Esders and Scheefhaals building

Au Pont Rouge
Торговый дом «С. Эсдерс и К. Схейфальс» (Russian)
Au Pont Rouge
Alternative names	Швейная фабрика им. В. Володарского
General information
Architectural style	Art Nouveau
Location	Moika River Embankment 73, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Coordinates	59°55′59″N 30°18′51″E / 59.93306°N 30.31417°E / 59.93306; 30.31417Coordinates: 59°55′59″N 30°18′51″E / 59.93306°N 30.31417°E / 59.93306; 30.31417
Completed	1907
Design and construction
Architect	Vladimir Lipsky

The Esders and Scheefhals building (Russian: Здание торгового дома “Эсдерс и Схеффальс”, Zdaniye torgovava doma “Esders i Skheffal's”) is a monumental building, originally a department store, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The building is a "historic and cultural monument of the people of the Russian Federation"^[1] and is located at Moika Embankment 73-79 at the corner of Gorokhovaya Street, before the Red Bridge over the Moika.

History

The building was constructed in 1906-07 by architects Konstantin de Rochefort (see article in Russian Wikipedia) and V.A. Lipskii.^[2]

Until 1919 it functioned as the "S. Esders and K. Scheyfals Trading House", also known as У красного моста (U krasnova mosta, "By the Red Bridge"). Signs on the building were in Russian and French — the French name indicated as Au Pont Rouge. It was an undertaking of Stefan Esders (see the article in German Wikipedia), who had a factory in Brussels and department stores in Berlin, Paris, Rotterdam, Breslau (now Wrocław) and Vienna in addition to St. Petersburg. Scheefhals was the Dutch partner for the St. Petersburg branch.

After the revolution, in 1919, the building became a sewing factory producing menswear.^[3] In 1922 it was given the name Volodarsky Sewing Factory in honor of the Marxist revolutionary and early Soviet politician Moisei Goldstein, who went by the name of V. Volodarsky.^[4]

The cupola was torn down in the 1930s in order not to spoil the view of the Admiralty tower. (picture)

In 1992 the factory was reorganized as FOSP (Fabrika odezhdy Sankt-Peterburga, Фабрика одежды Санкт-Петербурга, "Saint Petersburg Clothing Factory").^[4][5]

The building underwent extensive renovation by BTK Development in 2011-12, and the cupola was rebuilt. The original department store signage, in French and Russian (with pre-revolutionary spelling), has also been restored. The building is set to reopen in 2016 housing a department store designed by London-based architectural practice Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands.^[6]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Building of S. Esders and K. Scheefhals Merchant House.

• William Craft Brumfield, 'The Origins of Modernism in Russian Architecture, p.222
• Project information on Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands website.