Many want to get inside this of the most beautiful mansion on Yakimanka, but now it is impossible to do this either on the day of museums or on any other days - it does not open its doors to visitors. And not only because there is a residence French Ambassador in Moscow, or perhaps for some other mysterious reason? But about this in order. This house is full of all kinds of legends and real historical events. Some old Muscovites generally consider it cursed and bypass the crossroads.
Architect Pozdeev Nikolay Ivanovich
And that's how it was. Conceived at the end of the 19th century by a rich merchant Nikolai Vasilyevich Igumnov, co-owner of the commercial and industrial partnership "Yaroslavskaya Bolshaya Manufaktura" and the owner of gold mines in Siberia, to build an unprecedented palace on the site of his childhood estate at the end of Yakimanka not less than a million. And he wrote to himself from Yaroslavl chief city architect Nikolai Pozdeev. The merchant also liked the place, which reminded of a carefree childhood and he had to settle somewhere mistress - dancer Lyubushka. Yakimanka, as a suburb of Moscow at that time, was a suitable place for this. Pozdeev decided to conquer Moscow with his work - he painted a luxurious building in the old Russian style, with turrets, porches, stone lace, colorful tiles, twisted columns, high hipped roofs, bell towers and vaulted arches. The rich man Igumnov did not skimp - he ordered a special brick from Holland, a stone from Italy, chandeliers from Bohemian crystal, and ordered tiles from the most prestigious Kuznetsov Porcelain Factory. And it turned out to be a beautiful palace, as if from a fairy tale, a house-box. But the former Muscovites reacted ambiguously to such a creation. Either from envy and malice, or from a lack of taste or fashion for such things, they began to talk all sorts of nasty things about the house - called vulgarity and bad taste, wrote that only a bastard merchant could create such a thing. If only they knew that in a few years this house would serve as a model for many other Moscow architects. Shchusev, Pomerantsev and Sherwood which will give Moscow the magnificent creations of the Historical Museum and GUM.
But Igumnov lived then, and like a real oligarch who expected admiration and praise, but instead received a defeat, he was very offended by this circumstance and presented his claims to Pozdeev. Like, is it really vulgarity and bad taste? The offended architect, who rightfully considered his work to be the best building of recent times, told him about this and in his hearts stated that he really was a gray-pawed merchant if he did not understand this! Igumnov, in response, yelled at the architect, reminded him that he did not fit into a million, accused him of embezzlement, and the court decided to pay the surplus as much as 250 thousand. Pozdeev, horrified, realizing that he would never collect such money, shouted to Igumnov: “I curse this house! It will never become native to anyone, no one will live normally in it! A week later, the architect Pozdeev committed suicide in Yaroslavl.
Further more. Igumnov brought his mistress-beautiful Lyuba to his Moscow mansion. She began to live there almost alone - Igumnov was on the road almost all the time on business, and in Yaroslavl with his family. And Lyuba was bored and scared in such a huge mansion to live, she kept telling Igumnov that she clearly saw the ghost of the deceased architect at night. Then Igumnov advised her to call her friends more often. So Luba called. And when Igumnov unexpectedly arrived at his house at night, he found a couple of his Lyuba there in the bedroom. He threw the boyfriend out the window, and grabbed Lyuba by the shoulders, shaking with rage and pushed him against the wall. And it had to happen that Lyuba hit to death on the same stucco molding, which increased the cost of the project and became the cause of contention with Pozdeev. The legend says that out of fear of exposure, Igumnov next day immured Lyuba's body in one of the walls of the house. He himself stopped living in this house, remembered about it only a few years later, when much was forgotten, he made repairs there, bought new furniture, dishes and decided to arrange a ball, unprecedented in Moscow scope, on this occasion. And to show their fabulous wealth - ordered to put golden royal coins on the floor in the huge front hall!!! It did not occur to Igumnov that the guests would not only walk on gold coins, but trample with their feet the profile of Emperor Nicholas II himself, minted on the coins. One of the guests naturally reported this, and the tsar exiles Igumnov to his estate on the Black Sea coast near the Abkhazian village of Alakhadzy with a ban on visiting Moscow and St. Petersburg.
