Published on: 2026-08-31
Source: Moscow Government – Правительства Москвы –
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Work has begun to preserve the main house of the Grachevka estate, located in Khovrino on Klinskaya Street (property 2). This is a cultural heritage site of federal significance. Currently, specialists have installed scaffolding and started cleaning the facades, restoring the rafter system and roofing (including using slate), as well as recreating the windows and doors. All work is being carried out under the supervision of the city authorities Department of Cultural Heritage.
“The main house of the Grachevka estate is a unique architectural monument. A special impression is made by the rich decoration of the estate’s facades, the figures of caryatids on the corner and lower terraces, as well as eight figures of reclining lions adorning the parapets of the stairway landings. Inside, fireplaces with marble portals and mirrors, bronze chandeliers, and wall sconces have been preserved. The ceremonial halls are decorated with columns, stucco, and mirrors. With the estate’s transfer to the ownership of Moscow, the possibility of its restoration by the city forces has arisen, giving the architectural monument a chance for a new life,” noted the head of the Department of Cultural Heritage of the City of Moscow.
In addition, specialists carefully dismantled the figures of lions and caryatids. They have now been moved to restoration workshops to recreate the lost elements.
History of the estate
The estate has a very rich history. In 1700, Peter I granted these lands to his closest associate Fyodor Golovin. In the early 1750s, at the request of Countess Sofya Golovina, the first stone church was built in Khovrino in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “The Sign.” Under the Golovins, the foundation of the estate’s regular layout was established. They also planted a linden park and a fruit garden.
The estate acquired its modern appearance after 1895, when Khovrino was purchased by Mitrofan Grachev, a first guild Moscow merchant. At his commission, architect Lev Kekushev built an exquisite main house, a two-story northern service wing, a carriage shed, and a stable.
The main house of the estate belongs to the early period of Kekushev’s work. Its source of inspiration was the romantic architecture of European buildings and suburban St. Petersburg villas of the mid-19th century, from which the asymmetrical composition, the absence of axial dominants, and balconies-terraces with caryatids were borrowed.
The connection to nature is maintained by an open terrace-podium with stairs, a balustrade, flower pots, statues, and lions. The expressiveness of the historic building is enhanced by the order and stucco, and a distinctive feature of the exterior decor is the wide use of spelter—a tin, lead, and zinc alloy popular in the architecture of the turn of the 19th–20th centuries.
The interiors have preserved the lavish decoration in the vestibule and two halls of the parade enfilade. In the central part of the estate is a two-story dance hall: its oval mirrors along with the reflections of the molded ceiling create the illusion of boundless space. The picturesque ceiling plafon of the large hall is one of the few surviving elements of the luxurious interiors from the turn of the 19th–20th centuries. Here is also a marble fireplace decorated with female heads, shells, and foliage ornamentation. The parade bedroom stands out with delicate molding in the style of early classicism featuring pilasters, panels, and medallions in profile, while the vestibule, more austere, is adorned with caryatids supporting the beam at the staircase. The decoration is completed by paneled doors, bronze chandeliers, oak parquet flooring in the enfilade, and Metlakh tiles in the vestibule.
Mitrofan Grachev did not live to see the completion of the main house; he died in 1899. The construction was finished by his widow, Varvara Nikolaevna. She managed all affairs together with their son. Under their care, the estate became a popular place of rest. Writers Alexei Tolstoy and Vladimir Gilyarovsky, poet Valery Bryusov, and artist Kirill Lemokh visited Grachevka. The Grachev family owned the estate until the revolution.
At the end of 1947, the Grachevka estate and the park were transferred to the Moscow Regional Clinic of Physical Treatment Methods. In 2025, the estate became the property of Moscow.
Photographic materials and other information about Moscow’s cultural heritage are also available in the new “Cultural Heritage” section in the city the media bank “Mosphoto”.
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