Polovtsov House

The Polovtsov House in St. Petersburg was built in 1857 by architect Alexander Pel based on the mansion of Prince Sergey Gagarin, erected in 1836. Under Pel, the building acquired a luxurious main staircase, and at different times, R. I. Kuzmin, Nikolai Bryullov, and Maximilian Messmacher worked on its interiors. The Bronze Hall got its name due to the abundance of bronze in its decoration and cladding made of more than 11 types of marble, while carved oak panels for the Large Library were ordered from a Florentine workshop and delivered to Russia in 1873. After the revolution, the building avoided looting, however, by 1934, furniture, paintings, and carpets had been removed from it.