Nemirov-Kolodkin. N.V. Nemirov-Kolodkin - Russian philanthropist, manufacturer and jeweler Nemirov Kolodkin

In the 1950s, a golden candlestick was found in the ventilation of one of the rooms in this building - a reminder that there was originally a jewelry factory here. AT Soviet years in this house there was a leather and footwear technical school, a hostel and an institute for advanced training of engineering and technical workers.

Factory of gold and silver products

The red-brick house on Malaya Ordynka Street is a typical example of eclecticism at the end of the 19th century. Built as a factory building for jewelry production, after 1917 it had a completely different fate.

The city owes the appearance of this elegant house in Zamoskvorechye to two people - Nemirov and Kolodkin. Both died long before its construction, but without them there would be neither a factory nor a wonderful jewelry company that made a great contribution to Russian jewelry art.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Nemirov was a Vologda citizen. He came to Moscow in his youth, having already learned the art of silversmithing. Ivan Ivanovich Kolodkin, a Moscow merchant, had a small jewelry business and a trading shop. He took Nemirov to his clerk. The Kolodkins did not have their own children, and the young, efficient, honest Nikolai Nemirov, who had worked for the company for many years, became the heir to the merchant, and received, in addition, a double surname. In 1868, the Moscow Magistrate approved the petition of Nikolai Vasilievich from now on to be called Nemirov-Kolodkin. Since that time, the formation and development of the jewelry company Trading House “N.V. Nemirov-Kolodkin”, which became famous not only in Russia, but also in Europe. Her products are now in many museums of the country and in private collections.

Back in the 1850s, Nikolai Vasilyevich married the merchant's daughter Darya Artemievna, for whom he received a large dowry. Having added his wife's funds to his savings, in 1872 he opened his first small factory. Nemirov-Kolodkin and his wife lived in own house on B. Ordynka, the factory was nearby. People were needed to manage it, and the spouses (they also did not have children) decided to invite Nikolai Vasilyevich's nephews from Vologda. These were Alexander and Nikolai Nikolaevich Druzhinins, Ivan Alexandrovich Lapin and Alexei Nikolaevich Davydov. They all settled in their uncle's house and became clerks.

The high artistic and technical level of products produced by Nemirov-Kolodkin was noticed by the Moscow Palace Office. Since 1876, she began to regularly place orders for silver utensils for the Moscow imperial palaces at the firm. Things were going well, and by the 1880s, the trading house owned not only a factory, but also a store on Ilyinka, several shops in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod.

Nikolai Vasilievich did not forget about charity: he donated to educational institutions, to an almshouse for blind poor women, which he bequeathed to arrange in his house after his death. The almshouse named after Nikolai Vasilyevich and Darya Artemievna Nemirov-Kolodkin existed on Bolshaya Ordynka until 1917.

Nemirov-Kolodkin died in 1886, leaving a million dollar firm to his nephews, two families - Davydov and Druzhinin. In 1892, they established the Factory and Trade Association of N.V. Nemirov-Kolodkin. The heirs not only preserved, but also increased the scale of the enterprise.

In the brochure of the Association of Successors, one can read: “The increasing inflow of orders, especially for the execution of various items of church utensils, forced the Association to open its own factory for the production of gold, silver and jewelry and church utensils from various metals. At present, this factory is located on Malaya Ordynka, in the Partnership's own building.

In 1891, the successors of Nemirov-Kolodkin bought from the peasant Sergei Uvarov a property on M. Ordynka, where house number 17 now stands. According to a survey of the territory in 1887, the property had four one-story wooden buildings. Two of them faced the street, the rest stood in the back of the yard. The archival inventory says: "The buildings are in good condition, if properly maintained, they can stand for a period determined by the charter of the Society." But they did not stand for long: all the wooden houses were demolished in order to build a two-story brick factory building for the production of gold and silver products and church utensils.

Ivan Ivanovich Mochalov, who had already taken place by that time, was invited as an architect. Almost all of his buildings in Moscow have been lost or rebuilt. The building of the factory on M. Ordynka is one of the best preserved creations of Mochalov. Construction was completed in 1895.

At the moment, the house has a U-shape. One of the vertical crossbars of the letter "P" goes out into the street. But initially only two parallel crossbeams were built - street and in the back of the yard. At the beginning of the 20th century, they were connected by another volume. Inside the building, when moving from one building to another, one can still feel the rise and fall of the floor in the part where earlier and later buildings join.