By the way, Igumnov was not at a loss even in exile and here he showed his entrepreneurial streak - he bought 600 acres of land, studied the regional climate, drained the swamps thanks to the planting of eucalyptus and cypress trees, planted gardens with tangerines, kiwi, mango, tunga, tobacco and medicinal trees on the former swamps, and began to breed domestic animals. On the seashore he built a fish cannery, his own small palace, built dormitories for workers with double rooms, with separate smoking rooms, built houses for family workers, which after some time became the property of the worker's family along with a piece of land. After the revolution, Nikolai Vasilyevich voluntarily handed over his huge farms to the new government and remained to work as a simple agronomist at the state farm named after the III International. The huge letter “I”, along which cypress alleys are planted, can now be easily seen on the map of Abkhazia taken from space. And every resident of Pitsunda, in whose territory the village of Alakhadzy entered, showing visitors his land, will definitely say: “Igumnov planted this ... Igumnov built this ...”
While Igumnov was working for the benefit of Abkhazia in his house on Yakimanka placed the enterprise of Gosznak, on which Soviet trifles were minted, workers were quartered in the rooms, and a factory club was set up in the halls. Igumnov died in 1924, the same year the leader of the world proletariat Vladimir Ulyanov Lenin died. As you know, the body of the leader was decided to be embalmed, which was done. The insides were all pulled out, and decided to work with the brain separately. In 1925, Gosznak was evicted from Igumnov's mansion and a super-secret institution called brain institute, where they study the structure of the brain of a great man and look for differences with ordinary brains. So they don’t find anything except that Lenin’s brain turned out to be much smaller than his usual counterparts. Then they bring there the brains of the poets Mayakovsky and Bagritsky, the writers Gorky and Henri Barbusse, the people's commissars Lunacharsky and Tsyuryupa, the revolutionary Clara Zetkin, politicians Kirov and Kuibyshev, Academicians Tsiolkovsky, Michurin, Plekhanov and Pavlov, circus performer Durov, singer Sobinov, composer Ippolitov-Ivanov and many others on several pages to reveal the secret of genius and create a special Pantheon. In addition to these brains, the Brain Institute had a collection of brains of average people. different nationalities: 6 Russian brains, 2 Tatar, Chuvash, Armenian, Georgian, Jewish, Turkic. All the brains were under constant guard of the OGPU, and walking past the mansion was an unpleasant business, because even the director of the Institute of the Brain, Sarkisov, told the TASS employee the following: “It seems that after death the brain still continues to live here. It seems that he lives in these laboratories, in this stylish mansion, where scientific efforts are concentrated on the deep study of such a complex organ as the brain”!!! In the 38th place in this mansion for all the brains, scientists who study them, and numerous chemicals were not enough, and the Institute
French Ambassador Jacques de Gliniasty in the mansion
the brain is moved to another place, and the mansion is handed over to the French Embassy in the USSR. The French have worked hard to repair and clean the house from the smell of chemicals. Since 1979, this house has become the personal residence of the French Ambassador to Russia. Now this position of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary is held by Jean de Gliniasty.
Well, you must Go and See this amazing Moscow mansion, at least from the outside (since the French do not let you inside), but just in case, I still recommend looking at it from the opposite side of the street ... little to nothing…)
Twice a year, on April 18 and May 18, the days of historical and cultural heritage. These days, the doors of the embassy buildings, which are closed for sightseeing visits on other days, located in historical mansions, open.
