Number 74 is the last house of the aristocratic English Embarkment in Saint Petersburg.  In the early years of life of the young capital of the Russian Empire, the first Embarkment, and the center of the sophisticated court, was the English one.   Even in these early years, various artists were attracted to depict in paintings the austere and dignified beauty of the palaces rising, one after the other, upon the powerful, Neva River. 

It would appear at first that the third son of the Demidov family founder, the well-known manufacturer, Nikita Nikitich Demidov  (1688-1758), brother to Akinfy, was not at all ready to settle in Peter the Great’s dreamed capital.   According to a decree of the Emperor, the plot of land corresponding to House Number 10 was allotted to Nikita Nikitich. He attempted several ways to delay the construction until in 1736 Anna Ivanovna issued an especial edict summoning him from the Ural Mountains to finally erect his palace.

The Demidoff family has many ties and connections with important locations in and around Moscow, among them, the magnificent House in Povarskaya Street, a graded building, and one of the most beautiful aristocratic houses of Moscow.  The house belonged to the family of their close relatives, Count Alexey Vasilievich Olsoufieff (1831—1915) and his wife, Countess Alexandra Andreevna (1846—1929, née Miklashevsky).

Our interior design firm, E.S.S.E. Design & Decoration (Ekaterina Tihaya-Tischenko and Svetlana Shervarli), was honoured by the invitation to decorate the interiors of the House in Povarskaya Street and to bring it back to its glory in its new role as a restaurant and private members club.

There are four versions of the Abamelek-Lazarev Palace in Saint Petersburg, the last one pertaining to its last private owner, the legendary beauty, Moina, or Maria Pavlovna, née Demidoff, Princess of San Donato (1877-1955). Maria was the second daughter of Princess Elena Petrovna (1853-1917) and Pavel Pavlovitch Demidoff, 2nd Prince of San Donato (1839-1885).  Maria, like her elder sister, Aurora, was born in Kyiv from the time that their father was twice-elected mayor of the city of Kyiv.

From the memoirs of Nadine Wonlar-Larsky, née Nabokova, “The Russia That I Loved”, who spent her happiest days in Russia in the Nabokov mansion located next to the Demidov mansion.
In a city renowned by the otherworldly luxury of her private residences and architectural sophistication, the palace on number 43 of the Bolshaya Morskaya truly stands out for the Italianate early baroque stone and marble facade. One of the most prestigious addresses in the capital, the quiet residential street boasted the Fabergé atelier and residence and, neighbouring it, we would find the mansions of Polovtsov, Nabokov and, directly across the Moika Canal, the Yusupov. To stand out in that street was not easy but the house is certainly impressive and, in style, rather unique, quite like a Roman Palazzo transported from Northen Venice stone-by-stone.

Elim Pavlovich Demidov, 3rd Prince of San Donato (1868-1943), was the only son of Princess Maria Meshcherskaya and Pavel Pavlovich Demidov, 2nd Prince of San Donato. Due to his mother passing away tragically only two days after his birth, the Prince grew extremely close to the Finnish legendary beauty, Aurora Karamzina, his paternal grandmother. The exquisite lady brought him up and showered a consistent stream of love on her grandson. The ancient lineage and proximity to Aurora had the inevitable result: Elim was effortlessly dashing, tall, and every inch an Russian Aristocrat. Everything in his person spoke of centuries of refinement. In 1890, he graduated with a silver medal from the Alexander Imperial Lyceum, becoming a ‘Kamer Junger’ at Court and passing then to work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Five years earlier, aged only 18, his father had died, leaving also as issue from his second marriage with Princess Elena Petrovna Trubetskaya, six half-sisters and brothers.

Maria Pavlovna (1877-1955) was only eight years old when she lost her father, Paul Pavlovitch Demidov, 2nd Prince of San Donato.   Paul Pavlovitch died, aged only 45, from a liver ailment in 1885 at Villa Demidoff in Pratolino, Italy.  Following the passing of her husband, Princess Elena Petrovna Demidova (1853-1917 ) returned to Kiev, bringing her four young children with her.   Princess Elena eventually would settle permanently in Odessa. 

In late 1896, Prince S.S. Abamelek-Lazarev, was nearly 40 years old and had steadfastly led a life consumed with fulfilling his many public and private work responsibilities.  This left little, if any, time for frivolity.  However with Christmas approaching in 1896, one of his younger sisters, Countess Elizaveta Semenovna Olsufieva (1866-1934), unexpectedly paid him visit at his mansion in St. Petersburg.