8/1 Prechistenka street
This small Prechistenka town estate has a very rich history. Colonel J.J. Protasova was in the possession of this territory in the XVIII century. Stone chambers were standing here on the red line of the street in 1752. It was rebuilt twice and built up later on and kept up to date included in a modern building. Princess S.I. Volkonskaya owned an extensive property that occupied half of the quarter in 1794. Moscow merchant Stepan Milyakov, and after his death - the widow M.A.Milyakova owned the estate since 1809. The plot was divided into three separate properties in the 1860. Sons of merchant A.M.Istomin Nicholas and Michael, who lived in the apartments of the top two floors of the main house, consisting of 10 and 9 rooms were the last owners of the estate in 1892-1917. Apartment of the seven rooms at the ground floor was rented.
Information about residents of the estate preserved in the address and reference book "All Moscow“as of 1915.
· Istomin Alexandra Nikolaevna - " Golutvinskaya weaving manufactory of Central Asian and domestic products ", cloth ;
· Istomin Lidia - " Khamovnicheskaya urban guardianship of the poor, society benefits for poor listeners Institute of Commerce ",
· Istomin Mikhail, the son of Alexis and Alexandra Nikolaevna, I Petersburg merchant guild, a board member of the"Society Golutvinskaya weaving manufactory ", and after the death of his father - the director of the"Society... ", treasurer of the "Ladies guardianship of the poor society to benefit poor students commercial institution."
Alexandra Nikolaevna, the wife of Alexey Mikhailovich became a board member of the partnership after the death of her husband. She coped with purely a man's job successfully and donated 10,000 rubles for the construction of an orphanage to the Moscow municipal public administration in 1910. It was a huge amount of money at that time. For the comparison, a prestigious private residence with the courtyard buildings cost about 30 thousand rubles, and the royal family, for example, donated five thousand rubles a year to the needs of OSVOD. And this amount was considered a more than generous and reasonable.
In 1921 the company was renamed to "Red textile worker." Mikhail continued to work at the factory as a treasurer until 1924 doing an accountant work.
After the revolution Istomins remained in their estate, located between Prechistenka and Gagarinsky lane. The main house overlooking the very Prechistenka, with the front garden, front door and main gate. The fence and the gate went out to Gagarinsky lane. Coach-houses and a lodge were adjoin to house number 6. Lodge came into complete disrepair in 1920s, and the janitor had to move to the ground floor of the main house, splitting it with another family (Istomins were condensed of course). Istomins occupied a number of rooms in the main house.
Even the bathroom on the second floor of the house was transformed into a residential room. Office, library and a servant’s room became apartments. Istomins were finally evicted from the former their house at Prechistenka after the war.
The fate of the carriage house is interesting. It was converted to a residence in the 1920s. Painter, at the time director of the Central Restoration shops in Moscow, Igor Emmanuilovich Grabar, Marina Tsvetaeva, poet, the author of works on the theory of verse Nicholas Aseyev, renowned scholar and linguist, author of the dictionary, a handbook of every self-respecting home - Sergey Ozhegov visited the house frequently. Ozhegov, by the way, having moved from St. Petersburg to Moscow, lived not far from the house on Prechistenke - in a communal apartment on 3/ 5 Smolensky Boulevard. During the war he became the director of the Institute of Language and Literature, Academy of Sciences of the USSR. He was going to work every day via deserted Prechistenskie alleys...
Having survived the war, the coach house changed owners again. Since 1980, it housed children and parent club -workshop "The Lefty." A part of the merchant Istomin’s urban estate was bought for the needs of a company in 1995. Kids club was evicted, and the coach house was demolished. The main house, fortunately, was not sold and survived. Its facade decided in an eclectic style, with a balcony on the second floor is an integral part of the historical development of Prechistenka.