Ekaterinhof

Categories / City Topography/Green Areas/Parks
EKATERINHOF, a country estate. Tsar Peter the Great presented it to his wife Ekaterina Alexeevna (the future Empress Catherine I) in 1711. It was situated on Ekaterinhofsky Island, on the bank of the Ekaterinhofka River (the first estate on Petergofskaya Road). In the same year, a wooden two-storied palace was constructed by an unknown architect), a canal was dug toward it from the side of the river, a small harbour was arranged in front of the facade. The palace was surrounded by a three hectares park. In the late 1710s, estates Annenhof and Elizavethof were erected for daughters of Peter I (later they merged with Ekaterinhof). Under Empress Anna Ioannovna, in 1737-38, the construction of the Hunting Park and a Menagerie was launched in Ekaterinhof, but all works stopped with her death. In 1747-49, the palace of Ekaterinhof was attached to two wings (parts of the wooden palace of Empress Anna Ioannovna moved from the Summer Garden) and thus considerably enlarged. In 1779, wings were demolished and the palace was returned its 18th century image. In the 18th-19th centuries, boating and people's festival were arranged annually in May in the region of Ekaterinhof. In 1800, Emperor Pavel I presented Ekaterinhof to his favourite A.P. Gagarina. In 1804, Ekaterinhof passed to the control of city authorities. In the 1820s, the territory of the park was extended up to the Petergofskaya Road, numerous garden pavilions (not preserved) and the Vauxhall (from the 1820s to 1860s, one of the centres of musical life of St. Petersburg, demolished in 1876) were constructed; a museum, displaying belongings of Peter the Great, objects of everyday life of the first quarter of the 18th century and a library (in 1850, they were transferred to Peter's Gallery in the Hermitage), was opened in the premises of the palace. Until the 1860s, the park of Ekaterinhof served as a favourite walking place for the aristocracy. In the 1840s-60s, a number of lots were built up with dachas (summer residences). From the 1870s, a number of industrial enterprises were constructed on a part of park territory (including Ekaterinhofskaya Cotton Mill). The surviving part of the park became a recreation place for workers of Narvskaya Zastava. After February Revolution of 1917, the palace housed the youth workers' club of Narvsko-Petergofsky District and the local organisation of Socialist Union of Working Youth. In 1924, the palace burnt down. In 1925-29, the territory was improved and drained. In 1930, the Park for Culture and Recreation was opened (in 1933, it was renamed May Day Park, in 1948 - Thirtieth Anniversary of All-Union Leninist Communist Youth League Park, since the early 1990s - Ekaterinhof Park). Liflyandskaya Street crosses the territory of Ekaterinhof. Ekaterinhof gave its name to Ekaterinhofsky Bridge.

References: Дубяго Т. В. Русские регулярные сады и парки. Л., 1963; Чеканова О. А. Застройка Петергофской дороги в первой четверти XVIII века // Вопросы архитектуры и графики: Докл. XXII науч. конф. Ленингр. инж.-строит. ин-та. Л., 1964. С. 59-62; Кормильцева О. М. Парк имени 30-летия ВЛКСМ // Сады и парки Ленинграда. Л., 1981. С. 84-98; Андреев А. И. Остров Екатерингоф // Невский архив: Ист.-краевед. сб. М., 1995. [Вып.] 2. С. 171-191.

O. A. Chekanova. Anna Ioannovna, Empress
Catherine I, Empress
Gagarina Anna Petrovna, Duchess
Paul (Pavel) I, Emperor
Peter I, Emperor
Дубяго Т. В. Русские регулярные сады и парки. Л., 1963
Чеканова О. А. Застройка Петергофской дороги в первой четверти XVIII века // Вопросы архитектуры и графики: Докл. XXII науч. конф. Ленингр. инж.-строит. ин-та. Л., 1964
Кормильцева О. М. Парк имени 30-летия ВЛКСМ // Сады и парки Ленинграда. Л., 1981
Андреев А. И. Остров Екатерингоф // Невский архив: Ист.-краевед. сб. М., 1995 Hermitage
Hermitage
February Revolution of 1917
1823
1924