Vargunin Family, entrepreneurs

Categories / Economy/Personalia
VARGUNIN FAMILY, entrepreneurs, former peasants of Yaroslavl Region. Ivan Grigorievich Vargunin (?-1826) was a stationery seller in St. Petersburg. His son Alexander Ivanovich (1807-1877) built Nevskaya Stationery Factory together with J. Gobbert in 1839-40, reorganised into Bumaga Joint-Stock Company in 1994 and located at 54 Oktyabrskaya Embankment. He was a member of the Literary Fund and an honorary member of the Council of the House of Mercy and Apprenticeship for Poor Children, and the Council of St. Petersburg Commercial School. He donated money to publish 12 volumes of the Reference Encyclopaedia edited by A. Kray and A. V. Starchevsky in 1847-55. He and his brother Pavel Ivanovich (1812-1880) founded The Vargunin Brothers Partnership of the Nevskaya Stationery Factory in 1871, and his son Konstantin Alexandrovich (1839-1920s) was the head of the company from 1878. Konstantin Alexandrovich was a member of the board of St. Petersburg Discount and Loan Bank from 1890 and the chairman of the board from 1908, member of the Trade and Manufactory Council in the Ministry of Finance, of the Council of the Society for Assistance to Russian Industry and Trade, and of St. Petersburg City Industrial Board. He lived in his father's house at 8 Karavannaya Street, in a mansion at 45 Znamenskaya Street in the 1880s, a mansion built by architect A. P. Gemilian, assisted by V. A. Hartman, in 1857-59, and at 6 Zapasny Lane, Pavlovsk from 1915. A mansion was built upon his request by architect A. I. von Gogen at 52 Furshtatskaya Street in 1896-99, which has served as the Palace of Wedding since 1963. He emigrated after October 1917. His elder brother Ivan Alexandrovich Vargunin (1835-1898) was a founding member of St. Petersburg Discount and Loan Bank in 1869 and Volzhsko-Kamsky Bank in 1870 and was also known as a collector of art. Another of his brothers, Evgeny Alexandrovich Vargunin (1842-1890) founded a chemical plant in the settlement of Smolenskoe near Nevskaya Zastava, which gave its name to Vargunin Street nearby (not preserved to this day). His brother Nikolay Alexandrovich Vargunin (1850-1897) was a hereditary honorary citizen, member of St. Petersburg City Duma in 1881-93 and the Duma's Public Education Committee, and director of the board in Nevsky Chemical Plant Company founded in 1892. The Vargunov family built a residential house for the workers of their factory in 1867 (today, 2 Novoselov Street), opened a church nearby in 1868, arranged elementary schools for children of workers of Nevskaya Zastava, including a school in the settlement of Farforovskoe in 1879 and Sunday night schools for adults in 1883, including a school in the settlement of Smolenskoe (today, 107 Obukhovskoy Oborony Avenue), and public libraries. They also founded Nevskoe Public Entertainment Company in 1891.

Reference: Величко М. С. Н. А. Варгунин: Биогр. очерк. СПб., 1903; Дубин А. С. Варгунины - промышленники и благотворители // Из глубины времен: Альм. СПб., 1997. Вып. 9. С. 160-172; Дубин А. С., Кириков Б. М. Особняк Варгунина. СПб., 1997. С. 84-105.

V. S. Solomko. Gemilian A.P.
Gobbert J.
Gogen Alexander Ivanovich von
Hartman Viktor Alexandrovich
Kray A.
Starchevsky Adalbert-Voitekh Vikentievich
the Vargunins
Vargunin Alexander Ivanovich
Vargunin Evgeny Alexandrovich
Vargunin Ivan Alexandrovich
Vargunin Ivan Grigorievich
Vargunin Konstantin Alexandrovich
Vargunin Nikolay Alexandrovich
Vargunin Pavel Ivanovich
Furshtatskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 52
Karavannaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 8
Novoselov St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 2
Obukhovskoy Oborony Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 107
Oktyabrskaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 54
Vosstaniya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 45
Величко М. С. Н. А. Варгунин: Биогр. очерк. СПб., 1903
Дубин А. С. Варгунины - промышленники и благотворители // Из глубины времен: Альм. СПб., 1997
Дубин А. С., Кириков Б. М. Особняк Варгунина. СПб., 1997 Literary Fund
St. Petersburg Discount and Loan Bank
Ministry of Finance
Ministry of Finance
City Duma