INFORMATION
A listed object of cultural heritage and regional value, "The house in which the famous Russian book publisher I.Sytin lived from 1904-1928"
2 Nastasyinsky Lane, Moscow, Russia
2012-2016 – Restoration and adaptation project, Project documentation, Architectural supervision
2016 – building
The house of book publisher Ivan Sytin is a monument of Moscow Art Nouveau.
The building, where the book publisher himself lived, housed the editorial office of his newspaper Russian Word. Having bought up almost the whole quarter, except for the revenue house of M. M. Tyulyaeva, Ivan Sytin started a new printing specialization of this part of Moscow. Later, in the 1920s, the Izvestia newspaper buildings would grow on Pushkinskaya Square, necessitating Sytin's house to be moved 33 meters in the direction of Nastasyinsky Lane.
The restoration process recovered elements lost both prior and during the relocation of the house, most notably the surviving beige tiles of the facade cladding and the Soviet-era veneer, which was varnished to ensure the overall tone. The mosaic frieze was also restored and in terms of windows, the lost frames were recreated from photographs, while those on the first floor were restored to their original dimensions. Decorative walls with oval openings were restored to the ends of the house while the cornices and balconies, which retained the unique Art Nouveau form, were reinforced with anchors.
Because the original staircase was lost in the 1980s, the building acquired a new transportation core. The ceilings in the house are based on Shukhov's designs and in the interests of durability, were duplicated on top with monolithic slabs, thus preserving Shukhov's vision as well as fragments of the original ceiling fretwork.