Hotel National (Moscow)

Hotel National (Moscow)

Mokhovaya Ulitsa 15/1
Tel. (495) 258 7000
Subway: Okhotnyy Ryad

 

Description of the Hotel National 

The National Hotel is a Moscow hotel located on Mokhovaya Street, 15/1. It was built in 1900-1902 according to the project of the architect Alexander Ivanov. At the time of opening, it was considered one of the most prestigious in Moscow. After the Revolution of 1917, for several years the building housed a hostel for officials of the Soviet government. In 1932 the hotel was revived under its former name.

History

Russian empire

Construction

In 1900, the site at the beginning of Tverskaya Street, where the old Balaklava tavern was located, was acquired by the Varvara joint-stock company of homeowners. The company decided to build a new luxurious hotel on this site, the project of which was ordered from the St. Petersburg architect Alexander Ivanov. The building was designed in the Art Nouveau style with neo-Renaissance and neo-classical decorative elements. The facade was finished with natural stones, ceramic tiles and stucco. The corner attic was decorated with a majolica panel "Apollo and the Muses", created by artists Sergei Chekhonin and Alexander Golovin at the Abramtsevo ceramic factory of businessman Savva Mamontov.

The building was erected using advanced materials: reinforced concrete, facing bricks, waterproofing materials. During the restoration of the hotel in 1994-1995, an analysis of the solution was carried out, with which the crowning cornice was fixed. The results showed that the builders carried out special technological measures that ensured high moisture resistance of the mortar and, as a result, its almost perfect preservation 90 years after construction.

The architect Ivanov used several technological innovations when creating interiors. In particular, on the main staircase, he made openwork marble steps without stringers, which creates the feeling that they are floating in the air. In fact, the steps are fixed on metal structures hidden in the wall.

 

Luxury hotel

On December 29, 1902, the grand opening of the hotel took place, and on January 1, 1903, the first guests settled. The premises in the six-storey building were partially rented out. The first two housed restaurants, Chuev's confectionery, fur shops of the Petukhov brothers and the tea merchant Perlov.

The hotel was equipped with the latest technology. Elevators were installed in it, which was considered a great curiosity, as well as furniture and chandeliers exclusively imported. All 160 rooms were equipped with water closets and telephones. Accordingly, the prices for accommodation were quite high - up to 25 rubles per day.

The hotel has become a favorite place of residence for Petersburgers and foreigners. Writer Dmitry Merezhkovsky and poetess Zinaida Gippius, ballerina Anna Pavlova and composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov stayed here. In 1913, the writer Anatole France lived in the hotel, and a year later, the science fiction writer HG Wells. Several memorable episodes are associated with the National Hotel. In this building, on October 3, 1910, the first chairman of the State Duma, Sergei Muromtsev, died of heart failure. In the spring of 1906, while the Socialist-Revolutionaries were preparing an assassination attempt on the Moscow Governor-General Fyodor Dubasov, the terrorist Boris Vnorovsky lived in a hotel with a false passport. He chose a room with windows on Tverskaya Street in order to keep an eye on the official leaving the residence.

 

Soviet time

1st House of Soviets
In early 1918, after the transfer of the capital of the RSFSR to Moscow, the National Hotel was nationalized and renamed the 1st House of Soviets. Soviet officials of the people's commissariats temporarily settled in the former rooms. Before moving to the Kremlin, the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Vladimir Lenin and Nadezhda Krupskaya lived in suite No. 107 on the third floor.

In the summer of 1924, the Fifth Congress of the Comintern took place in Moscow. The invited foreign socialists settled in the former National. On August 2, they greeted the demonstrators from the balcony, who passed by with banners "Saving the world from new wars in the dictatorship of the proletariat."

From December 1920 to April 1921, the head of the Republic of Dagestan, Jelal Korkmasov, lived in room number 326. In this issue, Korkmasov met with the ambassador of the government of Mustafa Ataturk in Moscow, Ali Fuad, and representatives of the Turkish delegation before the official opening of the Moscow Conference on the Turkish Question.