Mochalov built a two-story red-brick house with a richly decorated facade. At the end of the century, the aesthetics of red-brick buildings took a firm place in the architectural tastes of Russia. The underlined symmetry of the upper part of the house is broken by the passage arch of the gate and next to it - the entrance opening (currently blocked). They are strongly shifted to the right edge.

Samples of Nemirov-Kolodkin's products. From the Price List of Church Utensils and Images of the Factory and Trade Association of N.V. Nemirov-Kolodkin in Moscow

The façade is richly covered with elegant, carefully made brick elements, repeating the decorative motifs of ancient Russian architecture. This is the passage arch itself, comparable in proportions and location to the arches of Russian churches of the 13th-17th centuries, and pilasters with a complex pattern. It also consists of decorative elements typical of ancient Russian churches: alternating widths, triangles, crackers, curbs, etc. The picturesque composition of the facade is achieved by a combination of complex cornices, corbels, pilasters. To them, the architect added several beautifully designed attics and pediments (now lost). The windows of the second floor have a semi-circular finish, which, coupled with the brick decor, makes the house look like an elegant tower. The first floor with rectangular windows is more austere, its façade is dissected by interwindow smooth pilasters.

Facades facing the inner courtyard and lanes are more concise and stricter. Their decoration is only the semi-circular windows of the second floor. The walls of the first two floors are thick. A chimney towered above the building, a necessary functional accessory of the factory, where casting and other operations associated with high temperatures are carried out.

VC. Sergeev, 1962 Personal archive

front view purchased courtyard facades. Their walls were plastered and painted. central part with the main entrance was decorated in the spirit of Stalinist neoclassicism. The center is accentuated by a group of flat pilasters with intricate capitals at the end, above them is a triangular pediment with a round window. The upper floors are weighted with balconies three windows wide. The rest of the courtyard facades also received a couple of smaller balconies. In the 1990s, two balconies, located above the passage arch, were demolished due to an emergency condition. Now you can see only traces indicating their former location.

The layout of the premises of post-war times has been preserved in the building - narrow corridors, the location of offices, three staircases. The main wide staircase starts from the spacious hall at the main entrance. The rest of the stairs are much more modest.

On the second floor, fragments of the original brick floor can be found and subsequent layers can be traced. Several half-century-old doors have been preserved in the house. One of them, upholstered in leatherette, is in the office of the director of the building.

For many years, the house was a symbiosis of educational and residential premises. The educational building of the technical school went out onto the street, the rest of the premises were given over to housing. The damp basement of the house was also residential, it was occupied by cleaners, a commandant, and workers. This situation continued until the 1960s. In the 1950s, a bomb shelter with heavy metal doors was set up there.

The Leather and Shoe Technical School was replaced by the Institute for Advanced Studies of Engineering and Technical Workers. Its directors, as well as the administration of the former technical school, lived here, on the first floors. The students of the institute studied for two months and lived in a dormitory, which was located in the far courtyard building and on the fourth and third floors of the central building. But the third floor was also educational.

Living conditions in the house were not easy. On the ground floor, where the buffet is now located, a public kitchen with large stoves was arranged. There were no stoves in the living rooms, as well as bathtubs. Later, in the 1960s, they began to equip apartments with everything necessary, including bathtubs. But communications worked very poorly.

In the 1950s, in one of the living rooms, a golden candlestick was found in the ventilation - the last thing that came out of the Nemirov-Kolodkin factory. Gold handed over to the state. In 1964, the house also reminded of past times: an unexploded wartime bomb was found on the pavement near the wall of the building. Students and residents were hastily evacuated, the bomb defused. This happened already under the next owners of the house - the Institute for Advanced Studies of Managers and Light Industry Specialists.

The principle of combining residential and educational premises remained the same. But there are new offices. On the second floor there was a cinema hall for showing educational films. To provide soundproofing, the walls of the cinema hall were upholstered with sound-absorbing leatherette panels. This hall has survived to this day.

Nemirov-Kolodkin Nikolai Vasilyevich - a merchant of the 1st guild, founded in Moscow the “N.V. Nemirov-Kolodkin Trading House”, which traded in gold, silver and diamond items.

The firm of Nemirov-Kolodkin has been known since 1825, until 1891 it was headed by Nikolai Vasilyevich himself. In 1891, a factory and trade partnership of his successors was formed, which existed until 1917. For high artistic and technical skills, the company received the honorary title of Suppliers of Her Imperial Highness, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.

