The Fairy-tale House in Moscow

Overlooking the Moskva river, stands a funny house which differs from the rest by the variety of the forms and the richness of the decor. The house appeared in 1907, next to the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour on Prechistenskaya embankment. This residential apartment building is called Дом Перцова (Pertsov house) or as Muscovites call it дом-сказка (the Fairy-tale house).

The builder and the owner of the house was railway engineer Peter N. Pertsov (1857-1937). Pertsov was born in Kazan in an old noble family. His uncle, poet and satirist Erast Pertsov, was a friend of A. Pushkin.

The story of the Fairy-tale house began with an idea of Pertsov. Big fan of art, he decided to build an apartment house with residential apartments and workshops for artists. He also wanted чтобы здание само по себе было произведением искусства (the building to be a work of art itself), and своим внешним видом выражало бы самобытность русской культуры (its appearance to express the identity of Russian culture).

Big fan of the Old Russian style, Pertsov decided to build a house in the form of towers. Эскизы дома, а также декор и интерьеры делал художник Сергей Малютин — отец русской Матрёшки (the sketches of the house, as well as the decor and the interior was made by artist Sergei Malutin, the father of Russian Nesting Dolls).

From the outside, one notices straight away the asymmetrical arrangement of windows and balconies, and the bright and colorful motives decorating the house. These are Russian old-teremka style motives depicting images of the sun, bears, bulls, fishes or snakes.

So when walking by the Moskva River take a few minutes to have a look at this extraordinary house.