 

Revival of the hotel

From July 1, 1931 to December 31, 1932, a large-scale reconstruction and restoration of the interiors of the hotel was carried out in the building. For the renovated premises, furniture was used from the former residences of aristocrats, and, in particular, from the Anichkov and Tsarskoye Selo palaces. After the restoration of the hotel, restaurants named after the cities of the Golden Ring appeared on the second floor. From "Moskovsky" the best view of the Kremlin opened. The windows of the Suzdal restaurant overlooked Tverskaya and Okhotny Ryad. The room, where the Kostroma restaurant was later located, was occupied by a children's room in the 1930s, where you could leave children under the supervision of teachers.

During the reconstruction, the original majolica panel on the facade was replaced with a new one, made by Ivan Rerberg. The theme of the image - the work of a Soviet worker - was made within the framework of the "Monumental Agitation and Propaganda" plan developed by Lenin.

"National" was intended, first of all, for visiting foreigners. Accordingly, there were strict rules in the hotel. According to the memoirs of Yudifi Yazvina, once in the 1930s, together with the poets Mikhail Svetlov and Mikhail Golodny, a doorman dressed in a livery with galloons did not let her into the hotel. Probably the reason for the refusal was the fact that Hungry was wearing a simple kosovorotka.

Hotel National (Moscow)  Hotel National (Moscow)

Soviet hotel

In 1936, the Austrian Social Democrat Professor of Medicine Julius Tandler moved to Moscow. He signed a contract with the People's Commissariat of Health and began to advise Soviet specialists on the construction of medical facilities. The Moscow authorities gave him a room at the National with a view of the Kremlin. During the Great Patriotic War, foreign leaders of the anti-fascist movement and representatives of the Red Cross lived in the hotel.

During his visits from Leningrad, the composer Nikita Bogoslovsky stayed in the hotel suite. After moving to the capital, he often dined at the National restaurant. The poet Mikhail Svetlov, who lived in Kamergersky Lane, often appeared there. In the restaurant, one could also meet the writer Yuri Olesha. There is a legend that Andrei, the son of the Soviet artist Boris Ioganson, while sitting in a restaurant, drew a sketch of the label for Stolichnaya vodka: the image on the label really matches the view that opens from the windows of the National to the Moskva Hotel.

When developing a plan for the reconstruction of Gorky Street (Tverskaya after renaming), it was decided that on the left side the buildings of the National and the Central Telegraph would remain unchanged. The rest of the houses located up to Sovetskaya Square were subject to demolition.

In the early days of outbound tourism in the Soviet Union, the hotel housed an institution where citizens could officially exchange rubles for foreign currency. In 1974, the building of the National was included in the list of historical and cultural monuments protected by the state. In the same year, the ceilings of the halls on the second floor were painted by the artist Ivan Nikolaev. Although the hotel was intended for the accommodation of honored foreign guests, in the late Soviet era, both the building itself and its interior were in an unsatisfactory condition.

 

Current state

In the 1980s, a decision was made to restore the National. In 1991, the Austrian company Rogner was chosen as the general contractor, and the Mosproekt-2 department also took part in the work. The restoration project was developed by Austrian architects W. Hoffelner and E. Survillo. The work was completed in 1995. Several historical suites have been restored in the hotel, where antique furniture and decor items from the early 20th century have been preserved. The Presidential Suite has a Rud grand piano. Ibach Sohn made in Germany in the 19th century. It is noteworthy that the original stained-glass windows of 1902 have been preserved in the building on the main staircase.

In 2003, a terrorist attack occurred near the hotel building, during which six people were killed and 14 were injured. In the fall of 2010, the hotel was transformed from a unitary enterprise into an open joint stock company. On December 22, 2011, an auction was held in Moscow, where the shares of the hotel were put up for sale. The full package was purchased for 4.67 billion rubles by businessman Sait-Salam Gutseriev, the brother of the owner of Russneft.

As of 2020, National is the only Russian hotel of The Luxury Collection brand.

 

Hotel in art

In Andrey Bely's novel Moscow Under Attack, the Japanese mathematician Issi-Nissi is staying in a hotel.
The plot of Viktor Pelevin's novel "The Sacred Book of the Werewolf" begins with the tragic events in the "National".