Gostiny Dvor was built on the place of the original Old Gostiny Dvor was located from the beginning of the XVII century. An outstanding Petersburg architect J. Kvarengy (an Italian by birth) designed the complex in 1789.
Moscow architects S. A. Karin and I. A. Selekhov converted that project into a fact. They also adjusted the architecture of the building to the peculiarities of the relief of the plot.
The author of the Bolshoi Theater I. O. Bove took part at the final stages of constructing the building. The huge trade centre formed in the plan an improper quadrangle with rounded corners and a large yard for loading the goods.
The building consists of narrow shops stretched from the yard to the street. The walls of the complex are decorated with Corinthian order with a simplified cornice and a two-storeyed arcade.
The columns in the yard are substituted for pilasters. Kvarengy designed the building in Petersburg and had no exact data about the relief of the plot at his disposal.
That fact adversely affected the overfall in the plinth of the construction and that aroused some of difficulties.
Walls and columns are plastered and coated with two colours. After 1917 a number of different casual offices occupied the centre. They caused great damage to the beautiful building. At present an authorized team from Mosproject-2 headed by V. Kuzmin began the restoration of the original appearance of the building
District: Downtown
Address: 4, Ilinka St., Moscow
Underground: Kitay-gorod (Kaluzhsko-Rizhskoy linii)
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Culture and Art 