Kekin's house in Kazan: photo, history, description

Kekin's house is one of the rare attractions that managed to survive in the modern look of the city. The partially renovated house of the merchant Leonty Kekin, located in the historical, central part of Kazan, adorns the urban landscape with its magnificent noble appearance.

The article presents a brief history of Kekin’s house in Kazan, as well as the history of an ancient family of merchants.

How did it all start?

At the beginning of the XX century, the two richest Kazan merchants Yakov Shamov and Leonty Kekin argued which of them would have the most beautiful building in Kazan. By order of the first, a hospital for the poor was built, and the second funded a tenement house. Both buildings turned out to be magnificent, but after a long debate the residents of the city awarded the first place to Shamov’s creation, although Kekin’s mansion looked more beautiful due to a successful architectural solution (the author of the project was the famous G. Rush). Apparently, the main role in the final decision was played by the purpose of the building - the hospital was necessary for the population of the city.

Many people know Kekin’s house, but not everyone is familiar with the history of a large and famous merchant family, one of the representatives of which was the owner of this building. The history of this famous family goes far into the 17th century.

A bit about the Kekins

The first mention of the Kekins is in the census and sentinel books (1615) of Rostov the Great. At that time, Anikey Kekin was the owner of a half-storehouse in the boot line and paid a certain tax for this (20 altyns per year).

Klim and Kipriyan Kekins (children of Anikeus) were royal hunters. Their duties included fishing for falcons and hawks. But the trading nature of representatives of this kind did not allow them to fully concentrate on serving the king. In the end, the Kekins engaged in trade with the Kazakhs (at that time they were called Kyrgyz-Kaisaks), who roamed the Urals. This Asian trade began Dmitry Gavrilovich Kekin. His business flourished: he left children 90,000 rubles and a completely new house (built in 1680-1690). Gregory (son of Dmitry) was the first rich man in Rostov.

In 1800, a serious threat suddenly arose over the Kekins: a decree was issued to turn all the "falconers" to peasants at court, levying their tribute. The assailants did not dare to protest. Only Alexei (Dmitry’s son), having collected all the documents, left for Petersburg. There he was able to obtain permission for Rostov’s helpers to enroll in philistinism and merchants (special Senate Decree of 1800). He himself became a merchant of the 1st guild and a member of the Asian branch of the Commerce College. Having died in the summer of 1802, he left more than 300 thousand rubles to his sons Fedor and Nikolai (from his first marriage), Nikolai and Mikhail (from his second marriage).

It should be noted that it was the very “Asian trade” that initially brought influence and wealth to this family. Fedor Alekseevich became the first Kazan Kekin, and at the same time conducted his business in Nizhny, Petersburg and Ivanovo. He spent his last years of his life in Rostov. He died in October 1833, and his inheritance and business passed to his children - Leonty and Ivan.

One of the Kekins (Leonty Vladimirovich) built the very house located today on Gorky Street. This building is a magnificent architectural decoration of the historic city center.

A brief history of the house

Kekin's house (Kazan) appeared in 1876. Before the revolution of 1917, his premises were rented out. Once at different times, apartments, a printing house, offices, shops, a library and small educational institutions (for example, a gymnasium) were located here.

After the nationalization of the building, the trading shops were replaced by a canteen and a military registration and enlistment office. The remaining offices and other institutions were closed, and housing rented before that was turned into a communal apartment. For a long period of operation without repair, the building was badly damaged, and by 1995, part of the roof and facade, as well as communication systems, were destroyed. Only in 2005 was a major restoration that transformed the mansion.

Kekin's house address: Kazan, st. Gorky, house 8/9. Its location is the intersection of Galaktionov and Gorky streets.

Kekin was destined to own this house only about fifteen years.

Description

The mansion located on Gorky Street consists of 4 floors. This building now houses a retail and office complex. For employees in the courtyard there is an equipped recreation area and car parking.

In the process of reconstruction, builders and architects tried to keep the previous historical appearance of this building as much as possible. Elements decorating external walls, doors and windows, stucco decorations were replaced with copies of the original ones. Left and red-brown coloring of the side decorative domes and roof.

Kekin’s house style is eclecticism that dominated Europe and Russia from the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. The facade has the features of modernity with a slight bias in neo-Gothic. The building is unusual for its window openings decorated in a Moorish style, and side columns with a hint of manuelino (Portugal), as well as red roof tops crowned with beautiful openwork spiers. The architect Heinrich Rush in the process of creating the project of the house many times used triangular shapes that are noticeable in the shapes of the roof and balconies. It is noticeable that even the wings are at an acute angle with respect to each other.

Interesting Facts

Kekin built this beautiful house from his brick, which turned out to be the best in the entire Kazan region. This has been confirmed and recognized after testing building materials by different suppliers.

Finally

The history of the merchant family is interesting and multifaceted, one of the representatives of which was once the owner of the famous Kekin's house in Kazan. The last mention (1918) of this merchant was in the archive of the Kazan commune. A document with yellowed sheets reported the requisition of Kekin's crews with six sets of harness for horses and coal intended for heating. However, the inhabitants of Kazan have long erased the memory of the leaders of the commune farm, but they still remember the Kekins.