Photo credit: St. Petersburg, Gatchina
Photo credit: St. Petersburg, Gatchina
If you remember our blog on June 10, 2008, we wrote about our German Secretaire à Abattant, whose polished mahogany interior is disguised as a ruin by a painted cork façade. We’ve gotten a lot of great feedback on the piece and were recently informed of another instance where a lavish interior is concealed beneath a rough façade–the Birch House in the park of Gatchina Palace, near St. Petersburg, Russia.
Constructed in the late 1780s, tradition holds that the house was built as a present to Emperor Paul I (1754-1801) from his wife, Maria Feodorovna (née Sophia Dorothea of Württemberg). The exterior resembles a rustic log cabin made entirely of birch. It was asserted that “this bagatelle should be executed in wood, faced with logs sawn lengthways, giving it the outward appearance of a pile of firewood, gathered to supply winter fuel. No doors, windows or roof should be noticeable; the illusion of a woodpile should be complete…”1
Photo credit: Gatchina is Russia and the World
Inside, however, the structure is bright and luxuriously decorated with sofas, mirrors, and paintings. Within the single story edifice is a well-appointed reception room. Extending from one end of this room was an alcove with divan, which could be accessed by a door concealed in the mirrored walls. A kitchen was located in a separate room of the house. The extensive use of mirrors added to the illusion of a brighter and larger space. The Birch House was destroyed during the Great Patriotic War (between Germany and the Soviet Union), but was restored in the 1970s.
We found the Gatchina Birch House particularly relevant to our Cork Secretaire as both are based on the same principle of surprise elements found in the shocking contrast between exterior and interior.
Footnote:
1. Gatchina – The Versailles of Paul I. Part I. http://history-gatchina.ru/parks/park/epark4.htm/
Photos can be found at these websites of interest:
Gatchina – The Versailles of Paul I
St. Petersburg; Gatchina
Gatchina is Russia and the World
One Comment
I love this indoor surprise. There is a wonderful book about Russian country houses, by Priscilla Roosevelt, in which is shown a country house whose large living room has wall made of rough horizontal planks but whose floor is matchless parquetry, whose paintings are heavily gilt-framed, and whose furniture looks straight out of Schinkel.
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