Visitors to the northern capital and those wishing to take a look at the Egyptian house may ask passers-by for their address. It is well known to the townspeople: 23 Zakharyevskaya Street.
This is one of the few buildings that is not named after the architect, but according to the characteristic features of the building.
It is very possible that this attraction is the most unusual and original in St. Petersburg. Yes, in this city there are many beautiful buildings, but only when looking at the Egyptian house, even an uninitiated person will inevitably have associations with the ancient world, pharaohs, sphinxes, tombs and Egyptian gods.
First stone
The history of this building is very interesting. It began in 1911. The widow of a lawyer and real state adviser Alexander Semenovich Nezhinsky turned to the famous St. Petersburg architect Mikhail Songailo. After the death of her husband, Larisa Ivanovna, who apparently received a rather big inheritance, wanted to invest in the construction of another apartment building in the city. And there would be nothing unusual in this desire, if not for the client’s single request. The future building, she said, should not be just a typical house for renting out premises, but one that in itself will make a splash with the local public. It required an architectural event, something that would indicate the originality of the building. A secret that I would like to see.
The then-fashionable architect Mikhail Alexandrovich Songailo was a well-known adherent of neoclassicism and modernity in architecture, and interest in the mystical, occult, ancient, like most intelligent representatives of that time, was not alien to him. Consequently, one does not need to go far for originality.
House opening
Two years later, in 1913, in a city where there were already "Egyptian footprints" already, a house appeared, which became an event for the residents of St. Petersburg and its guests. Everything happened as the customer wished: this house became a kind of corner of Ancient Egypt. Onlookers specially came to him, stood for hours, examining the bas-reliefs on the walls of the building with the faces of mythical creatures of Ancient Egypt and sculptures, as if transferred to the present from the shores of the sacred Nile.
Needless to say, the house was striking in its appearance. And besides, he had a rational, well-thought-out layout. It even had a technical innovation - an automated elevator with a push-button control system of the Stigler plant in Milan.
What is he - the Egyptian house on Zakharyevskaya street, 23?
Structural features
This is a five-story residential building with an attic superstructure and a basement. The whole house, including the front part and the courtyard-well, is decorated with bas-reliefs and other "architecture" in the Egyptian style. It will be more true to say - fantasies on this topic, so fashionable at the beginning of the 20th century.
The main decoration of the facade are monumental columns, the upper part of which is decorated with bas-relief faces of the goddesses. In the center is an arch that leads to a well courtyard. It does not cause much enthusiasm, since it is a gloomy place rather common for Petersburg apartment buildings. Although there are friezes under the eaves - architectural decorative masonry in the form of stripes.
In addition, in the courtyard at the entrance of the elevator there were sculptural images of Pharaoh Ramses II and his noble wife Nefertari. The elevator is, of course, modernized, but everything else is intact.
Design and interior
On both sides of the arch there were two symmetrical porches. Each of them, as if near an ancient Egyptian tomb, the architect put two statues of the god Ra with arms crossed in loincloths. Such statues were placed by the ancient Egyptians at the entrances to their famous tombs. The hand of each of the statues of the God of the sun compresses the symbol of the ankh (Coptic cross). He had many other names: "key of the Nile", "key of life", "knot of life", etc. It is known that the ankh was placed in the tomb with the pharaohs, so that, having entrusted it to Anubis, they could continue their life in the afterlife.
Directly above the entrance, as if soaring, spreading its wings, the solar disk. Similar decorations can be seen on the walls and ceiling of the arch. Throughout the facade, including the platbands, there are other "Egyptian" decor elements, as well as bas-relief scenes from Egyptian life.
By the way, due to the large number of snakes depicted on the facade, the Egyptian house in St. Petersburg is called the "most serpentine building" in the city.
Above the arch you can see a decorative balcony, the capitals of the columns are the faces of the ancient Egyptian goddess of love, femininity and beauty Hathor.
The doors, as they were originally made - with bound reeds and hieroglyphs, unfortunately, have not been preserved. Instead, they put the usual remake.
In general, with its facade, the house is vaguely reminiscent of the outer wall of the Hathor temple in Dandar (a city on the west bank of the Nile), if not for an overkill with details.
Most of the interior is also subordinate to the Egyptian style - from the gate grille to the railing at the entrance.
Home story
Before the First World War, the building housed the embassies of Romania and Belgium. Then - the editorial board of the magazine "Art of Leningrad".
After the revolution, the house was nationalized, and most of the building was given over to communal housing.
In addition, in 1939 (then the street was already renamed in honor of the revolutionary I. Kalyaev), the Post Office was located in the Egyptian house, and in the 70s, the Lira club (under one of the housing offices of the Dzerzhinsky district). At that time, take care of the safety of the building as a historical object, of course, it never occurred to me.
It is known that in 1941 a machine gun was installed on the roof of the Egyptian house with the aim of shelling German bombers making airstrikes in the city. The most amazing thing is that at the same time the house itself during the whole war did not undergo any significant damage. Some adherents of mysticism, this fact even led to the thought of the special magical properties of the structure.
Home restoration
The building was restored in 2007. The funds for this were found thanks to the city program for the restoration of historical facades.
There is evidence that the initial restoration was carried out with obvious violations, since the scaffolding fastenings were driven directly into the elements of the bas-relief decorations. Thanks to the intervention of specialists, the repair tactics were revised and became more sparing.
But then the hands did not reach the well courtyard. Its appearance left much to be desired: the plaster continued to fall off, the formation of cracks continued.
Present
Today, the courtyard is in proper form. Directly opposite the arch you can see the entrance to the modern elevator. Pharaoh and his wife, "guarding" the old Stiegler, remained in place.
A glazed mine remained in the back of the courtyard - apparently, this is part of the old elevator, which is no longer used.
The Egyptian house in St. Petersburg today is considered an elite residential building. Wealthy people live in it. You can go into the courtyard, be curious, but you won’t be able to wander around the porches.
The appearance of the building is completely preserved from the time of construction, except for several windows that appeared in the basement.
Part of the premises in the basement are leased under the arms store and cafe. The main entrance serves as a passage to some notary office. Part of the building is occupied by the hotel.
The roof of the Egyptian house was not so long ago loved by St. Petersburg romantics and extremals who make excursions on St. Petersburg roofs, but the visits were stopped and the attic window through which these sorties took place was hammered (for safety and to maintain a calm environment).
It is interesting
According to one of the city legends, lovers who are about to get married should definitely kiss in the arch of this house. It is believed that then the god Ra himself will protect the union, and the joint life of the spouses will be long and happy.