Nikolai Vasilyevich was born on June 21, 1819 in the family of the Vologda merchant Vasily Alexandrovich Nemirov and his wife Olga Andreevna. Nemirov-Kolodkin is a hereditary merchant, at least in the fourth generation. His grandfather and great-grandfather were in the merchant class. The Nemirovs lived in a two-story house in Fryazinov (Zarechye). Next to the house there were tanneries, felt, candle and butter factories owned by the Nemirovs, where peasants from the surrounding villages worked. In addition, the family also owned two stone shops in the leather row of Gostiny Dvor. The Nemirovs traded not only in Vologda, but also in other cities, including St. Petersburg and Arkhangelsk.

In 1827, at the age of 35, Nikolai's mother died of a fever. After 4 years, the father marries a second marriage to a 29-year-old widow, a petty bourgeois Anna Kharitonova. Then, in 1831, there is a division of family capital. In 1833, his father also died. Children (the eldest Alexander - 20, Nikolai -14 years old) remain with their stepmother. Trouble doesn't come alone. Orphaned children and twice a widow are bombarded with news of their father's debts. A whole queue of creditors is being built. Some of them, having learned about the plight of the family, refuse debt in favor of Nemirov's daughters. Debts completely ruined the Nemirovs, and in 1834 their family moved from the merchant class to the bourgeoisie. In 1835, as a result of the consideration of the case of promissory notes against the deceased merchant Vasily Nemirov, the latter was declared an insolvent debtor, and all his property, including the house and the factories left by Nikolai's father, were described and sold to pay off debts. To top it all off, in the same 1835, the elder brother of Nemirov-Kolodkin, Alexander, also died of a fever.

So, left essentially without parental care, without a penny of money, Nikolai Nemirov was forced to start from scratch. But all his successes will no longer be associated with Vologda, but with Moscow, where Nemirov moved in 1843.

It took him another ten years to put together enough capital to sign up for the merchant class (8,000 rubles). Nemirov remained a merchant of the 3rd guild at least until 1862. In the next eight years (from 1862 to 1870), Nemirov changes his surname and, having made a large fortune, goes to the merchants of the 1st guild. His new surname Nemirov is obliged to marry. The preservation of the wife's surname in the offspring by adding it to the husband's surname was the most common source of double surnames. It is very likely that, along with the new name, Nemirov received significant capital. Perhaps this was the reason for the lengthening of his surname.

Be that as it may, but in the lists of Moscow merchants available to us, starting from 1870, there is a merchant of the 1st guild, Nemirov-Kolodkin, the owner of a trading house of his own name, which trades in gold, silver and diamond items. He lived in Moscow on Yakimanka, in the house of his wife. In general, Nikolai Vasilyevich never severed his ties with Vologda. It is difficult to say what attracted him more to his homeland - nostalgia for the city in which he spent his youth, the graves of his parents and brother (all of them are buried at the Vvedensky cemetery) or the desire to maintain relations with relatives who remained here.

Nikolai Vasilievich helped many churches and organizations in the city of Vologda. The largest charity project Nemirov-Kolodkin in Vologda was the establishment of an almshouse, named after him. In addition, to ensure the existence of the almshouse, Nemirov-Kolodkin contributed capital in the amount of 42 thousand rubles, on the interest from which the detainees were to be kept. Admission to the almshouse began in the same 1879, and the official opening took place on May 9, 1880. According to the charter, the almshouse was led by a council, the chairman of which was Nemirov himself. Special attention devoted to the care of blind people. Initially, the number of convicts was 25 people, and by 1913 it had grown to 76. The almshouse operated until 1918.

After the death of Nemirov-Kolodkin, in accordance with his last will, 10 icons in gilded silver frames adorned with pearls, diamonds and yakhont were transferred to the Church of St. John the Baptist and the Nemirovskaya almshouse. Another 40 thousand rubles were bequeathed to the expansion of the almshouse, as well as to the maintenance of the blind of all classes in it. Significant sums were transferred to the needs of a number of Vologda churches, as well as to the Alexander Orphanage, the Vologda Charitable Society and the Vologda Society of Doctors of the hospital for visiting patients. In addition, 10 thousand rubles were contributed to the Vologda City Duma, the interest from which was intended to be given to the poorest residents of Vologda for Christmas and Easter. Nemirov's charitable activities were not limited to Vologda alone.

