Architect Domenico Trezzini – Builder of the Future "Sans-Ennui". Concept for the Restoration of the Estate

S. Gorbatenko, A. Gunich.

The historical value of Sans-Ennui is immense, not only because it is one of the few stone estates along the Peterhof Road, but also due to the name of the architect who built it. This is the first architect of St. Petersburg, whose contribution to the creation of our city can hardly be overstated – Domenico Trezzini. His authorship is evidenced by a letter he sent to A.D. Menshikov on September 27, 1722.

The letter is remarkable in that it contains not only architectural details (including important information that by this time the first floor of the building had actually already been erected), but also the estimated date of completion. The section dedicated to the future estate reads: "...The stone house which your Highness ordered to be built on the coastal estate of Avdotya Ilinishna, and the said chambers (palaty) have been raised above the residential windows and leveled, and this very week the beams will be laid on the ceiling and covered with boards. And during the wintertime, shingles (gonty) will be brought from Koporye to cover those chambers, as well as floors, ceilings, rafters, window frames, doors, and other things will be made. And in the year [1]723, by the 1st day of June, the said chambers will be brought to utter perfection.

Three days ago, by your Highness’s decree, I visited her, Madame Avdotya Ilinishna, and reported to her on the construction of those chambers, that they had been brought up to the beams where the ceiling is to be and will be covered. Whereupon her Grace commanded me to write to your High-Princely Highness her grand appreciation and thanks, and deigned to ask me from whose provisions those chambers are being built, from the Sovereign’s or from your Highness’s, to which I said that the said chambers are being built with materials and money belonging to your High-Princely Highness’s own..."[1]. The future estate owner's anxiety about the origin of the money is understandable: at that time, an investigation was underway regarding Menshikov's illegal seizure of lands in Ukraine, and the Most Serene Prince, who had already been punished more than once by the Tsar for embezzlement, was on the brink of catastrophe[2].

The first owner of the estate was Peter the Great's half-sister, Tsarevna Maria Alekseyevna, to whom it was most likely allotted in 1714. At the beginning of that year, she was still in Moscow, excusing herself by illness from her brother's persistent invitations to St. Petersburg, where she finally arrived in April[3]. At the same time, the fate of both Maria Alekseyevna herself and her "coastal place" was decided in connection with her involvement in the affair of Tsarevich Alexei. Following the investigation, the Tsarevna was exiled to Shlisselburg in 1718, and her estate was granted to "Mama Avdotya Ilyina"[4]. A document from the early 1740s states the following about the previous and current owners of the dacha: "Of the Sovereign Tsarevna Anna Petrovna's mama, Avdotya Ilinishna..., and previously by allotment it belonged to the pious sovereign Tsarevna Maria Alekseyevna. The said mama was granted that place by an imperial decree in the year [1]718"[5].

As it was possible to establish, the "mama" who became the new owner of the estate was the "mamka" (royal wet nurse) of Tsarevna Anna Petrovna – Evdokia Ilyinichna Klimentova (Klementova, Klementyeva, 1680–1755)[6]. Evdokia Klimentova was well known to the Tsar, who, along with his spouse, highly valued the "mama" of their daughter[7]. He corresponded with her and visited her as a guest. Thus, on March 1, 1714, Peter "Was at the Admiralty... dined at the house of the celebratory namesake Avdotya Ilinishna, the wet nurse of Tsarevna Anna Petrovna"[8].

The events of 1721–1722 shed light on the circumstances preceding the start of construction. Prior to 1721, no manor house existed on the dacha. According to an inventory of that year, there was only a "new hut (izba) in which a drinking establishment is maintained, and a stable"[9]. In the same year, on August 6, Peter I was in Oranienbaum together with Anna Petrovna’s fiancé, the Duke of Holstein, and they "walked through the groves," after which they spent the night in Menshikov's palace[10].

A year later, in July 1722, Domenico Trezzini's presence in Oranienbaum was recorded. We find his name in the Oranienbaum ledger of "disbursements of table provisions and beverages" in July 1722. At this time, the retaining walls of the terraces, as well as a carriage shed and stables, were being built here[11]. Most likely, it was precisely at this time that the chief architect of St. Petersburg received the commission to design a manor house for Klimentova's coastal estate.

In early August 1722, Oranienbaum was visited by both Cesarevnas, Anna and Elizaveta Petrovna[12]. And finally, Trezzini's letter quoted above is dated September 27 of the same year, 1722.

Based on the sequence of these events, it can be assumed that in the summer of 1721, the Tsar, together with his daughter's fiancé, could have chosen a spot "in the groves" for the estate of her former wet nurse.

A year later, Cesarevna Anna Petrovna and her sister might have participated in discussing these matters (the possibility cannot be ruled out that they were accompanied on the trip by the estate owner herself, Evdokia Ilyinichna Klimentova). One way or another, construction began the following year, 1722, which Domenico Trezzini expected to finish a year later. Most likely, the architecture of the building was close to the model designs executed by Trezzini in 1721 for "suburban estates" along the Fontanka River. Another possible prototype could be Anna Petrovna’s estate, Annenhof, near Ekaterinhof.

In the 1730s, Klimentova's "coastal estate" passed into the hands of Ivan Ivanovich Kasagov (Kosagov). According to an inventory of 1745, "Regarding the said dacha of the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment Major, Major General, and Cavalier Ivan Ivanov's son Kasagov, the caretaker... declared that his master owns the said dacha by sale or by inheritance, of which he does not know; on the said dacha are stone chambers (palaty), containing four rooms, with an entryway (seni) between them left unfinished and now in need of repair, and next to the said chambers a woven shed covered with straw, the yard is not fenced, and below the hill are three wooden log frames... There is no garden, the said master is currently with the regiment, and previously that dacha belonged to the aforementioned mama Avdotya Ilyina"[13].