In 1893, a house appeared on Bolshaya Yakimanka, which glorified its owner, the Yaroslavl manufacturer Nikolai Vasilyevich Igumnov. Red figured brick mansions, crowned with various roofs, were decorated with bright tiles. Kokoshniki above the windows and the royal porch created the illusion of the sovereign's tower
Excursions to other embassies:
02 A picturesque mansion surrounded by a unique forged grating, in 1938 was transferred to the disposal of the French government, and forty-one years later became the official residence of the Ambassador of France. 
03 architectural masterpiece, which combined the "Russian style" and French taste, and to this day is the center of interaction between the cultures of the two countries 
04 1880s Bolshaya Yakimanka was considered an unpresentable street. Carts and carriages rumbled along the pavement, along which stretched the blank fences of Zamoskvorechye, hiding gardens, barns and plain mansions. 
05 When the head of the Association of the Yaroslavl Big Manufactory, Nikolai Vasilyevich Igumnov, filed a petition with the city government to build a new house in this part of the city, everyone was perplexed. 
06 In response, the imperturbable rich man explained that with this building he would like to perpetuate the place where he was born and grew up. 
07 The construction was entrusted to the Yaroslavl city architect Nikolai Ivanovich Pozdeev, who by that time had already erected a number of churches and merchant houses, while worshiping the "Russian style". 
08 In 1893, a marvelous two-story red-brick tower appeared opposite the Church of John the Warrior. Arched windows with "weights", decorated with columns - "barrels", along with various patterns laid out on the facade, tiles with outlandish plants and birds - everything resembled the palace chambers of Moscow Rus'. 
09 From the front porch, the guests got into the hall. The low vaults of the front are painted with floral ornaments. 
10 ...and then climbed the carved oak staircase to the living quarters. From the entrance hall, copper-bound doors led to the front halls or to the children's quarters. Enfilade linked living rooms, dining rooms, study, boudoir and bedrooms. 
15 Magnificent oak door with large carvings 
16 Each step of the ladder lifted a person from the twilight to the world of light 
24 geometric pattern the tiles form on the floor of the entrance hall of the second floor like a picturesque carpet. 
27 The door opens and from a Russian fairy tale you find yourself in Versailles from the time of Louis XV ... 
28 There were more than forty rooms in the house intended for family life, business meetings, recreation, leisure, education and privacy. Since 1938, the French embassy has been located in the Igumnov house, and since 1979 it has been the residence of the ambassador. In the ceremonial interiors, which are today at the disposal of the head French embassy, diplomatic receptions, cocktails, dinners, concerts and even Russian and French fashion shows are held. 
34 The dining room has vaulted ceilings in the style of ancient Russian chambers. The ceilings are white, hence the rumors about the unfinished finishing of the dining room. 
37 The small dining room is a mixture of design approaches. Antique cornice and Ionic pilasters sit side by side with full-height mirrors added to the interior by a contemporary French architect. 
41 Rococo ceiling (sink) 
46 Large living room. The luxurious ceiling cornice serves as the basis for sculptural forms.
Igumnov's house is the most famous house in Russian style in Moscow. Together with the fence of the Church of John the Warrior, it forms an architectural ensemble, supported by the new building of the French Embassy, built in 1979.
On March 30, 1851, the wife of a St. Petersburg merchant, Vera Yakovlevna Igumnova, bought for 17,140 rubles. silver plot with a house at the merchant's wife V.D. Krasheninnikova. The history of the possession of the Igumnovs on Yakimanka begins. But the main business interests of the Igumnovs were in Yaroslavl. Back in 1857, the Big Yaroslavl Manufactory (textile factory early XVIII c.), was bought by the merchants Karzinkin and G.M. Igumnov. In 1888 Igumnov died. His heir, Nikolai Vasilyevich Igumnov, decided to build a house in Moscow in the same year and commissioned a project from the Yaroslavl architect N.I. Pozdeev (1885–1893). The first version of the project was to use the walls of an old two-story house that stood on this site. Then this option was abandoned, which allowed the architect to freely place the building on the site, achieving maximum expressiveness of the image. At the same time, the building did not stand out from the row of Empire mansions along Yakimanka, only slightly exceeding them in size, but contrasting with the richness of decoration.
