Astashovo Hotel: a real Russian tower of the XIX century

Andrey Pavlichenkov and Olga Golovicher restored a wooden tower lost in the Chukhloma wilderness of the XIX century. The love story of Russian wooden architecture is closely intertwined here with the love story of the first owner of the house

The Astashovo Terem is the only museum hotel in Russia with a completely recreated atmosphere of the XIX century, was built by Martin Sazonov in 1897 as a gift to a young bride

Photo

MIKHAIL LOSKUTOV

The owners and recreators of the terem Andrey Pavlichenkov and Olga Golovicher

Photo

MIKHAIL LOSKUTOV

"Are you from the magazine? And I have collected mushrooms for you, now we will cook an omelet with chanterelles." The owner Andrey himself comes out to meet us. So that's who lives in the teremochka. However, anyone can live here. The Astashovo House Museum functions as a hotel.

It takes eight hours to get from Moscow by car, but we preferred the night train to Galich and then an hour and a half by taxi. We are a little tired, but the aromas of cheesecakes, homemade plum jam with cinnamon and coffee coming from the kitchen quickly bring us to our senses.

Tea room. The stained-glass windows for her were restored from black-and-white archival photographs, which were analyzed in a special way using computer programs.

Photo

MIKHAIL LOSKUTOV

The aromas of cheesecakes, homemade plum jam with cinnamon and an omelet with chanterelles come from the kitchen

Main living room. The plates above the doors are engraved with the names of the rooms given in honor of local rivers. Among others, there are, for example, "Idol" and "Ida". Oil lamps of the XIX century were converted into chandeliers and table lamps by local craftsmen.

Photo

MIKHAIL LOSKUTOV

Andrey and Olga — Muscovites, successful businessmen, never planned to settle in the village. "We didn't even have a dacha," Olga says. — Why sit in the same house every weekend if there are so many interesting places to go. They took the children in their arms, skis, snowboards, guides to the protected places of Russia, and in the car. Actually, that's how it all started..."

The terem, built in 1897, was copied from a sketch published in the magazine, made by the famous architect Ivan Pavlovich Ropet in the 70s of the XIX century for the wealthy St. Petersburg public, who built cottages in the fashionable "Russian style". In Soviet times, the tower was nationalized, a post office and a club were located here, then the building stood abandoned for forty years.

Photo

Astashovo Archive

In the register of architectural monuments of the Kostroma region, Andrey read about the wooden terem of Martian Sazonov built in 1897. We arrived at the exact address, but the house is not visible. It was literally swallowed up by the forest, during the years of Soviet power, the site was overgrown so much that tall trees came close to the building. "And when they saw it, they froze at the same time with horror and delight," Olga continues. — It was not the Leaning tower of Pisa, but a real leaning tower. At the same time, the grandeur and scale of the building were impressive! We sounded the alarm. We turned to our friends in the Archnadzor and in the civil services, which should be engaged, if not in restoration, then at least in the preservation of monuments."

The restoration of the destroyed building built in 1897 was carried out according to the project of the architectural bureau of Alexander Popov RCAPO. More than five thousand elements of the carved decor were made anew, but using old technologies.

Photo

MIKHAIL LOSKUTOV

"It was not the Leaning tower of Pisa, but a real leaning tower. At the same time, the grandeur and scale of the building were impressive!"

Bedroom. For reasons of comfort, only the headboard is taken from the antique bed, which is complemented by a modern base and mattress.

Photo

MIKHAIL LOSKUTOV

"Archnadzor helped to gather volunteers, we cleared the site together, brought equipment, removed the falling tower and put it on the ground. We ordered the architect-restorer Alexander Popov a project to restore the house. There was no idea to do this on our own, at first we just wanted to help a little. But the civil service refused: the house does not have the status of an architectural monument. Moreover, there was no house at all on the papers. The plot was listed as empty agricultural land. I had to call the BTI to simply fix the very fact of the existence of the tower. And as soon as the building received a "birth certificate and residence permit", it was put up for auction. Actually, besides us, only one person came to them. And he's more out of curiosity."

Only the English master Robert Weston, Hamilton Weston company, could recreate the wallpaper based on a miraculously preserved tiny fragment.

Photo

MIKHAIL LOSKUTOV

The bathroom is in one of the rooms of the terem.

Photo

MIKHAIL LOSKUTOV

The restoration of the interiors took four years. The completion was the wallpaper, which was recreated by an English master.

