Green dome of Vtorov's mansion

Spaso House in Moscow, a listed Neoclassical Revival building at No. 10 Spasopeskovskaya Square, originally built as Nikolay Vtorov's mansion in 1913-1915, has been the residence of the U.S. Ambassador in USSR and later Russia since 1933.^[1]

[edit] Architecture

The site around Spasopeskovskaya Square has been occupied by upper class mansions since the late 18th сеntury. Nikolai Vtorov's house replaced an earlier residence of Lobanov-Rostovsky family. Directly next to it, at no. 8 and 6, are two original Empire style mansions, built shortly after the Fire of 1812.

The building was designed by architects Vladimir Adamovich and Vladimir Mayat, key figures of Neoclassical Revival movement of 1905-1917. Externally, the building directly references the Gagarin House, built by Joseph Bové in 1820-s. Gagarin House, a canonical example of muscovite Empire style, was destroyed by an air raid in 1941. Another likely reference could be Polovtsev House in Saint Petersburg by Ivan Fomin, completed in 1913^[2]. Externally and internally, Vtorov House was a thorough recreation of early 1820-s upper class estates with palladian windows and a perfectly symmetrical floorplan. The building was designed to look smaller than it was in reality; during the 1976 bicentennial of USA celebration, it accommodated 3001 guests and staff.

[edit] Modern history

After nationalization in 1917, Vtorov's mansion housed state institutions and Soviet elite apartments, including those of foreign affairs commissar Georgy Chicherin. The first Ambassador to live at Spaso House was William C. Bullitt. Charles W. Thayer, his secretary, documents life in Spaso House in the book Bears in the Caviar,^[3] named for a party at Spaso House in which animals from the zoo were brought in for entertainment.

A Spring Festival ball on 22 April 1935 at Spaso House was said to be the model for the masked ball in Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita.^[1][4] The Ambassador’s study in Spaso House was the site of the Great Seal Bug, which was planted in 1946 and discovered by Ambassador George F. Kennan in 1952.^[5] Rebecca Matlock, wife of Ambassador Jack F. Matlock, Jr. describes activities at Spaso House from 1933 to 1991 in her book At Spaso House: People and Meetings.^[6]

[edit] U.S. Ambassadors at Spaso House

[edit] Notes

Coordinates: 55°45′02″N 37°35′17″E / 55.75056°N 37.58806°E / 55.75056; 37.58806.