The complex silhouette formed by the roofs of different volumes of the house is reminiscent of ancient Russian chambers. The facades combine high-quality brickwork, natural light-colored stone trim and colored tiles from the Kuznetsov factory. Relief tiles were a feature of the Yaroslavl architecture of the 17th century. The drawings of the tiles were made by the ceramist S.I. Maslennikov. Before the fire of 1884, he was the owner of his own ceramic factory in the Vyshnevolotsk district. After the construction of the Igumnov house, Maslennikov began working at the Art and Industrial School. Gogol in Mirgorod.
The interiors of the house are decorated both in the Russian style and with elements of classicism. Such diversity was fashionable in late XIX V. The decoration was completed in 1895, two years after the death of the architect Nikolai Pozdeev. His brother, also an architect, Ivan Pozdeev completed the house and supervised the finishing work.
In 1901 the owner of the house was exiled to Abkhazia. He never returned to Moscow.
After 1917 the house was occupied different organizations. There was a working club, the Institute of the Brain, the Institute of Blood Transfusion, the House of Pioneers.
Since 1938, the French embassy has worked in the Igumnov house, and since 1979 it has been the residence of the ambassador French Republic. Diplomatic receptions are held here, holidays are arranged.
Several legends are associated with the house. One of them says that Igumnov built a house to live here with his mistress, a dancer, and left his wife in Yaroslavl, and allegedly the mistress, convicted of treason, is immured within the walls of the house. According to the second legend, Igumnov arranged a ball in the house, and for greater glamor he ordered to strew the floor with golden imperials. They were followed by guests. Well-wishers reported on Igumnov's act, the authorities regarded such a ball as an insult to the sovereign, because this is his portrait placed on the coins. For this, the owner was exiled to Abkhazia.
In 2010, restoration work began to restore the former appearance of the building.
Kuznetsov tiles that adorn the facade of the building required a large amount of restoration work. Slightly damaged ones were restored to their original form on the spot, those lost and not subject to restoration were replaced with new ones made according to analogues. all facade tiled decor was cleared and strengthened with the help of special compounds.
The roof, covered with spiers, also suffered significant losses. The entire roof covering was removed in stages, at the same time an audit of the remaining elements was carried out. Since it was not possible to recreate the spiart coating, the technology of which was practically lost, within the established timeframe, it was decided to cover the roof with a modern, similar in quality and color material - zinc-titanium. At the same time, a part of the preserved spear was used in the new coating. Separately, there was a reconstruction of the decorative tops of the roof tents, also made of zinc-titanium, based on old photographs.
In 2014, the object became a laureate of the competition of the Moscow Government for best project in the field of preservation and promotion of cultural heritage "Moscow Restoration" in the nomination: "For the best restoration project".
Many people know the history of this house, but repetition is mother teachings, for those who did not know or forgot.
The merchant Igumnov was a very rich man. So far on satellite map Abkhazia
in the village of Alakhadzi, one can distinguish his initials: "INV" - these are cypress alleys,
figuratively planted a hundred years ago. Nikolai Vasilyevich was a co-owner of the Yaroslavl
Large manufactory, had gold mines in Siberia.
In 1888 he decided to equip his Moscow residence,
which today houses the French embassy.
The place on Yakimanka was in no way considered prestigious at that time.
Dilapidated houses, far from the center.
Igumnov justified his choice by the fact that his childhood passed somewhere here (history did not preserve early biographical data, even the year of his birth is unknown). According to other legends, the remoteness from the center was required for privacy from prying eyes, because the house was not conceived for ordinary life.
Be that as it may, Igumnov bought a wooden house from a certain merchant Nikolai Lukyanov,
demolished it and attracted a young talented city architect of Yaroslavl Nikolai Pozdeev for a new construction.
