Sevkabel will have a new neighbor. The half-abandoned Brusnitsyn mansion has found its owner

Photo: Galina Boyarkova /

The Brusnitsyn mansion on Vasilyevsky Island was rented by the Moscow company “CRN “Kontakt”. The eclectic building will turn into a public space with halls for exhibitions and concerts in the surviving interiors of the late 19th century. However, the investor still has to solve the land issue: the Brusnitsyn garden with a historical fence was leased by Smolny to another company.

The Brusnitsyn mansion, which had been in disrepair in recent years, began to come to life: Conservation work has begun there and guided tours are being conducted again. As it became known to Fontanka, the building has a new owner: the Agency for the Management and Use of Historical and Cultural Monuments (AUIPIK) leased it to LLC Real Estate Registration Center Contact. The contract was signed back in August 2023 for 25 years. According to its terms, by the summer of 2025, the tenant will have to prepare and coordinate scientific and design documentation, and by the summer of 2028, perform conservation work.

At the time of publication, AUIPIC did not respond to Fontanka’s request. The Committee for State Control, Use and Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments of St. Petersburg (KGIOP) reported that in March 2024, at the request of AUIPIK, a task was issued for the repair, restoration and adaptation of the facility for modern use.

CRN Kontakt has leased a part of the building at 27 Kozhevennaya Liniya, building 1, which is an object of cultural heritage of federal significance, the Brusnitsyn Mansion with Garden and fence.

The house was built in the middle of the XIX century by the Brusnitsyn family of merchants opposite the tannery they owned and rebuilt in the 1880s in an eclectic style. In Soviet times, the administration of the enterprise was located there, but some of the historical decoration and furniture survived. After the closure of the plant, the building was leased to commercial firms and used for filming films and music videos, for example, its interiors can be seen in Renata Litvinova’s “The Last Tale of Rita” and the video for the song “The Magician” by the band “The King and the Fool”.

After the eviction of the tenants, the mansion was taken over by the Agency for the Management and Use of Historical and Cultural Monuments (AUIPIC). In 2017, it was closed to the public, but this did not become an obstacle for illegal excursions. To attract tourists, the guides even composed an urban legend, calling one of the mirrors in the dance hall “Dracula’s Mirror”.

In 2018, the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments (VOOPIiK) sounded the alarm: oak parquet, stucco molding were damaged in the Brusnitsyn house, plaster on the walls was damp, in fact the building turned into an abandoned building. The condition of the monument, however, did not prevent representatives of the KGIOP from playing football in it — exclusively for good purposes.

Photo: Galina Boyarkova /

Photo: Galina Boyarkova /

Photo: Galina Boyarkova /

Photo: Galina Boyarkova /

Photo: Galina Boyarkova /

Photo: Galina Boyarkova /

Photo: Galina Boyarkova /

Photo: Galina Boyarkova /

Photo: Galina Boyarkova /

Photo: Galina Boyarkova /

Photo: Galina Boyarkova /

Photo: Galina Boyarkova /

Photo: Galina Boyarkova /

Photo: Galina Boyarkova /

CRN Kontakt LLC received the Brusnitsyn mansion, becoming the only participant in the auction held at the site torgi.gov.ru . A notice of its holding is available on the AUIPIC website, but it was not possible to find an announcement in the department’s news feed.

CRN Kontakt LLC was established in 2017. According to SPARK, Roman Romanov has been the director and sole owner since the fall of 2023. He also owns the Orion and Megapolis Champion companies, but judging by the financial statements, they do not conduct business.

The restoration of the Brusnitsyn mansion will take place at the expense of a private investor, a citizen of the Russian Federation, Roman Romanov explained to Fontanka. The team that deals with the building on Kozhevennaya Street already has experience in restoring historical buildings. In particular, in Moscow, she is currently working in the house of Anna Mons. “We are not random people,” Romanov stressed, but did not disclose the name of his partner.

The interlocutors of Fontanka, who are familiar with the investor’s plans, associate with him the name of Andrei Kholodnov, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Judo Club Turbostroitel. The founder of the club, Anatoly Rakhlin, was the coach of Vladimir Putin and Arkady Rotenberg. Vice-president of HC SKA Roman Rotenberg is named on the club’s website as his “partner and friend”. The Board of Trustees also includes Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Andrey Turchak.

According to Roman Romanov, scientific research is currently underway in the Brusnitsyn mansion, as a result of which a project of adaptation for modern use will be developed. Most likely, it will be a public space “in the same context and logic as Sevkabel and the Brusnitsyn art quarter,” he noted.

Commercial tenants will be located in the premises where historical interiors have not been preserved (about 2000 sq. m.): restaurants, cafes, design studios. The halls, where the historical decoration has survived (about 700 sq. m.), will most likely be given over to exhibition galleries, concerts and excursions. “This is an educational educational activity. We will not open shawarma in the palace part,” he stressed.

The tenant is not ready to talk about investments yet — this will become clear after the preparation of the project. As for the timing, the launch of the public space may happen earlier than the five years stipulated in the contract. “We are being asked to accelerate, and we are not interested in delaying it ourselves: the sooner we do it, the sooner we can launch it into commercial use,” Roman Romanov explained.

In parallel with the survey work, the tenant is trying to prevent further destruction: he repaired the roof and began to heat the room. At the time of the transfer, the building was not in the best condition, Romanov notes. Because of the leaking roof and the disconnected heating, the mansion “stood like a sponge soaked in water,” he explained.

The cultural heritage site, in addition to the Brusnitsyn house, includes a small garden: the owners of the tannery made it accessible to their workers, who could relax there at the end of the working day. But if the mansion building is federally owned, then the land of the square belongs to St. Petersburg and is leased to IO New City Investments LTD, registered in Saint Kitts and Nevis, told Fontanka in the KIO.

Photo: Galina Boyarkova /

Photo: Galina Boyarkova /

By the way, the same company owns a part of the building adjacent to the Brusnitsyn mansion and is a monument of regional significance “Mansion, factory and Almshouse of the Brusnitsyn Trading House”. Its director Andrey Pogudkin is called one of the investors of the neighboring art quarter “Brusnitsyn”, located across the street from the mansion.

Smolny has questions for the tenant. In 2024, KIO filed a lawsuit against New City Investments LTD for 2.3 million rubles of debt on the lease of the site. There is no decision on it yet. In 2022, the KGIOP filed a lawsuit against the company, seeking repairs to restore the garden and fence. The Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal sided with the department. But the design documentation for the conservation of the facility, including emergency response work, has not yet been received by the KGIOP, the press service reported.

According to Roman Romanov, AUIPIK intends to ensure that the mansion and the garden become a single object. For his part, the investor is ready to take responsibility for the green zone and carry out landscaping work there. Andrei Pogudkin declined to comment on the situation, noting that he had nothing to do with the Brusnitsyn mansion.

Galina Boyarkova,

Photo: Galina Boyarkova /

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Источник: www.fontanka.ru