Living in Moscow, he could not but respond to the needs of the inhabitants of the capital. Nemirov-Kolodkin founded an almshouse for blind women in Moscow, named after Nemirov himself and his wife, Darya Artemievna. It should be noted that the charitable activities of Nemirov-Kolodkin did not go unnoticed by the authorities. The Governing Synod repeatedly expressed its gratitude to him. He was awarded gold medals "For diligence" of all five degrees - a special award for the so-called non-official distinctions, and for the establishment of the Vologda almshouse he was awarded the Order of St. Anna 3rd degree. With this order, Nemirov-Kolodkin is depicted in a posthumous portrait, which for many years hung in the almshouse he founded, and is now on display at the Museum of Forgotten Things. Hereditary honorary citizen N.V. Nemirov-Kolodkin died on March 24, 1886 at the age of 67 and was buried in Moscow at the cemetery of the Donskoy Monastery.

There are many blank spots in the biography of Nemirov-Kolodkin. The origin of his capital and double surname is unclear. Little is known about the Moscow period of Nikolai Vasilievich's life. There is no answer to the question of what caused special care for the blind. There is no doubt, however, that Nemirov-Kolodkin was one of the most generous benefactors of the city of Vologda.

The estate on Bolshaya Ordynka belonged to Stepan Bibikov, lieutenant of the Semyonovsky Regiment of Life Guards, and its possessions were 42 and 44. The existing main house of the estate was built shortly after the fire of 1812. In 1853, the property was divided: most of it belonged to the merchant Nikolai Vasilyevich Nemirov-Kolodkin, and the former outbuilding became the home of the Moscow merchant Feoktistov.

Nikolai Vasilievich Nemirov was born in Vologda on April 18, 1819 in a family of Orthodox philistines. In his hometown, Nemirov studied silversmithing, after which he moved to Moscow as an already established specialist. Having settled in the house of the merchant Golyashkin on Pyatnitskaya Street, not far from the Church of St. Trinity in Vishnyaki, he settled among the "Moscow bourgeois". For almost a decade, Nikolai Vasilyevich served as a clerk for the merchant Ivan Ivanovich Kolodkin, who owned several shops in the Silver Row on Ilyinka. Kolodkin, an expert in silversmithing, who had an extensive circle of business acquaintances among silversmiths and jewelers, was almost a quarter of a century older than Nemirov. There was such a trusting relationship between them that Ivan Ivanovich decided to make the clerk a partner and transfer his business to him. At the same time, the Moscow Magistrate approved the petition of Nikolai Vasilyevich Nemirov to be called Nemirov-Kolodkin. But all this time he did not leave the idea of ​​​​opening his own business. Therefore, Nikolai Vasilievich patiently collected money, in which his wife Daria Artemyevna helped him.

So soon Nemirov-Kolodkin opened his own jewelry store. His assistants were nephews from Vologda. A few years later, by joint efforts, they opened a small jewelry workshop. The circle of clientele grew, including at the expense of representatives of the richest families of both capitals. After some time, Nemirov-Kolodkin already owned a factory for the production of gold and silver items. And in 1883, the trading house “N. V. Nemirov-Kolodkin ”, and Nikolai Vasilyevich himself received the title of hereditary honorary citizen. The merchant actively participated in charitable activities, for which he was awarded orders. He donated a lot for education, not forgetting about his small homeland - Vologda.

Nikolai Vasilyevich arranged the house on Bolshaya Ordynka to his own taste. The best artists were commissioned to paint portraits of Nemirov-Kolodkin himself and his wife, and the room was furnished with expensive mahogany furniture.

In 1886, Nikolai Vasilyevich died. In his will, he asked that an almshouse for blind poor women be opened in his possession. Because his wife Daria Artemievna became blind. This is how the almshouse named after Nikolai Vasilyevich and Darya Artemievna Nemirov-Kolodkin appeared here, which existed until 1917. In Soviet times, apartments for workers were arranged in the former buildings of the almshouse, and in the 1990s, the facade of the main house of the estate 44 was heavily distorted and today does not bear any decorative architectural elements. At the same time, the southern wing of the estate was demolished, and a concrete building arose in its place. In the summer of 2011, another wing of the estate, the Feoktistov house, was also demolished.

