Igmunov House (Дом Игмунова)
In addition to your sightseeing list, whenever you visit Moscow, I recommend you to visit the Igmunov House located in Bolshaya yakimanka street (Большая Якиманка ул.) that now hosts the residence of French Ambassadors.
Its owner, Nikolai Vasilyevich Igumnov (Николай Василевич Игумнов), owner of one of the largest factories in Yaroslavl (Ярославл) wanted to build a mansion that could reflect his social status like a mirror and for this; he gave the duty to the prestigious architect Nikolai Pozdeyev (Николай Поздеев), who designed a palace featuring ceramic decoration, friezes, festoons and columns that gave a Slavic medieval style.
The author of this project took inspiration from the wooden palaces and churches in Yaroslavl, he designed a multicolor façade, the bricks were brought from Netherlands, and the interior of the house has an empire style mansion in order to please Igumnov. The construction period took ten years, from 1883 to 1893, that caused a lot of expenses up to the point that Igumnov could not overrun to its architect and took him to bankrupt and finally led to his suicide.
In 1917, after October’s revolution, the building was occupied by a communal club, medical institutions and finally in 1938 the French embassy established there. In August 2007, a state organization in charge of embassy buildings restoration, offered a renovation so this place could be opened to visitors once a year, on the International Museum day which is usually taking place on May 18th.