In early 1761, I.I. Kasagov's "coastal estate" passed into the hands of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich, who began its reconstruction for his favorite, Elizaveta Vorontsova. It was during this time that the estate received the name Sans-Ennui (from the French sans ennui – without boredom). A 1763 document regarding the change of the dacha's owner states: "Gifted to the former Emperor Peter III by Major General and Cavalier Ivan Ivanovich Kasagov of the Guards, and there is no written deed of any kind for it"[14].

After the death of Peter III, a new era in the history of the estate began, associated with the Greig family, to whom it belonged starting from 1780, when Catherine II granted it to Admiral Samuel Karlovich Greig. After his death, the estate passed into the hands of his son, Admiral Aleksey Samuilovich Greig, and then to his grandson, Minister of Finance Samuil Alekseyevich Greig, and his descendants.

After the revolution, the estate housed a rest home, and later a sanatorium. In 1939, on the eve of the Winter (Finnish) War, a military hospital was established here, which occupied the estate until the early 2010s. After the hospital moved out, the buildings were virtually abandoned. The ensemble remains in this state to this day.

In 2017, a fire broke out in the vacant manor house, leaving it without a roof, and it gradually turned into a ruin. In the spring of this year, the protected outbuilding (service building) burned down. If urgent measures are not taken, we will lose a most valuable 18th-century monument associated with the name of the builder of St. Petersburg, Domenico Trezzini. Let us remind you that the Sans-Ennui estate is a cultural heritage site of federal significance, included in the World Heritage List.

The architectural history and the restoration concept of the dacha were presented by us jointly with A.E. Gunich in a presentation and report titled "The Sans-Ennui Estate. New Data. Restoration Concept," delivered at the II International Scientific Conference "Staehlin Readings" (April 22–23, 2026, Peterhof State Museum-Reserve). Below we present fragments of the presentation featuring drawings by A. Gunich.

Footnotes

[1] RGADA (Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts). F. 198. Op. 1. D. 969. L. 12 ob.–13. The content of the relevant section of the letter has been outlined by S. Gorbatenko in all publications and their sections dedicated to Sans-Ennui since 1998. It was published in full in the work: Andreeva E.A. The St. Petersburg Residence of A.D. Menshikov in the First Third of the 18th Century: A Description of Chambers, Houses, and the Garden. St. Petersburg, 2013. P. 227. The letter is reproduced in this article based on that work.

[2] Pavlenko N.I. Alexander Danilovich Menshikov. Moscow, 1983. Pp. 97–111.

[3] Morokhin A.V. On the Stay of Members of the Tsarist Family in Carlsbad in 1710–1716 // Petrine Time in Faces – 2022. To the 350th Anniversary of the Birth of Peter I. 1672–2022. Materials of the Scientific Conference. St. Petersburg, 2022. P. 233.

[4] Anisimov E.V. ITINERA PETRI: Biochronicle of Peter the Great Day by Day // (accessed: 24.03.2026).

[5] RGADA. F. 16. Op. 1. D. 439. L. 39.

[6] K.V. Malinovsky, without any substantiation, names the owner of the dacha as A.I. Bolotova (Malinovsky K.V. Domenico Trezzini. St. Petersburg, 2007. P. 137).

[7] Petrov P.N. Cesarevna Anna Petrovna. 1708–1728. (Biographical Essay) // Monuments of New Russian History. Collection of Historical Articles and Materials. St. Petersburg, 1871. Vol. I. P. 54; Khoruzhenko O.I. Noble Diplomas of the 18th Century in Russia. Moscow, 1999. Pp. 63–64.

[8] Campaign Journal of the Year 1714. St. Petersburg, 1854. P. 90.

[9] RGADA. F. 16. Op. 1. D. 439. L. 23 ob.

[10] Campaign Journal of the Year 1721. St. Petersburg, 1855. Pp. 54–55.

[11] Gorbatenko S.B. The Architecture of Oranienbaum. The Western Section of the Peterhof Road. St. Petersburg, 2022. P. 69.

[12] Correspondence of Prince A.D. Menshikov with Peter I (1715–1724) and Ekaterina Alekseyevna (1706–1724). Collection of Documents. Moscow, 2023. Pp. 578, 581–582, 653, 654; Gorbatenko S.B. The Architecture of Oranienbaum... P. 44.

[13] RGADA. F. 16. Op. 1. D. 439. L. 23 ob. The spelling has been brought closer to modern conventions by the author.

[14] RGIA (Russian State Historical Archive). F. 492. Op. 1. D. 9. L. 39.

Sergey B. Gorbatenko — Certified expert for state historical and cultural expertise, expert member of the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Historic Towns and Villages (ICOMOS CIVVIH), former Chairman of the Council of the St. Petersburg Regional Branch of the National Committee of ICOMOS (2010–2019).

Andrey E. Gunich — Architect, Honorary Restorer of St. Petersburg, for many years an employee of the St. Petersburg Design Institute "Lenproektrestavratsiya", author of restoration projects for the Bezborodko Palace on Pochtamskaya Street, the towers of the Shlisselburg Fortress, the Flag Tower, and the Peter's Gate of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Laureate of the award "For Contribution to the Development of the Restoration Industry in St. Petersburg", and the Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland". He passed away on June 3, 2026. The Organizing Committee of the Golden Trezzini Awards expresses its deepest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of Mr. Gunich.