Sites GLAVUPDK 
21, Building 1, 2, Khlebny Lane
City Estate of M.A. Tarasov
The first mention of this property dates back to the 2nd half of the 17th century: Prince A. Volkonsky’s widow bought it from S. Fedorov, “the Food Court Solicitor”, in 1689. Soon, it was inherited by Captain A. Ladyzhensky who took effort to expand the grounds by buying up the surrounding properties.
In 1810, all residential and service buildings there were replaced with a two-story, mixed material residential house (ground floor stone, top floor wood), a small service wing, a stable, and a shed. Most of that, however, save for the stone-built ground floor, was destroyed in the 1812 fire.
Up until the late 19th century, due to frequent ownership changes, there had been no major alterations to the estate’s layout and development; the new stage of its life started early in the 20th century. In 1909, the property was bought by Mikhail Aslanovich (Afanasievich) Tarasov, an offspring of a wealthy Armenian merchant family from Armavir that were leading Southern Russian purveyors of textiles, cotton wool, sheepskin, and horses. On top of sheepskins and cotton wool, that family gave Russia and the world a number of noteworthy characters. Some of them were world-famous writer Henri Troyat (born Lev Tarasov), Olga Tarasova, a French-American ballet dancer, and Nicholas Tarasov, the guardian angel, key sponsor of the Moscow Academic Theatre, founder of La Chauve-Souris revue. His untimely and tragic death was an exclamation point in the Russian Silver Age decadence story. The Tarasovs left behind a few magnificent buildings.
The new owner contracted architect Mikhail Geisler to do a Neo-Classicist design for a mansion with a service wing. The two- and in part three-story brick main building with a cellar and mezzanines façades still retain decorative finishes with lots of stylish details: planters in aediculas, garlands, mascarons, and molded Empire style friezes under the cornice. The owner occupied the basement and the first floor of the mansion, and rented out the rooms on the second floor and in the mezzanine; for a long time, the permanent tenant there was hereditary honorary citizen Aleksandr Ber, a member of the Moscow Automotive Society who worked at the Golofteevskaya School of the Society for the Encouragement of Labor. After the 1917 Revolution, the was handed over to the Commissariat for Polish Affairs within the People's Commissariat for National Affairs, an orphanage, and the orphanage library for Khamovniki district. From the second half of the 20th century on, the mansion served diplomatic missions.
In 1810, all residential and service buildings there were replaced with a two-story, mixed material residential house (ground floor stone, top floor wood), a small service wing, a stable, and a shed. Most of that, however, save for the stone-built ground floor, was destroyed in the 1812 fire.
Up until the late 19th century, due to frequent ownership changes, there had been no major alterations to the estate’s layout and development; the new stage of its life started early in the 20th century. In 1909, the property was bought by Mikhail Aslanovich (Afanasievich) Tarasov, an offspring of a wealthy Armenian merchant family from Armavir that were leading Southern Russian purveyors of textiles, cotton wool, sheepskin, and horses. On top of sheepskins and cotton wool, that family gave Russia and the world a number of noteworthy characters. Some of them were world-famous writer Henri Troyat (born Lev Tarasov), Olga Tarasova, a French-American ballet dancer, and Nicholas Tarasov, the guardian angel, key sponsor of the Moscow Academic Theatre, founder of La Chauve-Souris revue. His untimely and tragic death was an exclamation point in the Russian Silver Age decadence story. The Tarasovs left behind a few magnificent buildings.
The new owner contracted architect Mikhail Geisler to do a Neo-Classicist design for a mansion with a service wing. The two- and in part three-story brick main building with a cellar and mezzanines façades still retain decorative finishes with lots of stylish details: planters in aediculas, garlands, mascarons, and molded Empire style friezes under the cornice. The owner occupied the basement and the first floor of the mansion, and rented out the rooms on the second floor and in the mezzanine; for a long time, the permanent tenant there was hereditary honorary citizen Aleksandr Ber, a member of the Moscow Automotive Society who worked at the Golofteevskaya School of the Society for the Encouragement of Labor. After the 1917 Revolution, the was handed over to the Commissariat for Polish Affairs within the People's Commissariat for National Affairs, an orphanage, and the orphanage library for Khamovniki district. From the second half of the 20th century on, the mansion served diplomatic missions.
