Hauswald Dacha – St. Petersburg's most cinematic mansion (PHOTOS)

Hauswald Dacha – St. Petersburg's most cinematic mansion (PHOTOS)
Anastasia Galyamicheva (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The ‘Art Nouveau’ house fell into disrepair in the 2000s, but was successfully restored and now, once again, attracts both tourists and bloggers.

The locals call this luxurious mansion ‘Irene Adler's house’, because this was the house of Irene Adler, a heroine of the Soviet iconic ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson’ TV series (episode ‘The Treasure of Agra’, 1983).

Hauswald Dacha – St. Petersburg's most cinematic mansion (PHOTOS) A still from ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson’
Igor Maslennikov/Lenfilm, 1983

The house and its original porch have also featured in other Soviet cinema. For example, the TV adaptation of the operetta ‘Die Fledermaus’ (1979) was filmed there.

Hauswald Dacha – St. Petersburg's most cinematic mansion (PHOTOS) Dacha's porch seen in ‘Die Fledermaus’ movie
Jan Fried/Lenfilm, 1979; Lawerta (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Soviet viewers also saw the mansion in the movie ‘Don César de Bazan’ (1989) and many others.

Hauswald Dacha – St. Petersburg's most cinematic mansion (PHOTOS) Dacha's tower seen in ‘Don César de Bazan’ movie
Jan Fried/Lenfilm, 1989; Ekaterina Borisova (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The cottage was built in 1898 for Eugenia Hauswald, by order of her bakery entrepreneur husband (whose identity has since been lost). But, soon, the house was bought by a rich businessman named Anatoly Demidov and the exterior of the building was slightly changed.

Hauswald Dacha – St. Petersburg's most cinematic mansion (PHOTOS) Mansion featured in 'Stroitel' ('The Builder') magazine, the 1900s
Archive image

The architecture of the building is a typical example of the Art Nouveau style fashionable at the turn of the 20th century. It's marked by a semicircular porch and window arches, towers and asymmetrical forms. 

Hauswald Dacha – St. Petersburg's most cinematic mansion (PHOTOS) The mansion before the recent restoration
Myope ann (CC BY-SA 3.0)

In Soviet times, the house was used as a children's penal colony and then as a sanatorium. Because of its “European” appearance, the St. Petersburg mansion became a favorite place for filming for ‘Lenfilm’ studio productions. It was the setting for scenes that that were set in Spain, England, Austria and other countries. 

Hauswald Dacha – St. Petersburg's most cinematic mansion (PHOTOS) Dacha after the recent restoration
Anastasia Galyamicheva (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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