City estate of N.V. Urusova

The mansion in Novokuznetskaya Street was built in 1912 by architect Ivan Rerberg on the order of Princess Natalia Vasilievna Urusova. Starting his activities as Klein's apprentice when building the Museum of Fine Arts in Volkhonka Street, later Rerberg was a coauthor of Kiev Railway Station building and the designed the building of Moscow Central Telegraph Office. In his designs the rational, functionally substantiated planning is combined with façade decorations in the spirit of Russian classicism architecture.

The owner of the mansion was the descendent of the famous Moscow merchants the Bakhrushins. Her father – Vasily Alekseyevich – was one of the three Bakhrushin brothers who inherited from their father a small tannery and turned it into "Partnership of tanning and cloth manufactures of Aleksey Bakhrushin and sons", one of the largest companies in pre-revolutionary Moscow.

The Bakhrushins were known for their charitable activities – they donated money to build the hospital for chronic patients and the house of mercy in Sokolniki, the house of free apartments in Sofiyskaya Embankment, the orphanage for boys in 1 Rizhsky Pereulok. Every year they donated much money for other philanthropic institutions as well.

In the house built upon the order of princess Urusova in Novokuznetskaya Street, the architect tried to combine the traditions of classical architecture of post-fire Moscow and the aesthetics of modernism epoch. Mezzanine over the center of the main façade – is an apparent tribute to "small houses of old Moscow". However, the similarity is limited to that extent. The location of window openings, the principles of ordered construction of the wall and finally, decorative details – all this is an ample evidence of the new epoch aesthetics. From among the decorative elements the most interesting is a sculpted vase with magnificent flower wreaths in a deep arched hemispheric alcove over asymmetrically located entrance to the building (to the right from the main façade) and an elegant round medallion alcove with a sculpted female head on a pedestal.

After 1917 the mansion was nationalized and accommodated various Soviet institutions. Since 1954 the Embassy of Indonesia is located here.