About the life of most jewelry manufacturers and craftsmen tsarist Russia little information was saved. But the biography of Nikolai Vasilievich Nemirov-Kolodkin is well known, primarily due to his good deeds. Difficulties from an early age haunted this strong-willed person. He achieved his well-being, fame, position not thanks to, but contrary to fate, with the help of diligence, determination, and an incredible talent for mercy.

Biography

In 1819, the Vologda merchant Nemirov Vasily Alexandrovich and his wife Olga Andreevna was born younger son Nikolay. There were eight children in total in the family. The father was a prosperous hereditary merchant, the family had a two-story house, owned a candle, oil, leather, felt factories, two stone shops, and the father of the family was engaged in trade, in addition to Vologda, in Arkhangelsk and St. Petersburg. Nikolai's childhood passed well, there were no prerequisites for significant life changes, it seemed that his fate was completely predictable: to continue his father's office work with his brother and become worthy Vologda merchants.

But in 1827, the death of a 35-year-old mother changes the lives of all household members. Nikolai was eight years old and he was not the most youngest child. After spending four years with eight children, his father remarried a 29-year-old widowed bourgeois, Anna Kharitonova. In the same 1831, the family capital was divided between Vasily Alexandrovich and his brother Konstantin, which probably shook the financial stability of the merchant. Two years later, the father dies, leaving unpaid loans that led the family to ruin. Some creditors refused debt compensation in favor of orphaned merchant daughters. In 1835, after the consideration of the case and the recognition of the deceased merchant Nemirov as insolvent, the property was described and sold to pay off bill debts. The family lost everything, including their home and merchant status. Nikolai's elder brother Sasha soon dies of a fever. Sixteen-year-old Nemirov remained the eldest man in the family.

The life of Nikolai Vasilyevich is not known until 1843. It is mentioned that from the age of fourteen he studied silversmithing and worked in jewelry after the death of his father, having gained a good reputation among buyers by the age of 23. What prompted Nemirov to move to Moscow at the age of 24 is also unknown. There were always great prospects in the capital, but it was difficult to get settled without cash capital, acquaintances and patronage.

Nevertheless, in 1843, Nikolai Vasilyevich, having stopped on Pyatnitskaya Street in the house of the merchant Golyashkin, went to work as an clerk to Artemy Kolodkin, a merchant who had shops for products on Ilyinka precious metals. So Nemirov worked for ten years, marrying in the fifties Kolodkin's daughter Darya Artemovna, a smart, beautiful and extremely sensitive woman. It was the wife who became for Kolodkin a retribution for previous hardships. She supported her husband throughout life together and also became a source of wealth necessary for success in their own business. Approximately by 1853, Nemirov collected 8,000 rubles, the cash capital required for joining the merchant class, which made it possible to become a merchant of the third guild. After the wedding, Nikolai Vasilyevich lived the rest of his life in his father-in-law's house on Bolshaya Ordynka. Feeling respect and trust for Nemirov, Kolodkin makes his son-in-law a partner and successor.

Presumably in 1868, Nikolai Vasilievich added his father-in-law's surname to his own. In the period 1862–1870. he becomes a merchant of the first guild, owning a large fortune, and his double surname begins to appear in the documents. Perhaps this is due to the death of a father-in-law, whose name had weight in jewelry and trade circles, and from whom a significant hereditary capital remained. The emergence of double surnames was not uncommon, so that the family name would not fade away and be passed on to descendants, the wife's surname was added to the husband's surname. Nikolai Vasilyevich in the Moscow lists of merchants for 1870 is listed as a merchant of the first guild, the owner of the N.V. Nemirov-Kolodkin Trading House, which sells gold, silver and diamond items. Then his big donations begin.

The company prospered, receiving many church orders and from the capital richest families. In 1872, Nikolai Vasilievich remodels the interior of the estate on Bolshaya Ordynka, ordering magnificent mahogany furniture and marital portraits by the best artists for the new environment, equipping a carriage room in the yard with two traveling carriages.

Now demolished
part of the estate
Nemirov-Kolodkin

At the same time, a building was purchased near the house, where the jeweler opened a factory for the production of gold, silver and church items. Fate deprived the Nemirov-Kolodkin spouses of children, therefore, the merchant invites his nephews from Vologda to the position of managers and for further succession: Druzhinins Alexander and Nikolai, Lapin Ivan, Davydov Alexei.

