Mamonovsky Lane, buildings 3 (G.I. Karyakin's mansion) and 5 (S.I. Kurenkov's mansion) Mamonovsky Lane is located in the Tverskoy District of Moscow. The street received its name at the end of the 18th century, after the owner of a large estate there—senator and president of the Votchina Collegium M.V. Dmitriev-Mamonov. The history of the Mamonov estate begins in the mid-1760s, when first-guild merchant L. Simonov commissioned the first plan for the estate. Several years later, after it became the property of court councilor D.I. Naryshkin, the main house acquired an additional floor and expanded to a three-story building with rounded corners. These works were carried out by the renowned architect M.F. Kazakov. In 1810, Count Matvey Alexandrovich Dmitriev-Mamonov acquired the estate, but he was unable to enjoy life on the luxurious estate. In September 1812, the 4th (Italian) Corps, commanded by Napoleon's stepson, Prince Eugène de Beauharnais, entered Moscow through the Tverskaya Zastava, and Mamonov's estate was the first stately home they encountered. Beauharnais occupied the mansion itself, while the Italians were quartered in the surrounding area—probably why the fire spared some blocks from Tverskaya Street to Patriarch's Ponds. After the end of the Napoleonic campaign, Dmitriev-Mamonov, who had distinguished himself in battle and now held the rank of general, returned to his estate, but his quiet life was once again disrupted. Infused with the spirit of the Decembrists, the count refused to swear allegiance to Nicholas I and was declared insane. In 1830, the estate was donated to the city for the needs of Moscow's first independent eye hospital (now the Moscow Ophthalmological Clinical Hospital), and the plot, with its vast garden stretching to Trekhprudny Lane, was divided and sold piecemeal. One of the parcels was acquired in the 1850s by Prov Mikhailovich Sadovsky, the founder of an acting dynasty closely associated with the Maly Theater (incidentally, Mamonovsky Lane was known as Sadovsky Lane from 1939 to 1993). He commissioned the construction of a two-story mansion with a spacious hall and study. "How much joy, laughter, how much conversation about future service to the theater and bright dreams these rooms heard," wrote Maly Theater actress N.A. Smirnova, recalling the young people's visits to the Sadovsky house. Visits from more distinguished guests were rare, and they weren't always successful. Once, Sadovsky was visited by the Emperor's personal aide-de-camp: to his master's horror, the general tripped on the cramped little staircase, and Sadovsky's servant, falling with him, shouted for the whole house to hear, "Your Excellency, please fall on me!" Fifty years later, urban development devoured another portion of Mamonov's garden—two new mansions appeared on the adjacent plots. One of them became the property of merchant G.I. Karyakin, and the other of attorney S.I. Kurenkov. The design for the Karyakin mansion (currently numbered 3) was entrusted to architect M.E. Priemyshev, a graduate of the Stroganov School of Technical Drawing. The two-story building, designed in the late Art Nouveau style, was distinguished by the complexity of its façade, the harmonious blend of various decorative elements, and the use of building materials that were new for the time. The main façade was adorned with continuous rustication and exquisite stucco moldings featuring lion masks holding dangling garlands in their mouths. The interior of the mansion, in keeping with the latest trends of the time, utilized luxurious finishing materials—oak, marble, and glass—emphasizing the owner's wealth. The Karyakin family was not averse to supporting culture and the arts, regularly hosting literary evenings, theatrical performances, and concerts in the house. Guests at these events included not only representatives of the Moscow merchant class but also renowned writers, artists, and musicians. The three-story building, currently numbered 5, was constructed in the late 19th century by the architect Alexander Vasilyevich Ivanov, and the Kurenkov mansion on Mamonovsky Lane was his only private residence. Painted a pale green, the house had a rather unique shape. The central section, along with the decorative left projection, stood a few steps from the building line and was hidden behind trees. The right half, with an arch leading into the courtyard, conversely, was close to the sidewalk. Among the rather sparse decorations of the façade, one can note the solid rustication, classical-style window frames, and small rectangular inserts of "antique" stucco. A large inner courtyard was separated from the roadway by a metal fence. After the October Revolution, the buildings, the successors to Mamonov's estate, were used for various purposes, including renting out apartments. Since the 1950s, the building complex has come under the control of the Main Administration for Service to the Diplomatic Corps (UpDK) of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and since then, it has housed diplomatic missions of foreign countries.