City estate, XIX–XX centuries

After the fire in 1812, Moscow began to rebuild. By the end of the first quarter of the 19^th century the city was full of mansions of Empire style – chamber, cozy, with low porches of four or six columns, distinctively propjecting on the background of dark-yellow walls.

This small one-storey mansion in the end of Khlebny Pereulok, a typical example of the so called ‘Moscow Empire style’ – was built in 1815. Probably, it would not have attracted so much attention if it wasn't owned for some time by Alexey Nikolaevich Verstovskiy - a famous Russian composer, head of ‘Moscow Theatrical Office’. He used to direct the Bolshoi and Maly Theaters.

After falling for the prima donna of imperator Maly Theater Nadezhda Vasilievna Repina, Alexey Nikolaevich proposed to her at once. Having an expressive dramatic soprano, Nadezhda Vasilievna played in homemade vaudevilles and sang the amazing lyrical songs written by her husband. Mr. Verstovsky was ten years older than his wife, whom he worshipped and pampered with gifts. One of such gifts was a mansion in Khlebny Pereulok he bought in 1860.

Almost in each room of this small but finely designed house there is a mantelpiece decorated as architectural compositions: with pedestals, pilasters and classic caps enchasing the mirrors with entablatures. All the mantelpieces and functional. There are columned apertures in the cozy rooms, visually increasing the space. The rooms also seem more spacious due to much light and lots of light furniture.

In the late 19^th century the mansion was rebuilt adding new features: entresol, on the right side – a stone annex with a skylight over the passage, an additional entrance was made from the side of Khlebny Pereulok. At the dawn of the last century, just before the revolution, one more stone annex for interior garden appeared in a form of skylight, changing the facade of the building and giving it a redesigned look.

Since 1924 the mansion was assigned to Central Office for Servicing Foreign Citizens and ever since has been used for ambassadprial purposes. Some time ago the celebration of Verstovsky's bicentennial anniversary took place here. The hosts invited to the party Russian musicians and foreign guests - the grand piano still stands in the parlor, just like in the old days.

Today, the Embassy of Iceland is located in the Mansion.

Restoration (2013)

Moscow Restoration 2013 contest winner in the nomination “Best Restoration/Adjustment Project’

The restorations focused on the facades and the fence, as the best preserved and most precious elements.

Facade decor elements lost in the previous period, among them the rustic pilaster on the building attached in 1817, were restored (by analogy with the preserved elements).

The socle tiling was replaced with white-stone slabs.

The window and door joinery was restored, and highly damaged pieces of millwork were replaced with the new ones made to order.

Every valuable piece of interior decorations – fireplaces, columns, wooden elements, staircases and parquet floors – were restored on site, while parquet floors of the later, Soviet period, were replaced with parquet by historical analogy.

The restoration and adjustment of the cultural heritage site included the replacement of morally and physically outdated utilities, reinforcement of the foundations and walls, and waterproofing works.

Renovation of the principal building’s utility networks was done with particular care, as the building was mostly made of wood. Every safety precaution was taken during welding, drilling and similar works.

The extremely complicated replacement of overhead covers above the first floor of the principal building deserves a special mention; wooden structures were used (in accordance with the tradition) and the lower and upper crowns of the log walls (damaged with rot) were replaced with brickwork.

Some of the rafter, steel roofing and roof boarding were replaced in the course of roof reconstruction.

Every wooden element was covered with multiple layers of fire retardants, as well as coating to prevent rot and exposure to fungi and insects.

Mansion history

The mansion acquired its current shape and rectangular configuration in 1836.

The principal house of the mansion (a one-story wooden building) found in the back of the courtyard and overlooking Khlebny Lane by its main façade was built after 1815 under court councilor S.F. Potresov. Later on (in 1834-1836) the house was expanded with a three-window mezzanine floor.

Two wooden uninhabited outhouses were built on Skaterny Lane’s building line in 1840, and one of them was later transformed into a residence.

In 1887, the wife of collegiate secretary M.D. Kolokoltsev expanded the main building to the border of the plot adjoining the mansion in the east. The one-story stone extension with a basement and a skylight above the corridor, which survived until the present period, was designed by architect I. Yelagin.

In 1909 the plot was acquired by the wife of an honorary citizen, Sarah Kaylee Kalina, who attached a winter terrace to the main facade and renovated the interiors. Another extension enlarged the main entrance hall, and the yard fence was decorated by sculptural pylons, which looked special even from the Modern style point of view (architect A. Zeligson).

After 1917 the mansion was occupied by diplomatic missions, among them the Dutch mission in the 1920s, the German trade mission and the military attaché of the German Embassy until 1941, and currently by the Embassy of Iceland.

The mansion did not change much during that period, although it was replaced, the basement was enlarged, the floors were replaced and partitions were installed on the main floor.

The building preserved its spatial composition, facade decor and interior designs. Its facades combine elements of the original Empire style and later additions and Eclecticism and Neo-classicism attachments. On the whole, the mansion facades have an impressive and rather integral architecture characteristic of the typical ‘old Moscow’ style of the Arbat lanes and Povarskaya Street.

The mansion is made unique by such details as the winter garden bay window in the center of the main facade and the adjoining fountain bowl depicting griffons and a lion’s mask. The composition is crowned with a plaster emblem, which has been changed from the traditional initials of the house owner to the emblem of Iceland.

The winter garden bay window is sort of the mansion’s symbol. Façade elements – Ionic columns, eaves and windows – fully represent the Neo-classic style.

Some of the 1909 decor manifests the Modern style. The office’s fireplace covered with glazed tiles, which resembles Abramtsevo fireplaces, is one of those. Two four-winged glazed doors between the grand sitting room, the small sitting room and the parlor belong to the Modern style. The parlor connected through a wide aperture opening to the multifaceted bay window of the winter garden uses decorative and planning principles of the early 20^th century architecture.

On the whole, the interior of the main rooms is eclectic and features elements of Classicism. The lobby and the small sitting room still have marble fireplaces with mirrors. The aperture openings between the lobby and the small sitting room and between the grand sitting room (or the dining room) and the winter garden are decorated with Ionic and composite columns. Old panel doors, some of them with fittings, double-glazed parlor doors with lining and many windows, some with the initial fittings, have been preserved. Parquet floors with contour friezes have a special value. Brass airways with a variety of decorations can be seen in the corners of parquet floors.

Every main room has profiled ceiling cornices and rosettes built in 1910.

A number of original rooms can be found in the basement of the old house’s western wing. One of them, a former storage room, has a semicircular vault, while the other features corner furnaces with a bevelled mirror. The socle brickwork in this part of the building contains oversized bricks with D marks, which date back to the late 17^th century (secondary use of bricks for construction purposes). The basement was deepened in the Soviet period. The overhead covers of the old building were reinforced with brick columns, also using old marked bricks.

The fence and the gate in Khlebny Lane were built in 1891 as designed by V. Mazyrin and partially remodeled in the early 20^th century.

The courtyard fence between the wicket door and the main entrance designed by A. Zeligson was built in 1909. The fence presents two rows of stone pylons with metal fillings.