The architect at that time had just turned 33, but in Yaroslavl he had already received recognition thanks to a number of solid buildings. By the way, it cannot be ruled out that it was the architect, whose childhood was spent near Maloyaroslavets, who advised the customer to the place near the Kaluga outpost, and acquaintance with Moscow came from here.
A house was built in the form of a fairy-tale palace in the pseudo-Russian style.
Igumnov wanted to conquer the Mother See and did not skimp.
Bricks for construction were transported to the construction site directly
from Holland, tiles and tiles were ordered at porcelain factories
Kuznetsov, interior decoration was entrusted to one of the most popular
then architects Petr Boitsov. It was possible to unite into a single whole
the most diverse and complex components: turrets, tents,
arches, columns. The stylistic similarity of the mansion is found
with the masterpiece of Moscow architecture of the same years - the State
Historical Museum. Today the building is an object of cultural
heritage of federal significance, but originally Moscow
"light" reacted to the palace more than cool.
According to legend, the frustrated Igumnov refused to pay for everything,
which was not paid in advance, after which the architect Pozdeev
committed suicide. According to another version, the architect died from severe
disease at the age of 38. This project was his last work.
The capital did not want to accept a rich and successful provincial.
Soon rumors spread around the city that in the mansion of Nikolai Vasilyevich
lived a young mistress-dancer. Once, without suffering treason,
the merchant walled her up alive in the wall.
Who spread the rumors is unknown, but Igumnov has ill-wishers
were very influential.
When in 1901 the merchant decided to have a ball in the house on Yakimanka,
he, according to his habit, wanted to impress the guests with his scope.
For this floor dance hall was full of brand new
golden chervonets.
And the very next day in St. Petersburg, Nicholas II was informed
How Moscow merchants danced on imperial profiles,
minted on coins.
The reaction followed immediately: by the highest order
Nikolai Igumnov was expelled from the Mother See, without the right to return to it.
The place of exile chosen by the authorities was by no means a resort: the Abkhazian coast
Sukhum region was then swampy, teeming with malarial mosquitoes
and poisonous snakes. Looking around, the disgraced merchant bought for nothing
6 thousand acres of local swamps and began new life.
First successful business was created with the help of fishermen discharged from the Don.
Igumnov mastered the trade and opened the first cannery on the Black Sea coast.
Comfortable living conditions were created for the workers: seasonal workers were provided with a hostel with rooms for two people and large smoking rooms, permanent workers received separate houses, which after a few years became their property.
Igumnov brought eucalyptus and swamp cypress trees here, which quickly pulled out excess moisture
from local soils. Chernozem was delivered from the Kuban, pedigree cattle from Yaroslavl, the merchant became interested in gardening. Through his efforts, mandarin, kiwi, mango, tobacco plantations appeared in these lands,
the enterprise "Abkhazian Bamboo" began to work, cypress alleys that have survived to this day appeared.
After the revolution, Nikolai Vasilyevich refused to emigrate to France.
He voluntarily transferred his property to the state and got a job as an agronomist at the citrus state farm named after the Third International, which became known as his former estate.
Nikolai Vasilyevich died in 1924, they buried him modestly, planting cypresses he loved on the grave.
History sometimes likes to grimace. If the emperor took away a house from a merchant for a ball on coins with his image, then after the revolution and nationalization, the building became for several years ... a club of the Goznak factory.
The next owner of the house on Yakimanka corresponded to the gloomy legends that surrounded the mansion: in 1925, a brain laboratory settled here for 13 years
(since 1928 - the Brain Institute).
During this time, the brain of Lenin, Clara Zetkin, Tsyurupa, Lunacharsky, Andrei Bely, Mayakovsky, Gorky, Pavlov, Michurin, Tsiolkovsky, Kalinin, Kirov, Kuibyshev, Krupskaya…
In 1938, the mansion was handed over to the French Embassy. In 1944, President Charles de Gaulle presented awards to the pilots of the Normandie-Niemen squadron here.
