Eliseyev Emporium in St Petersburg
The Torgovy Dom Eliseevyh on Nevskiy became a unique phenomenon.
Before the opening of its second “supermarket”, the Eliseevyh family already had about five stores in the Severnaya capital, several apartment houses, its own steamers for delivering “fresh imports”, as well as the legendary Eliseevskiye cellars for storing wines, which were located on the Birzhevaya Liniya.
For the construction of a new Torgovy Dom, the son of serf Peter Kasatkin, Grigory, acquired in 1898 a plot on Nevskiy. Then on this place there were commercial “points” of V. Solovyov - a restaurant, a pawnshop and a shop. Initially, Eliseev rebuilds the existing building corpus on Malaya Sadovaya (1900), and then erects the store itself at the corner with Nevskiy.
The store building, although originally a restaurant and a theater were also placed in it, was conceived as a new accent of the entire capital's main thoroughfare. Nevskiy Prospect had already been stylistically decorated by that time, its overall aesthetics had already been settled, classicism and baroque coexisted in dynamic and extended harmony. Suddenly, a bright and pretentious modern with its intricacy, ornateness, large open spaces, new materials and bright contrasts “break in” into all this architectural balance.
None other than the "new monsters" the poet G.Ivanov would call this store the Eliseevyh and the dom Zingera, which was located nearby. These two structures will remain the main milestones of the new Petersburg style, which, thanks to them, will be dubbed "merchant modern".
The St. Petersburg Eliseevskiy shop is, on the one hand, a heavy stone-framed building, and on the other - large angular verticals of light stained glass windows, metal frames, masks and sculptures — was opposite the classical grandeur of the Alexandrinsky Theater! Only people with big ambitions and, of course, means were capable of such a call.
However, with the location of their Torgovy Dom Eliseevy remained true to the tradition. It was here that their talented founding father received the first commercial success.
After the revolution, the merchants left the capital, and the Eliseevskiy shop became just the №1 deli. In the urban folklore, the legend is preserved that the merchants melted all their wealth into a golden chandelier, which was supposed to wait for them - because the arrival of the Bolsheviks was understood by many as temporary. However, subsequent restoration works showed that such a large and heavy golden chandelier could not have been in the interiors of the Torgovy Dom. She would have “spoiled” the whole ceiling painting there. In the premises of Eliseevskiy, however, in the 1930s. the chandelier will be hung, of course it will not be golden and its goal will be unromantic - simple lighting.
Another legend conceals information that the Eliseevy walled up their wealth into the walls of the store, in connection with which the building was then carefully tapped by many treasure hunters.
The assortment of the Soviet Eliseevskiy always also featured a great "sophistication", here you could find a lot of marvelous imported products. But when the Soviet empire collapsed, the lack of gourmet luxury was compensated by a sense of humor.
In fact, the history of the family and traditions of the merchant affair of the Eliseevs are extremely interesting and instructive .. But the memory of this family, at least at the level of the city sights, always remains and will be remembered by both Petersburgers and Muscovites, who continued to call these shops in Soviet times old - Eliseevskiy.
On March 8, 2012, after the restoration, the trading enterprise was opened and the buyers were again able to appreciate the refined atmosphere and the luxurious interior of the halls, restored from photographs from 1903.
And in December of the same year, residents of St. Petersburg and guests of the Severnaya capital admired the renovated showcase with the moving fairy-tale characters from the Nutcracker fairy tale. These unusual dolls are created by the famous sculptor Mikhail Shemyakin.
Eliseevskiy store has become a boutique of luxury goods, which presents a wide selection of products brought from all over the world. These are pastries and pastries, fish and caviar, meat products and groceries, wines and cheeses. It has its own bakery, and in the fish department there is a smoke, where you can buy the fish you like before your eyes.
