Petrovka Street is one of the main and oldest streets in the center of Moscow. It is in the Central administrative district of the city in the territory of the Tverskoy district. Passes from Theater Square (the beginning of the numbering of houses) to Sredny Karetny Lane.
The street got its name from the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery, founded at the end of the 14th century. The word “Petrovka” has been used since the beginning of the 17th century and has never changed since then, which is considered a rarity for the historic streets of the center of Moscow.
In the 19th century, Petrovka became one of the main shopping streets in Moscow. In the XVIII century, the street began to be intensively built up – in the second half of the century, mansions of the Moscow nobility appeared here.
Despite some reconstructions of the 20th century that changed the architectural ensemble of the street, many remarkable historical buildings have been preserved on Petrovka.
Petrovka Street runs from southeast to northwest between Neglinnaya and Bolshaya Dmitrovka Streets. In the initial section, it intersects with Kuznetsky Most Street. Towards the end, it crosses the Boulevard Ring at Petrovsky Gate Square between Strastnoy and Petrovsky Boulevards. After a short section behind the Boulevard Ring, it turns into Karetny Ryad Street.
Starting from the second half of the 18th century, the estates of the nobility began to appear on Petrovka: the courtyard of Prince V.F. Sibirsky (opposite the Bolshoi Theater), the Vorontsov-Raevsky estate, the estate of Prince Shcherbatov, the Buturlins’ mansion. In 1790, M. F. Kazakov completely rebuilt the estate of the merchant Gubin.
In 1824, the modern building of the Bolshoi Theater was built at the beginning of the street.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the importance of Petrovka as a shopping street grew even more. In 1898, the house and shop of the wine trading company Despres were built. In 1906 the Petrovsky Passage was built. In 1908, the Muir and Maryliz store was later transformed into the Central Department Store (TSUM).
There is one state museum in Petrovka:
The Moscow Museum of Modern Art was founded in 1999 by Z. Tsereteli. It is in Gubin’s mansion’s architectural monument at the end of the 18th century. Next to the museum, there is an open-air sculpture exposition.
Notable buildings
Bolshoi Theater (No. 1). The building of the Bolshoi Theater overlooks Petrovka with a side facade. In 1776, Prince P. V. Urusov began the construction of a theater named after Petrovsky Street.
TSUM building (No. 2). In 1908, a large store of the Muir and Maryliz company was built here according to the project of R. I. Klein.
House of Khomyakovs (No. 3). In the 18th century, the property of the princes Shcherbatovs with wooden mansions was located here, which at the end of the century passed to the old noble family of Khomyakovs and belonged to them until 1918. The surviving three-story building was designed around 1824, probably according to the project of O. I. Bove. The poet and philosopher A. S. Khomyakov, one of the founders of Slavophilism, lived in the house.
Profitable house of I. The corner building at the crossroads with Kuznetsky Most. I. Vorontsova – I. G. Evdokimov – Z. I. Shorina (No. 6/7/9). According to Moscow historian P.V. Sytin, it was built in 1821 on the parapet of the former bridge across the Neglinnaya, which gave the name to Kuznetsky Most Street.
House Despres (No. 8). The home of the Despres family, French wine merchants. It was built in 1900 by architect R.I. Klein on the site of an older building that belonged to the same family.
Petrovsky Passage (No. 10). The building of the famous Moscow store – Petrovsky Passage, opened in 1906 at the expense of V. I. Firsanova (at the time of opening, it was called “Firsanovsky Passage”).
The former estate of the Vorontsov-Raevskys (No. 12-16). The estate, built in the 18th century, belonged to Count I. I. Vorontsov and later to the Raevsky family. The central building was redesigned many times, the last time in 1951 by architects P. P. Shteller, V. V. Lebedev and I. V. Sherwood to house the Ministry of Food Industry of the RSFSR.
Profitable house of the insurance company “Anchor” on Petrovka. It was built in 1905 by architect Otton (Otto) von Dessin.
Manor Kiryakov (No. 23). The horseshoe-shaped estate of the merchant Kiryakov was built at the end of the 18th century. A student of M. F. Kazakov built the main house of the estate. Later side wings were attached to it.
Gubin City Estate (No. 25). Gubin’s city estate is one of the street’s main attractions. M. F. Kazakov designed the building for the Ural breeder M. P. Gubin, becoming one of the best examples of Moscow classicism.
Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery (No. 28). The territory of the former male Vysoko-Petrovsky monastery occupies a whole block. The first mention of it dates to 1377.
Novo-Ekaterininskaya Hospital (No. 15/29). In 1776, according to the project of M. F. Kazakov, the estate of Prince S. V. Gagarin was built on the corner of Petrovka and Strastnoy Boulevard. The building is one of the masterpieces of classicism, its mighty twelve-column portico is one of the largest in Moscow. In 1802-1812 it housed the “English Club.”
The building of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for Moscow (No. 38). The property, already located behind the Petrovsky Gates, belonged to Prince Shcherbatov since the 18th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, the estate was a two-story building with side wings. In 1952-1958, the building was built according to the project of the architect B. S. Mezentsev. The phrase “Petrovka, 38” has become a household name as the designation of the Criminal Investigation Department.
Modern Petrovka continues the historical traditions of a shopping street with many shops and hotels. There are some shopping centers – the above-described Central Department Store, Petrovsky Passage and “Berlinsky Dom” (No. 5) – and expensive boutiques (houses No. 6, 11, 15, 19, 26).
In 1998, one of the new expensive Moscow hotels “Marriott Royal Aurora” (No. 11) opened its doors in Petrovka. Of the once numerous hotels in Petrovka, only “Budapest” (No. 18) has survived.
Nearest metro:
Very close to the beginning of the street, there are metro stations “Kuznetsky Most,” “Teatralnaya,” “Lubyanka,” “Okhotny Ryad,” and “Revolution Square.”
Near the end of the street – Tverskaya, Chekhovskaya, Pushkinskaya, Tsvetnoy Boulevard, Trubnaya.
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