The Radio House is an architectural monument in St. Petersburg, on Italianskaya street, 27.
Before the emergence of St. Petersburg, the area around the Moika and
Fontanka rivers was inhabited by the Finns and was called "Perusina"
(Finnish perus - land with solid ground). Peruzina occupied a site
bounded by the modern Fontanka and Moika embankments at their
confluence, the Griboedov Canal and a section of Nevsky Prospekt. This
estate was presented by Peter I to Empress Catherine. In 1711 - 1714,
Ekaterina Alekseevna built a palace on the site and began to cultivate a
vegetable garden, called the Third Summer (now Mikhailovsky) Garden. A
road was laid from the bridge across the Moika, which went in the
direction of the future Manezhnaya Square and ended approximately in its
place.
During the reign of Anna Ioannovna, the garden was
reconstructed for "chasing and shooting deer, wild boars and hares" and
was called "jagr-garten". The hunting garden occupied the area from the
Krivusha River (modern Griboyedov Canal) to the current Karavannaya
Street and Nevsky Prospekt.
During the reign of Elizabeth
Petrovna, at the confluence of the Moika and Fontanka, for the Empress,
according to the project of the architect B.F. Rastrelli built a large
wooden Summer Palace. (on the site of the modern Mikhailovsky Castle).
To the south of the palace, according to the project of Rastrelli, a
labyrinth garden was laid out. On both sides of the "street to the
Simeonovsky bridge" (future Karavannaya) was the Elephant Yard.
Under Emperor Pavel Petrovich, on the site of the palace of Elizabeth
Petrovna, according to the project of V.I. Bazhenov and V. Brenna, the
Mikhailovsky Castle was erected, to the south of which stable buildings
and an exercise house (manege) were built, which determined the northern
border of Manezhnaya Square. In 1823 - 1824. years architect K.I. Rossi
carried out the reconstruction of the Manege and the stables. As the
current Karavannaya and Italianskaya streets were built up, the southern
and eastern sides of the square were determined in the 1820s-1850s. In
1836 the square was named Mikhailovskaya.
On the site, which is
currently occupied by the House of Radio, in 1822 a stone three-story
house of the merchant P.P. Sutugin was built. Until 1869, his
descendants owned the house. In 1869, the house was purchased and
rebuilt by the merchant Ya. G. Vasiliev. In 1911, the St. Petersburg
Noble Assembly bought a plot with a house from his son S. Ya. Vasiliev.
(The Noble Assembly traces its history back to the Merchant Assembly
established in 1782. The formation of the assembly coincided with the
Independence Day of the North American United States (hence the other
name - the American Club). Later on, the name changed many times. Any
representative of the society, except for military officials, could be a
member of the assembly above a colonel).
In the same year, a
competition was announced through the St. Petersburg Society of
Architects for the design of the Noble Assembly House. According to the
terms of the competition, published in the journal "Architect", it was
required to design a four-story building with halls for public meetings,
a theater hall, living rooms, card rooms, canteens and buffets, a
library, a billiard room, and other premises for the club's activities.
The project of architects-artists N. L. Markov and F. M. Plyutsinsky won
the competition. But the construction of the House was entrusted not to
them, but to the Kosyakov brothers: Vasily (1862–1921), Vladimir
(1866–1922) and Georgy (1872–1925) Antonovich.
The four-storey
building is designed in neoclassical style. The main entrance is
highlighted solemnly: a wide loggia with order pilasters. Two main
staircases lead from the lobby to the second floor - to the foyer and
entrance hall. Club, service and auxiliary premises are arranged around
the theater hall. In the interior decoration, the authors used marble,
sculpture, decorative and narrative painting.
Construction began
in 1912. By 1914 the building of the Noble Assembly was completed. In
1915, in one of the halls on the second floor, the Church of St.
Nicholas the Wonderworker.
During the First World War, the
building housed a Japanese hospital for 200 people, where Japanese
doctors who arrived in Russia through the Red Cross worked and lived.
In 1918, the Petrograd Proletkult was located in the former house of
the Noble Assembly. From 1924 to 1938 the cinema "Colossus" worked here.
Since 1932, the Leningrad radio broadcasting station has been located in
this house. During the blockade of Leningrad, radio broadcasting did not
stop from here.
Leningrad radio did not interrupt its broadcast in the besieged city.
For Leningraders, the radio was the only source of information capable
of supporting people. Radio refuted fascist propaganda and talked about
the successes on the frontiers of the defense of Leningrad. As Olga
Bergholz said: “Nowhere did the radio mean so much as in our city during
the days of the war.”
In addition to Olga Berggolts, Vsevolod
Vishnevsky, Nikolai Tikhonov, Dmitry Shostakovich, Maria Yudina, Maria
Petrova, journalists Moisey Blumberg, Lazar Magrachev, Matvey Frolov and
others performed at the microphones of the Leningrad Radio during the
war.
Journalists from the Leningrad Radio went to the front to
record reports.
On August 9, 1942, the premiere of Dmitri
Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony took place, and Leningrad Radio
broadcast the concert from the Great Hall of the Leningrad Philharmonic.
Radio "Petersburg" and a recording studio, the Museum of the House of
Radio work in the building.
Since 2004, there has been a live
broadcast studio for the TV program "A Man in a Big City", later "Open
Studio" of Channel 5. From autumn 2017 to April 2022 "Open Studio"
channel 78.
A number of premises as rehearsal venues were
previously rented by musical groups of the city. The Variety Symphony
Orchestra of the Leningrad Television and Radio named after V.P.
Solovyov-Sedogo, later the Governor's Symphony Orchestra of St.
Petersburg, the Mikhailovsky Theater Orchestra, the St. Petersburg State
Academic Symphony Orchestra (SPb GASO) under the direction of Alexander
Titov, the Children's Choir of Television and radio of St. Petersburg
under the direction of Igor Gribkov, the Musical Theater of Children of
Marina Landa.
Since June 2019, Dom Radio has been the official
residence of the orchestra, choir and creative laboratory MusicAeterna
under the direction of conductor Teodor Currentzis.
At the
moment, almost all the premises of the House of Radio are managed by
MusicAeterna