Since 1876, orders began to arrive regularly for the supply of silver utensils from the Moscow palace office for the imperial palace. In addition to shops in the trading rows of the largest Russian Nizhny Novgorod fair, the Moscow Upper Rows, by 1880 another store was opened in the capital on Ilyinka.

This is what the store looked like
N. V. Nemirova-Kolodkina
in the 80s of the XIX century.

In 1881–1883 Nikolai Vasilievich creates a N.V. Nemirov-Kolodkin factory and trade partnership, in which his nephews act as partners. Nikolai Vasilievich reposed in March 1886, was buried in the Moscow Donskoy Monastery.

Partnership of heirs

Nemirov-Kolodkin left a millionth fortune to his nephews. The enterprise they inherited continued to thrive and expand. In 1891, a "factory and trade partnership of successors of N.V. Nemirov-Kolodkin" was created. At the same time, the partnership acquired land on M. Ordynka (now house number 17). Until 1895, the architect Ivan Ivanovich Mochalov built a factory two-story building there.

The former factory, built by the successors of Nemirov-Kolodkin, had two floors. The remaining floors were added in 1948–1952. by German prisoners of war, the style of the facade, the shape, and the size of the windows have been preserved to the maximum.

The enterprise was provided with the most modern equipment, steam engines, electric motors. By 1907, 39 workers worked and produced 43,000 rubles. products. A separate factory department produced Orthodox church products for orders Holy Synod, clergy, individuals. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the partnership was the supplier of the Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. By 1909, the production volume was 120,000 rubles, fixed capital - 500,000 rubles, workers - 48 people. The firm closed in 1917.

Charitable deeds

The memory of Nemirov-Kolodkin is associated for the most part with his many large investments in charity. We know more about them than about the life of a philanthropist.

Since 1860, Nikolai Vasilyevich was an agent at the Moscow Committee. In addition to the mandatory annual contribution of 300 r. and employment of the poor, the jeweler transferred money for educational and educational institutions, impoverished families and those who lost their breadwinner. He was one of the trustees of the Alexander-Mariinsky Zamoskvoretsky School for incoming children of all classes.

This is what it looked like in 1913.
learning Campus
Alexander-Mariinsky
Zamoskvoretsky School

The first major financial contributions began in 1870. It is not known from what year the beloved wife of the patron of arts Daria Artemovna became blind, but this circumstance influenced the purposefulness of his charitable investments.

In 1870, having learned that due to a decrease in funding, the clergy of the Vologda Church of John the Baptist would be reduced, 2,000 rubles. Nikolai Vasilyevich gave this temple, in which he was once baptized.

Built in 1653
and demolished in 1932,
Church of John the Baptist
in the Dyudik desert
on the coast of Vologda.

Fabrikant never stopped donating to churches and charitable organizations in Vologda. Knowing from experience young years In 1879, the jeweler created an almshouse for the citizens of Vologda, the elderly and the poor from the merchant, petty-bourgeois and craft classes, how difficult it is to adapt to poverty for middle-class people who have lost all their property. The property was transferred to the institution for 30,000 rubles: a residential outbuilding, a laundry, a bathhouse, a barn, a barn, a land plot. The maintenance was carried out at the expense of interest from 42,000 rubles, contributed capital. Special attention was paid to people who lost their sight and hearing.

Opposite the estate of the Nemirov-Kolodkin family on Bolshaya Ordynka, there was a temple of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God, for the repair and improvement of which the manufacturer donated a large sum. There, the philanthropist was a member of the board of trustees and a headman. Nikolai Vasilyevich regularly made donations to the trustee budget. Gathered by the council money was distributed to help the poor, the disabled, charitable institutions and an almshouse maintained by the parish.

What the temple looked like
Iberian icon
Mother of God
at the beginning of the 20th century.

In addition to this activity, in one of the Wings of his Moscow house, the jeweler set up an almshouse for deaf and blind women. The entire estate came into the possession of the almshouse after the death of the merchant, and 40,000 rubles were contributed to the expansion of the institution and the maintenance of the blind of any class, according to the will of the patron. For the bequeathed 11,300 rubles, by his order, an almshouse was organized in Iversky Lane for 15 women, mostly from among the elderly servants.

