Ushkova House (Kazan)

The Ushkova House is an early 20th-century mansion in central Kazan, at 33 Kremlyovskaya Street, opposite the main building of Kazan Federal University. The two-storey eclectic house was built in 1908 to a design by architect Karl Mufke and is now a cultural heritage site of federal importance.

History

The mansion belonged to Alexei Konstantinovich Ushkov, heir to a family of chemical industrialists, and his wife Zinaida Nikolaevna. Even before the rebuilding, in 1904, a 12-bed hospital for sick and wounded officers and soldiers was opened in the house. In 1908 the building took on its present appearance to Karl Mufke's design.

In 1916, after the divorce, Zinaida Ushkova sold the house to the provincial zemstvo for 325,000 roubles. From 1919 the mansion housed a library, and for generations of Kazan residents the Ushkova House was above all a reading room. The library moved out in 2020 and the building has stood empty since.

Architecture and interiors

The house is brick and plastered, with small flat projections on the facades. The ground floor has deep horizontal rustication with a rough finish, and its rectangular shop-style windows are framed with moulded bands and metal pediments. The upper facades carry Baroque-style stucco, and the key parts of the composition are marked with eagles and dragons. The upper-floor windows vary in shape and are framed with garlands and pilasters.

Inside, the house is even richer than outside, each room in a style of its own. The ceremonial hall is Empire with lavish ornament, the dining room Rococo with a marble fireplace, and the Moorish hall has doors decorated with Arabic script. The main staircase is in a Japanese manner, Italian marble is used throughout, and the stained glass came from the French workshop of Charles Champigneulle. Many rooms have inlaid parquet floors and furniture chosen to match each room. The top floor holds a "grotto garden" imitating a cave with stalactites and climbing plants.

Legends

According to local lore, Alexei Ushkov built the mansion as a wedding gift for his wife, and it supposedly cost a million roubles. There is no documentary proof of that sum, but the story of the gift to Zinaida Ushkova remains the best-known legend of Kremlyovskaya Street.

Good to know

Restoration of the Ushkova House officially began on 22 May 2026 and is scheduled to finish by 31 December 2027. Afterwards the building is to become a five-star hotel with 15 rooms. While work is under way the house is behind construction fencing and cannot be visited inside; the facades can be seen from Kremlyovskaya Street on the walk from the university to the Kazan Kremlin.