Published on: 2026-10-08
Source: Moscow Government – Правительства Москвы –
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In Moscow, the restoration of the facades of the “Praga” restaurant building on Arbat Street (house 2/1) has begun. It holds the status of a cultural heritage site of regional significance. This was reported by the head of the Moscow Department of Cultural Heritage (Mosgornasledie). Alexey Emelyanov.
“The building of the Prague restaurant on Arbat is an architectural landmark and a significant Moscow monument of history and culture. Its appearance was shaped by outstanding architects, and the halls were once visited by Ivan Bunin, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Fyodor Chaliapin, and others. Now, the long-awaited restoration of the facades has begun, with work carried out in stages. First, it affected the first floor, where specialists cleared surfaces, eliminated cracks, restored the finishing, and are returning the original color discovered during the research. The restorers have yet to restore the historical appearance of the legendary Prague as of 1954,” said Alexey Emelyanov.
During the scientific research, specialists studied all the finishing layers of the facades. This made it possible to establish the original color — grayish-blue. Currently, at the level of the first floor, the facades are being painted in the historical shade. After that, scaffolding will be installed along the entire height of the building.
The craftsmen will have to dismantle the structures of the late canopy, the glazed gallery extension on the fourth floor, the porch, and the glass filling of the former entrance arch.
Specialists will restore the preserved and reconstruct the lost brass window opening handrails, the brackets of the central bay window of the northeast facade, and fragments of the plinth cladding with granite slabs.
Special attention will be paid to the architectural plaster decor. Restorers will restore the corner entrance group’s flower pots, the bay window brackets, the bas-reliefs of rectangular niches above the window openings, the inter-floor molding belts, and the crowning cornices. The decor will be cleaned of later paint layers, then poor-quality repair inserts will be removed, preserved elements will be reinforced, and losses will be replenished.
At the level of the fourth floor, the balustrades of the galleries and arched window openings, the bases and capitals of the square columns and the columns of the Tuscan order of the semicircular rotunda will be recreated. In addition, specialists will uncover historic door openings and restore lost lamps with glass shades.
At the level of the sixth floor, the lost decorative finials of the turret dome will be recreated. The destroyed and dilapidated elements of the metal lantern will also be replaced, and the spire of the rotunda dome with decorative forging will be restored.
All work is carried out under the supervision of specialists Moscow Heritage Department based on the approved project and the issued permit.
History of the building
Modern households on Arbat and New Arbat streets in the last quarter of the 18th century formed a single estate belonging to the Moscow merchant of the first guild, Ivan Pivovarov. In 1794, the construction of a stone state drinking house began here, to replace the wooden state drinking house located nearby on Povarskaya Street.
The formation of the estate dates back to the early 19th century, when a two-story stone building with a semicircular corner projection was erected at the intersection of Arbat and Povarskaya streets. It became the foundation of the property, which has maintained important urban planning significance for the block over three centuries and highlights the view onto Arbat Square. In 1817, construction of the stone building on the site of a wooden one began; it was attached to the corner building and completed in 1825.
In 1870, the property was acquired by Ivan Firsanov, a first guild Moscow merchant, and from 1882 to 1903, the estate was owned by his daughter Vera Ganetskaya. In 1870, a complex of shops and a wooden shed in the courtyard were demolished. The bypass galleries, which were previously wooden and stood on stone pillars, were completely rebuilt in brick up to the third floor.
Until 1897, the buildings were hardly altered. On the ground floor of the building on Arbat Street, there were shops, each with its own separate entrance. The upper floor was occupied by residential rooms with an enfilade layout. In the wing facing Povarskaya Street, a tavern continued to operate. Since 1896, the establishment had the name “Prague.”
In 1907, the building was acquired by the owner of the “Prague” restaurant, merchant Semyon Petrovich Tararykin. At his order, in 1906 architect Lev Kekushev added additional floors and expanded the mansion, created a new entrance, and fundamentally changed the interior space. Instead of a large hall with dozens of tables, a winter garden and 15 separate halls and private rooms, decorated in different styles, appeared. After this, the building was finally adapted for the restaurant.
The main finishing of the facades and interiors of the “Prague” restaurant was carried out during the reconstruction of 1913–1915 according to the design of architect Adolf Erichson. In 1913 and 1914, he decorated the facade facing Arbat and part of the facade facing Povarskaya Street in the style of St. Petersburg Art Nouveau. At that time, the corner turret and stucco decoration appeared, and both floors received rustication.
In 1915, according to Erichson’s design, the entrances and windows of the first floor were remodeled to resemble storefronts. A granite plinth appeared. The roof was transformed into a flat terrace with open pavilion galleries. Around the entire perimeter of the third floor ran a concrete colonnade with a balustrade. Part of the colonnade above the bay windows on Arbat was decorated with porticos featuring arched openings. The facade facing Povarskaya Street (now New Arbat Street) was designed by the architect similarly to the Arbat facade. The interior of the building has preserved a series of interconnected rooms.
Another construction period dates back to the 1950s, when the building was reconstructed according to the project of architect Boris Sobolevsky. All facades received a more restrained treatment — the decor was significantly simplified. In the interior, the main rooms, except for the halls, were faced with marble; some decorative elements, including light fixtures and hardware products, were preserved. The building’s purpose did not change during the Soviet era.
At different times, “Praga” was visited by Sergei Yesenin, Marina Tsvetaeva, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Vladimir Gilyarovsky, Ilya Repin, Mikhail Bulgakov, and other famous cultural figures.
The famous pastry chef of the Moscow restaurant “Prague”, Vladimir Guralnik, created the well-known “Prague” and “Bird’s Milk” cakes here during the Soviet era.
The restaurant “Prague” is featured in the 1976 film adaptation of the work “The Twelve Chairs.” It is here that the film’s character Ippolit Matveyevich Vorobyaninov took Liza for lunch.
In 2018, the building was closed pending restoration. Before that, the restaurant had 10 halls: “Moscow”, “Embassy”, “Column”, “Kremlin”, “Arbat”, “Royal”, “Eastern”, “Japanese”, “Brazilian”, and “European”. The first six were located on the second floor, the rest on the fourth.
Today, the facades, which were formed over several construction periods, have mostly preserved the compositional design and architectural-artistic decoration of 1954 in classical forms. The rounded corner section at the fourth-floor level is topped with a semi-rotunda featuring Tuscan columns and a balustrade.
Behind the half-rotunda at the level of the fifth and sixth floors is the building’s height accent — a corner turret topped with a dome featuring a metal lantern and spire. On the sides of the rounded corner part are two decorative concrete planters from 1954, adorned with acanthus leaves, on smooth rectangular pedestals.
Photographs and other information about Moscow’s cultural heritage are posted in the “Cultural Heritage” section of the city media bank “Mosfoto”.
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On the page “Architecture and Construction” Information is presented about the large-scale renewal of the capital over the past 16 years. Here you can learn about the construction of roads and rail framework stations, as well as the creation of transfer hubs. Special attention is paid to the renovation program, and you can also find out about the restoration of iconic objects of the capital, in particular the House of Culture “GES-2”, the Northern River Terminal, and VDNH.
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