The Dutch brick building is still kept in perfect condition by the staff of the French diplomatic mission.
About the ghost of Igumnov's house.
Rumor has it that until now in the building of the French embassy there is a so-called " white woman».
According to legend, this small mansion was presented by the merchant Igumnov to his kept woman.
He himself lived in Yaroslavl, and visited the capital on short trips. He usually warned his lady of the heart about his arrivals through a sent servant.
But one day he arrived without warning and found his beloved with a young cornet...
The owner kicked Cornet in the neck, but the girl then disappeared without a trace.
There were rumors that the merchant in his hearts killed her, and the corpse was immured in the wall of the mansion.
According to another legend, his young stoker is to blame for everything. The guy allegedly began to flirt with the pretty daughter of a merchant, for which he was soon excommunicated forever from a rich house.
True, this was not the end of the matter. Rumor claims that before leaving, the offended stoker secretly filled the chimneys with clay shards.
As a result, when furnaces were heated in the palace-terem, the pipes and even the walls began to make terrible sounds (for some reason, especially at night), from which the owner suffered unbearably.
But back to the house. Pseudo-Russian style was chosen for the construction,
very fashionable at the time Historical Museum, GUM store building, etc.).
This style of architecture drew inspiration from the image of Russian wooden towers,
the most famous of which is the palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in Kolomenskoye -
burned down in the 18th century.
Other decorative elements were taken from church architecture.
(St. Basil's Cathedral) or the churches of Yaroslavl, which are beautiful
combined brick, stone and multi-colored tiles.
On the high roof of the mansion, crushed metal under the tiles,
ceramic inserts. Above the "red porch" (the main entrance
elegant antique double arch.
Walls made of imported Dutch bricks. White window trim
suburban stone. Picturesque bell towers, bulbous domes of tents,
inflated columns. Multi-color mosaic of the rarest tiles, specially
painted according to the drawings of the Russian painter S. Maslennikov
and manufactured at the famous Kuznetsov factory.
Pozdeev's talent managed to combine various volumes into a single whole,
crowned with picturesque tents, and numerous decorative
details of different genres (bells, vaulted arches, exaggerated columns, etc.).
The result is harmonious, although a little massive.
On the day of the museums, I was lucky enough to get inside! There will be a lot of photos so that you can say that you saw how it was inside. I apologize for the quality of some of the photos and people in the frame. It's hard to take perfect pictures on a tour.
The interior is also replete with decorations. The hall and the main staircase are a masterpiece of multicolor, perfectly combined with external decoration building.
"Old Russian" hall with a front staircase.
Extraordinarily beautiful doors
There are four of them in the hall and none of them are the same.
The fragment shows what the painting was originally. There is an idea to refresh the walls, which I don’t like at all.
We rise to the second floor. 
We open a massive door and ... we get from the Middle Ages into the interiors of Louis XV 
We make the transition from one century to another through the gallery in the Empire style. The reception of the exterior in the interior.
A finish commonly used for façade work. A mirror at the end of a hallway elongates the room endlessly.
From the side of the corridor, the door is the simplest, without finishing.
Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything about the interiors of the house. Therefore, I suggest looking at the photos and information
try to find it yourself, you might have better luck. 
Round, mirrored room. Very bright, flirty.
Hospitable hosts prepared tea and coffee for us.
View from the window to the balcony. 
A mosaic mansion, reminiscent of an old Russian tower, was built near the Kaluga outpost by a well-known industrialist Nikolai Igumnov.
The merchant Igumnov was a very rich man. So far on satellite map of Abkhazia in the village of Alakhadzi, one can distinguish his initials: “INV” - these are cypress alleys, figuratively planted a hundred years ago.
