The Abamelek-Lazarev Manor House is an architectural landmark from the first half of the 19th century on Rozhdestvenskaya (No. 46), situated at the end of the street near Blagoveshchenskaya Square, at the foot of the descent from the pontoon bridge across the Oka. The building is a protected cultural heritage site and is associated with one of the wealthiest merchant dynasties of pre-revolutionary Russia.[1]
Family history and the Nizhny Novgorod property
The Lazarev family traces its history to the mid-18th century, when Lazar and Anna Lazarev moved to Russia from Iran and became leaders of the Armenian diaspora communities in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Their son Ovanes Lazarev gained influence in the highest circles and was closely acquainted with Grigory Potyomkin, Alexander Suvorov, Pyotr Rumyantsev, Grigory Orlov, Alexander Bezborodko, and Pyotr Vyazemsky. The Lazarevs allied by marriage with the Georgian princes Abamelek; a descendant of that union was the military commander Pyotr Bagration, who distinguished himself in the Patriotic War of 1812. After that war, the double surname Abamelek-Lazarev became firmly established in Russian history.[1]
The foundation of the family's fortune was the production and sale of iron. One of the family's trading offices was located in Nizhny Novgorod. In the mid-19th century the merchant owned a large plot of land at the foot of the pontoon bridge across the Oka; in 1844 the decision was made to construct a two-story stone house with cellars on the site. The design was commissioned from Nizhny Novgorod architect Afanasy Turmyshev. The façade was decorated with four pilasters of the Roman order and corner rustication; the first-floor windows were given ornamental surrounds.[1]
The last owner and his collections
The last member of the dynasty was Prince Semyon Abamelek-Lazarev (1857–1916) — a major landowner and mining magnate known for his passion for luxury and collecting. By 1914 his fortune had reached 45 million gold rubles; according to Forbes magazine he ranked fourth on the list of the thirty wealthiest entrepreneurs in pre-revolutionary Russia. Semyon Abamelek-Lazarev kept unique works of fine and applied art in his St. Petersburg apartment on the Moyka, at his Italian villa in the historic center of Rome, and in his Nizhny Novgorod house. To this day, legends circulate about what exactly was kept in the secret room of the Nizhny Novgorod manor.[1]
Current condition
The building at Rozhdestvenskaya, 46 has been designated a protected cultural heritage site and is counted among the historic landmarks of Rozhdestvenskaya Street — one of the city's streets with the greatest concentration of architectural monuments.[1]
Sources
- Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Bagration, Aivazovsky, and the secret room (archive)