Ever catch sight of a place steeped in history? It sits where the Okkervil River meets the Okhta. This is Utkina Dacha. It is a former estate and an architectural landmark of federal significance in Saint Petersburg.
Utkina Dacha was built for Mark Poltoratsky. He was the director of the Court Singing Chapel and his wife Agafokleya. Agafokleya Poltoratskaya acquired the land near the Okkervil River in 1791. This initiated the construction of the central estate building. The building was designed in the style of classicism. There is a suggestion that the architect was N.A. Lvov. A service wing was added in the 1820s or 1830s.
In 1814 the Poltoratskys decided to sell the estate. An announcement appeared in the Saint Petersburg Gazette. In December 1828 the estate was bought by Princess Zinaida Petrovna Shakhovskaya. She was the widow of Prince A. Ya. Shakhovskoy. She remarried Vasily Ivanovich Utkin. From then on the name Utkina Dacha became fixed.
In 1904 Utkina Dacha was leased. It housed the Malookhtinsk department for the city poor with mental illnesses. After the revolution, it was transferred to the Commissariat of Health. The Malookhtinsk department of the 2nd psychiatric hospital was located here. Architect Postnikov inspected the estate on May 29 1920. The inspection found wall and ceiling paintings in the round hall by D. Skotti. There were also stucco cornices and friezes with gilding. Paintings in two adjacent offices and the ceiling painting in the service wing’s round pavilion were present.
During renovations in 1933 the paintings in the main house were destroyed. The ceiling of the round pavilion in the service wing was covered with plywood. In 1936 part of the building was converted into apartments. It housed the 176th children’s orphanage of the Volodarsky district. After the 1990s the Utkina Dacha estate fell into disrepair. Fires occurred on the estate. Restoration of the estate began in 2018.
Currently specialists from GUP TEC of Saint Petersburg have completed work. They installed heating networks and a power source. With the onset of the heating season landscaping is starting. The project is funded by the city budget.
After restoration the estate will be a branch of the Museum of Urban Sculpture. There will be an exhibition on the history of the estate and the Malaya Okhta region. Exhibitions dedicated to sculptors of the 19th and 20th centuries will be organized. There will be a center for working with children and youth. Lectures and master classes in art and лепке will be held.
The restoration and major repairs of Utkina Dacha are scheduled for completion in 2024.