Looked like this
almshouse on Ordynka,
bequeathed
patron in his estate

Building in Iversky
lane of the former
almshouses for servants

By the last will of the philanthropist, it was bequeathed to the institutions and a number of churches in his native Vologda: ten icons in salaries made of gilded silver with diamonds, sapphires, pearls for transfer to the church of John the Baptist and the Nemirovskaya almshouse; significant sums were bequeathed to the Vologda Alexandrovsky orphanage; the medical society of the hospital for incoming patients; charitable society; 10 000 rubles submitted to the Vologda Duma to issue interest money to the poorest residents of the city twice a year for Christmas and Easter. And this is only a part of his good deeds, which is widely known to our contemporaries.

Personal awards of N. V. Nemirov-Kolodkin:

• For the foundation of the Vologda almshouse - the Order of St. Anna 3rd degree.
• Gold medals "For diligence" (a special award for non-official distinctions) - all five degrees: on the Stanislavskaya, Annenskaya, Vladimirskaya, Aleksandrovskaya, Andreevsky ribbons.
• Twice received blessings and letters, multiple thanks from the Holy Synod.
• He was awarded the title of honorary citizen of Vologda and Moscow.

Products manufactured by the Nemirov-Kolodkin enterprise

The assortment of the company was so diverse and large that it is impossible to name the predominant style in which the products were created, or to say which jewelry items and in what technique the production did not produce. The only thing that can be stated with certainty is that very talented craftsmen and artists worked for the company, according to whose sketches the products were created. Antique dealers highly value Nemirov-Kolodkin's jewelry, which is why a lot of their falsifications appear. The Lermontov Gallery enthusiastically seeks out the originals of this company and conducts a thorough study of each item that has entered the gallery.

tabernacles,
early 20th century
Silver, gilding,
artistic stamping,
guilloche, carving,
enamel

Various church utensils

Icon
Feodorovskaya Mother of God,
early 20th century
Wood, tempera writing
by gesso.
Setting: silver, chasing

Lapel church
medallion icons,
1899–1908
These two masterpieces
are among
GIM exhibits

Left - Carrying the Cross. A bold but harmonious execution of the Art Nouveau Panagia. Gold, enamel. On the right - “Our Lady of the Sign”, 1899. Gold, rubies, the central insert is a golden topaz with a carved image of the Mother of God.

Suspension
"Theodorovskaya Mother of God",
1899–1908
Silver, gilding,
enamel.

Censer,
1908–1917
Silver, enamel, filigree

Vase "Swan"
in modern styles
and Russian
1908–1917
Silver, gilding,
Chasing, casting, engraving.
Inserts: almandine,
rhodonite, rhodusite,
biscuit painting

Vase, 1908–1917
Silver, crystal,
casting, stamping,
chasing, faceting

Vase in the shape of a boat
1908–1910
silver, gilding,
crystal, chasing,
cutting, carving,
polychrome cold enamel

Nikolai Vasilievich Nemirov-Kolodkin, a merchant of the 1st guild, founded the N.V. Nemirov-Kolodkin Trading House in Moscow, which traded in unique gold, silver and diamond items: icons and objects of religious worship, jewelry and utensils, status items for honorary and noble people Russian Empire. For high artistic and technical skills, the Moscow firm of the jeweler received the honorary title of "Supplier of Her Imperial Highness, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna."

Nikolai Vasilyevich (then simply Nemirov) was born on April 18, 1819 in Vologda, in a family of Orthodox philistines. From the age of 14 he trained as a silversmith. Already in his twenties, he had a strong circle of customers and was considered an accomplished jeweler, after which he decided to move to Moscow in search of a new interesting work, orders and financial well-being. For almost ten years, Nemirov served as a clerk for the merchant Kolodkin, who traded in the Silver Row on Ilyinka. An extremely trusting relationship developed between Nemirov and Kolodkin. friendly relations. The merchant, who was a quarter of a century older than the clerk, decided to make Nemirov his partner and transfer the business to him. It was then that Nikolai Vasilievich began to be called Nemirov-Kolodkin. Working diligently with Kolodkin, he did not leave the idea of ​​​​opening his own business, although he understood perfectly well that in addition to knowledge and resourcefulness, a certain capital was needed for his enterprise. Nikolai Vasilievich denied himself in many ways, patiently collecting money. The dowry of his wife was added to the accumulated amount: the jeweler got married in the 1850s and moved to Bolshaya Ordynka to his wife's large stone house. The beautiful and enterprising merchant's daughter Daria Artemovna, fully supporting her husband's plans, became a reliable support for Nikolai Vasilyevich for the rest of their life together. Subsequently, when Darya Artemovna loses her sight, he will return everything invested to her - with enormous care and attention.