Nikolai Vasilyevich was a co-owner of the Yaroslavl Big Manufactory, had gold mines in Siberia. In 1888, he decided to equip his Moscow residence, which today houses the French embassy.
The place on Yakimanka was in no way considered prestigious at that time.
Dilapidated houses, far from the center.
Igumnov justified his choice by the fact that his childhood passed somewhere here (history did not preserve early biographical data, even the year of his birth is unknown). According to other legends, the remoteness from the center was required for privacy from prying eyes, because the house was not conceived for ordinary life.
Be that as it may, Igumnov bought a wooden house from a certain merchant Nikolai Lukyanov, demolished it and attracted a young talented city architect of Yaroslavl Nikolai Pozdeev for a new construction. The architect at that time had just turned 33, but in Yaroslavl he had already received recognition thanks to a number of solid buildings.
A house was built in the form of a fairy-tale palace in the pseudo-Russian style. Igumnov wanted to conquer the Mother See and did not skimp. Bricks for construction were brought to the construction site directly from Holland, tiles and tiles were ordered from Kuznetsov's porcelain factories, interior decoration was entrusted to one of the then most popular architects, Petr Boytsov. It was possible to unite into a single whole
the most diverse and complex components: turrets, tents, arches, columns.
The stylistic similarity of the mansion with the masterpiece of Moscow architecture of the same years, the State Historical Museum, is revealed. Today the building is an object of cultural heritage of federal significance, but initially the Moscow "light" reacted to the palace more than cool.
According to legend, the frustrated Igumnov refused to pay for everything that was not prepaid, after which the architect Pozdeev committed suicide.
According to another version, the architect died from serious illness at the age of 38. This project was his last work.
It's hard to say if it's related to tragic fate architect, but the Igumnov mansion has always been surrounded by gloomy legends. The most common of them says that the owner settled his mistress-dancer in this fabulous palace, and when he convicted her of treason, alive walled up the unfortunate in the wall.
Since then, her ghost allegedly roams the halls of the mansion, disturbing the peace of its inhabitants.
Who spread the rumors is unknown, but Igumnov's ill-wishers were very influential.
The place of exile chosen by the authorities was by no means a resort: the Abkhazian coast of the Sukhumi region was then swampy, teeming with malarial mosquitoes and poisonous snakes. Having looked around, the disgraced merchant bought 6,000 acres of local swamps for nothing and began a new life. The first successful business was created with the help of fishermen discharged from the Don. Igumnov mastered the trade and opened the first cannery on the Black Sea coast.
Comfortable living conditions were created for the workers: seasonal workers were provided with a hostel with rooms for two people and large smoking rooms, permanent workers received separate houses, which after a few years became their property.
Igumnov brought here eucalyptus and swamp cypress trees, which quickly pulled out excess moisture from local soils. Chernozem was delivered from the Kuban, pedigree cattle from Yaroslavl, the merchant became interested in gardening. Through his efforts, plantations of tangerines, kiwi, mango, tobacco appeared in these lands, the Abkhaz Bamboo enterprise began to work, and cypress alleys that have survived to this day appeared.
After the revolution, Nikolai Vasilyevich refused to emigrate to France.
He voluntarily transferred his property to the state and got a job as an agronomist at the citrus state farm named after the Third International, which became known as his former estate.
Nikolai Vasilyevich died in 1924, they buried him modestly, planting cypresses he loved on the grave.
History sometimes likes to grimace. If the emperor took away a house from a merchant for a ball on coins with his image, then after the revolution and nationalization, the building became for several years ... a club of the Goznak factory.
