Spaso House

Spaso House in Moscow, a listed Neoclassical Revival building at No. 10 Spasopeskovskaya Square, originally built as Nikolay Vtorov's mansion in 1913-1915, has been the residence of the U.S. Ambassador in USSR and later Russia since 1933. [http://moscow.usembassy.gov/embassy/embassy.php?record_id=spaso Spaso House] U.S. Embassy Moscow website ]

Architecture

The site around Spasopeskovskaya Square has been occupied by upper class mansions since late XVIII сеntury. Nikolai Vtorov's house replaced an earlier residence of Lobanov-Rostovsky family. Directly next to it, at no. 8 and 6, are two original Empire style mansions, built shortly after the Fire of 1812.

The building was designed by architects Vladimir Adamovich and Vladimir Mayat, key figures of Neoclassical Revival movement of 1905-1917. Externally, the building directly references the Gagarin House, built by Joseph Bové in 1820-s. Gagarin House, a canonical example of muscovite Empire style, was destroyed by an air raid in 1941. Another likely reference could be Polovtsev House in Saint Petersburg by Ivan Fomin, completed in 1913 [Russian: Борисова Е. А., Стернин, Г. Ю., Русский неоклассицизм, М., «Галарт», 2002, ISBN 5-269-00898-X, c.126, 128] . Externally and internally, Vtorov House was a thorough recreation of early 1820-s upper class estates with palladian windows and a perfectly symmetrical floorplan. The building was designed to look smaller than it was in reality; during the 1976 bicentennial of USA celebration, it accommodated 3001 guests and staff.

Modern history

After nationalization in 1917, Vtorov's mansion housed state institutions and Soviet elite apartments, including those of foreign affairs commissar Georgy Chicherin. The first Ambassador to live at Spaso House was William C. Bullitt. Charles W. Thayer, his secretary, documents life in Spaso House in the book "Bears in the Caviar", [Thayer, Charles W. "Bears in the Caviar", Lippincott (1951) ASIN B0007DZQEU] named for a party at Spaso House in which animals from the zoo were brought in for entertainment.

A Spring Festival ball on 22 April 1935 at Spaso House was said to be the model for the masked ball in Mikhail Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita". [Moss, Kevin [http://cr.middlebury.edu/public/russian/Bulgakov/public_html/spaso.html The Spaso House Ball] Middlebury College, Vermont] The Ambassador’s study in Spaso House was the site of the [http://pimall.com/nais/pivintage/greatsealbug.html Great Seal Bug] , which was planted in 1946 and discovered by Ambassador George F. Kennan in 1952.Squire, Patricia [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mfdip:@field(DOCID+mfdip2004mat04) Interview with Rebecca Burrum Matlock] Frontline Diplomacy, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.(January 11, 1990)] Rebecca Matlock, wife of Ambassador Jack F. Matlock, Jr. describes activities at Spaso House from 1933 to 1991 in her book "At Spaso House: People and Meetings". [Matlock, Rebecca [http://www.panrus.com/books/details.php?langID=1&bookID=11639 “Spaso House” People and meetings: Notes of the wife of an American ambassador] (in Russian) Transl. from English by T. Kudriavtseva, Moscow: EKSMO, Algoritm, 2004 ISBN 5699054979]

U.S. Ambassadors at Spaso House

Notes

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