Antique furniture and utensils are collected from neighboring abandoned villages and carefully restored.

Photo

MIKHAIL LOSKUTOV

Despite the lack of a protected status, it was decided to restore the building according to all strict rules of restoration of architectural monuments. The wooden details of the facade were fixed and numbered, then the house was completely dismantled and taken to restoration workshops. The parts that cannot be restored, and there were about forty percent of them, were made anew, but using old technologies. The house was assembled on the spot again "the old-fashioned way". For example, birch bark was used as waterproofing, which, according to Andrey, is more reliable than all modern materials: "Remember at least the eternal birch bark certificates."

The stove in the main dining room is a favorite entertainment for children and, if necessary, an extra bed.

Photo

MIKHAIL LOSKUTOV

Staircase hall. The pink marble painting was restored according to historical samples, restorer Vasily Mitrofanov.

Photo

MIKHAIL LOSKUTOV

"The staircase hall with a pink marble painting is too pretentious. We would have done it differently for ourselves, but if we decided to restore the historical appearance, we decided"

The rooms have completely recreated the home environment, from furniture to dishes and books from the time of the construction of the house. The cost of rooms is from 3000 to 8000 rubles.

Samples of decorative painting of the hall, stove tiles and fragments of wallpaper were selected from the mountain of construction debris, in order to then order the same. Even wooden boards with scratched curses of Soviet times, when there was a club in the house, were preserved. They were carefully covered with glass cladding. And what, also a story! "The design of the staircase hall with a pink marble painting is too pretentious," the owners admit. — We would have done it differently for ourselves, but if we decided to restore the historical appearance, then we decided. We even made wooden windows according to the old standards — with removable winter frames. But the heating was still carried out in the house, so the stove is now more for entertainment. However, in order not to disturb the interior, instead of mounted radiators, convectors built into the floor were made."

Antique furniture and utensils were searched for in neighboring villages and were also carefully restored.

Photo

MIKHAIL LOSKUTOV

Since there are no antique beds of large size, only the headboards were used from them, and the bases were made new. After all, modern people need comfort.

Photo

MIKHAIL LOSKUTOV

It's funny, but Andrey and Olga don't have their own room in the house. "If there are a lot of guests, we spend the night in a tent or go to one of the guest "double houses" built in a clearing designed by Ivan Ovchinnikov. In our free time we collect mushrooms, ride quad bikes or visit a home cinema equipped in the attic, and in winter we go skiing. By the way, every year we lay professional tracks, as we love sports very much."

Photo

MIKHAIL LOSKUTOV

The restoration of the interiors took four years. A significant completion took place in August 2018, when wallpaper arrived in the living room from England. Their drawing was restored by the English master for a whole year by the miraculously surviving fragments.

P. If you are going to drink tea with bagels and homemade jam here, be sure to ask to tell local stories about bears, village undertakers and the matchmaking of citizen Markova. www.astashovo.com , +7 953 654-62-20

There is a romantic story connected with the tower:

Martian Sazonov (in the center) with his family and fellow villagers on the porch of the terem.

In 1894, 52-year-old Martian Sazonov, a former serf who became rich on construction contracts in St. Petersburg, was widowed, returned to his native village and wooed the deacon's 20-year-old daughter Elizabeth Dobrovolskaya. And as a gift to the beauty, I decided to build a fabulous Russian tower, a sketch of which I saw in a magazine. The new house impressed a friend of Martian — the same rich peasant Ivan Polyashov, and he built his own tower in Pogorelovo, an hour's drive away. Friends were always competing over who had a better house and a prettier wife. After the revolution, both towers were nationalized. But Sazonov did not find this. He died in 1914, his young wife left home and never remarried. Astashovsky terem was closed until 1943, when the chairman of the local village Council decided to have a wedding in it. And finally, in 2010, Andrey Pavlichenkov, out of love for Russian architecture, started saving the house and created the best place for a romantic weekend!

"Why do you need a dacha if there are so many interesting places in Russia where you can go? For example, the Astashovo tower"

1/5astashovo is a deaf place, eight kilometers to the nearest settlement. During the visit, you can take a horse ride, a snowmobile tour or go on excursions to ancient Chukhloma, Galich and Soligalich. Or you can spend the whole day at the samovar in the tea room. The stained glass windows for her were restored by computer analysis of black-and-white archival photos.

Photo:

MIKHAIL LOSKUTOV

Polina Chesova
Original content from the site