British Ambassador’s Residence
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The white-grey two storey building far behind the open work fence is the British ambassador’s residence.
The entrance to the British ambassador’s residence is in the middle of the building’s façade. The central projection is covered by a beautiful canopy. It acts as a wide balcony for the second floor. The façade is richly decorated by a thin stucco moulding, characteristic for the end of the 19th Century. Dmitry Chichagov and Fyodor Shekhtel participated in the construction. They built a magnificent private residence for the family of the sugar refiner Kharitonenko, in the 1890s. Immediately after the revolution it was given to the National commissariat of foreign affairs. The well known science fiction writer Herbert G. Wells stopped here.
Wells met and talked with Lenin in order to understand what was happening in Russia. He put his impressions in his book: Russia in the Shadows. However he was still able to make out, through the shadows, the apartments where he stayed. You see, Pavel Kharitonenko was a famous collector of paintings. His residence became one of the first centres of Moscow art life. Probably, Wells painted such a beautiful description of the house that after the war Great Britain wanted to rent the house for the ambassador’s residence.
The entrance to the British ambassador’s residence is in the middle of the building’s façade. The central projection is covered by a beautiful canopy. It acts as a wide balcony for the second floor. The façade is richly decorated by a thin stucco moulding, characteristic for the end of the 19th Century. Dmitry Chichagov and Fyodor Shekhtel participated in the construction. They built a magnificent private residence for the family of the sugar refiner Kharitonenko, in the 1890s. Immediately after the revolution it was given to the National commissariat of foreign affairs. The well known science fiction writer Herbert G. Wells stopped here.
Wells met and talked with Lenin in order to understand what was happening in Russia. He put his impressions in his book: Russia in the Shadows. However he was still able to make out, through the shadows, the apartments where he stayed. You see, Pavel Kharitonenko was a famous collector of paintings. His residence became one of the first centres of Moscow art life. Probably, Wells painted such a beautiful description of the house that after the war Great Britain wanted to rent the house for the ambassador’s residence.
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