But already in 1925 the club was evicted, and people in white coats appeared in Igumnov's house. A laboratory for studying the brain of the deceased Vladimir Lenin began to work here. The German neuroscientist Oskar Vogt was invited to lead this institution. In 1928, the laboratory was elevated to the Brain Institute. Brains were studied here using a special technique, hoping to decipher the phenomenon of genius and create a superman. Scientists tried to find common patterns in the anatomical structure of those whom the authorities considered outstanding examples
human nature. In the mansion on Yakimanka, they began to actively collect the brains of prominent people. In 1934, Pravda wrote that "the scientific team
Institute prepared and is already studying the brains of Clara Zetkin, Lunacharsky, Tsyurupa, Mayakovsky, Andrei Bely, academician Gulevich. Soon this unique collection
replenished with the brain of director Stanislavsky, singer Sobinov, Maxim Gorky and Eduard Bagritsky, scientists Michurin, Pavlov, Tsiolkovsky, leaders of the revolution
Kalinin, Kirov, Kuibyshev, Krupskaya.
In 1938, the house passed into the possession of the French embassy.
In 1944, President Charles de Gaulle presented awards to the pilots of the Normandie-Niemen squadron here.
The Dutch brick building is still kept in perfect condition by the staff of the French diplomatic mission.
About the ghost of Igumnov's house.
Rumor has it that the so-called "white woman" is still found in the building of the French embassy. According to legend, this small mansion was presented by the merchant Igumnov to his kept woman. He himself lived in Yaroslavl, and visited the capital on short trips. He usually warned his lady of the heart about his arrivals through a sent servant. But one day he arrived without warning and found his beloved with a young cornet ... The owner kicked the cornet in the neck, but the girl then disappeared without a trace. There were rumors that the merchant in his hearts killed her, and the corpse was immured in the wall of the mansion.
According to another legend, his young stoker is to blame for everything. The guy allegedly began to flirt with the pretty daughter of a merchant, for which he was soon excommunicated forever from a rich house. True, this was not the end of the matter. Rumor claims that before leaving, the offended stoker secretly filled the chimneys with clay shards. As a result, when furnaces were heated in the palace-terem, the pipes and even the walls began to make terrible sounds (for some reason, especially at night), from which the owner suffered unbearably.
But back to the house. A pseudo-Russian style was chosen for the construction, which was very fashionable at that time (the Historical Museum, the building of the GUM store, etc.). This style of architecture drew inspiration from the image of Russian wooden towers, the most famous of which - the palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in Kolomenskoye - burned down in the 18th century.
Other decorative elements were taken from church architecture (St. Basil's Cathedral) or the churches of Yaroslavl, which perfectly combined brick, stone and multi-colored tiles.
On the high roof of the mansion there is crushed metal under the tiles, ceramic inserts. Above the "red porch" (the main entrance) there is an elegant semi-antique double arch.
Walls made of imported Dutch bricks. Window edging from white stone near Moscow. Picturesque bell towers, bulbous domes of tents, inflated columns. A multi-colored mosaic of the rarest tiles, specially painted according to the drawings of the Russian painter S. Maslennikov and made at the famous Kuznetsov factory.
Pozdeev's talent managed to combine various volumes crowned with picturesque tents and numerous decorative details of different genres (bells, vaulted arches, puffed columns, etc.) into a single whole. The result is harmonious, although a little massive.
The interior is also replete with decorations. The hall and the main staircase are a masterpiece of multi-colour, perfectly combined with the exterior decoration of the building.
"Old Russian" hall with a front staircase. 
Extraordinarily beautiful doors. There are four of them in the hall and none of them are the same.
Immediately behind the massive doors leading to the living room, the architect completely changes the style, and we are immersed in the classic decoration. Louis XV style furniture and magnificent 17th century tapestries emphasize the French spirit of this space. The small salon adjoining the living room is furnished in the Louis XVI style, and the small dining room is decorated with Empire style furniture and fabrics. The main dining room, very austere and sparsely furnished, bears the stamp of the Middle Ages, thanks to its low vaulted ceiling.
We make the transition from one century to another through the gallery in the Empire style. Reception "exterior in interior". A finish commonly used for façade work. The mirror at the end of the corridor elongates the room endlessly.