Soon Nemirov-Kolodkin opened his own jewelry store, where he traded in jewelry - both made by his own craftsmen and bought for resale. Nikolai Vasilyevich had excellent taste and broad-mindedness. That is why the Nemirov-Kolodkin business flourished, although competition among the jewelry houses of Moscow was serious. The Nemirovs-Kolodkins had no children, so the jeweler called the sons of his sisters from Vologda and made them assistants. And in 1872, Nemirov-Kolodkin bought a factory for the production of gold and silver items and church utensils. Nikolai Vasilyevich's customers were representatives of the noblest families of Moscow and St. Petersburg, and even the Russian imperial court. In 1883, the Trading House of N.V. Nemirov-Kolodkin was established.

But Nikolai Vasilyevich followed not only his well-being - he actively took part in
charitable activities. The jeweler manufacturer donated large sums for education, being a trustee of the Alexander-Mariinsky Zamoskvoretsky School. He did not forget his small homeland either: he helped the Baptist Pustynskaya Church of Vologda, built silt stone building for an almshouse on the corock two people. In the second half of the XIXcentury, Nikolai Vasilievich invitedand restorers and at their own expenseoverhauled and decoratedred icons and antiqueswe are the Temple of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God,which was located directly oppositestone house with an outbuilding at BolShaya Ordynka, 44, where the patron's family lived.By the way, in the same temple the manufacturer was alsoactive elder! Nemirov-Kolodkinsince 1860 he was an agent of the Moscow Komitheta about beggars, that is, a hedgehogappropriately contributed 300 rubles in silver in the qualitydonation to the committee and assisted infinding jobs for the poor.

In his native Vologda, he bought land and in 1879 built an almshouse for poor elderly citizens of the merchant, philistine and craft class, which Paradise lasted until 1918. There were 76 people here. The social purpose of the building was preserved even after the revolution: in 1921 it housed a nursing home for 150 people. For his numerous merits in the field of charity, Nemirov-Kolodkin became a hereditary honorary citizen of Moscow and Vologda. Awarded: OrderSt. Anna III degree, gold medals"For diligence" on the Stanislavskaya tape, onAnnenskaya ribbon, on the Vladimir ribbon,on the Alexander tape, on Andreevskayaribbon, twice given the blessingHoly Synod with the issuance of letters.

Someone allowed himself to think that the goodcreative activity of Nikolai Vasilyevich was part of the merchant strategy and helped a jewelry manufacturerbuild an image of a dear thing to his heart,adding value to the enterprise in tsescrap. But there was also a completely different motivation.patron. Deeply religious personNemirov-Kolodkin himself suffered in his youthmany hardships: although he was a merchant infourth generation, but early remainedcompany, and the property of the parents was soldbut for debt. So, having moved from Vologdato Moscow, his enterprise Nikolai VaSilevich started almost from scratch. And when he succeeded, he could not help caring for those who were less fortunate.

Nikolai Vasilyevich died in 1886. In his will, he ordered to give the estate with all the buildings in order to build an almshouse for poor blind and deaf women. The heirs strictly fulfilled the last will of their uncle, naming the charitable institution "Almshouse named after Nikolai Vasilyevich and Darya Artemovna Nemirov-Kolodkin." One hundred thousand rubles were allocated for the annual maintenance of the social institution. The trading house, as planned, passed to the nephews of the deceased, who later increased their capital and expanded the family business. At the beginning of the 20th century, the “Factory and Trade Association of the Successors of N.V. Nemirov-Kolodkin” was the supplier of the court of Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, and this fact speaks of the great prestige of the jewelry and services produced by the factory. The almshouse for the blind named after the jeweler and his wife existed until 1917. Then the soldiers of the revolution were settled there, and the property was plundered by the Bolsheviks.

In the notorious 1990s years the facade of the main house of the manor of the manufacturer Nemirov-Kolodkin at Bolshaya Ordynka, 44, was heavily distorted and did not retain decorative architectural elements. At the same time, the southern wing of the estate was demolished, and a concrete building arose in its place ... Nevertheless, today at auctions and in museums in Russia you can find wonderful products that subtly convey the time and era of bygone centuries, wonderful people who invested in their Fatherland and talents, and lives, and love...