unpleasant for living.
The highest command ordered the merchant to settle on the Abkhazian coast of the Sukhum region, famous for its stinking swamps, clouds of malaria mosquitoes and tangles of poisonous snakes. However, Igumnov was not taken aback and acquired six thousand acres of land in this wild place, on which he built the first cannery on the Black Sea coast. Realizing that the only way to keep the workers is a good attitude and decent wages, Igumnov built his own houses for them, and for seasonal workers he opened a dormitory with real double rooms.
And even planted eucalyptus and cypress trees throughout the acquired territory, which contributed to the drying up of the swamp. Here, an enterprising merchant created the plantations of tangerines, kiwi and mango that are still in operation. Surprisingly, even after the revolution, as a real patriot, Igumnov did not emigrate to France, but voluntarily transferred all his property to the new authorities, asking permission to stay working as a simple agronomist at the state farm named after him. Third International, into which his estate was transformed.
Immediately after the revolution, a club of the Goznak factory was created in Igumnov's Moscow tower. Then the Institute of Blood Transfusion worked there for some time. In 1925, it was replaced by, probably, one of the most mysterious scientific organizations of that time - the laboratory for the study of the brain of the leader of the world proletariat - V. I. Lenin. When the Brain Institute was transferred to a new building, the former house of the merchant Igumnov was given over to the French embassy.
Dmitry LAVOCHKIN