Historical Background

The Grand Hotel Zvezda has a long and glorious history. The new hotel is built at the same place, where the London Hotel had been located before the revolution, being considered one of the best places for the guests of the city.

Trekhsvyatskaya Street

Beginning of the Trekhsvyatskaya Street, a view from the embankement over the Lazur river

Trekhsvyatskaya Street is often called Tver Arbat, because it’s a walkway busy with various cultural, trade and amusement facilities. Early on, it was one of the most important streets in the town after the fire of 1763, and led to Trekhsvyatskoye village, a country seat of the Tver eparch, which was located at the place of the present Children and Youth Hall. A number of shops appeared on the Street during the second half of the 19th century. Among them were the famous Pirogov’s confectionery, the “Fish” shop, and the food store of merchant Ustinov.

Trekhsvyatskaya Street, a view from the South, from Progonnaya Street

Trekhsvyatskaya Street hosted such hotels as “London”, “Venice”, and “Central”, and in 1901 a tram line was built along the street from the Sudebnaya Square (nowadays the Lenin Square) to the railway station. In 1911 the cinema theatre “Grand Electro” was set up at the street as well.

On a regular city plan of Tver established in 1760, the future Thekhsvyatskaya Street had another name, Staritskaya Street. However the project was not approved, and in the last third of the 18th century people began to build on the street giving it the name Trekhsvyatskaya.

Women’s teacher school of P.P. Maksimovitch

It was here, in the three-storey house on the intersection of Trekhsvyatskaya and Kozmodemyanovskaya (Zhelyabova) street, that in 1899 women’s teacher school of P.P. Maksimovitch moved, which later became the grass roots of the nowadays Tver State University. On the far left of the photo we can see a fragment of two-storey house with the mezzanine that belonged to the woman merchant A.M. Shuvaeva. She may be seen at the photo near the door to the house. Some of the premises Alexandra Mikhailovna leased for the grocery shop. At the same time they were selling lamps and cut-glass ware. The Shuvaeva house existed until 1970ies, but later was pulled down.

Simeonovskaya Street

The street was drawn on the first regular city building plan of 1760-х as a part of Meschanskaya sloboda quarter. It was named after the Church of St. Simeon the Stylite (built in 1676 on this street, and taken down in 1930ies). In 1919 the street was renamed to Kalyayeva Street after I.P. Kalyaev. Its present name the street took in 1993 in commemoration of Saint Simeon, the first bishop of Tver and a founder of the Diocese of Tver (1271).

In 1950ies a dwelling house was built at the address of Trekhsvyatskaya Street, 25-27. It was one of the best postwar architectural developments that in some way followed the idea of Tver city planning in house-to-house facade construction. In 70ies to 90ies of the 20th century there was a hotel named Zarya which belonged to the Administration of the Tver Region. Now it’s the place where the Grand Hotel Zvezda is built.

“Tver is decorated, or, more accurately, established anew by Catherine the Great…”
A.O. Ishimova

In the 19th century Tver had different size and other, unusual for our contemporaries pace of life. For example, the station of Nicholaevskaya railway was located several kilometers away from the town. The Tmaka River, nearly in the center of the modern city, was suitable for fishing, people took drinking water right from the river and bathed there. Visitors of the town admired stars in the Tver’s sky, watched townswomen, rinsing linen in the Volga River, and enjoyed Tver mint cakes.

The writer A.O. Ishimova in 1844 was amazed by attires of Tver snappy dresses: “…wearing the most hilarious hats with huge bunches of flowers, strangely cut dresses made of bright silk materials… fashion captured women’s hearts… due to the big horse road from one capital to another. However, men, as elsewhere, are more consistent in this regard, and in the families of merchants for the most part they follow the old custom not to shave their beards and wear old cut kaftans, despite all the exquisitism of the female half of the family”.

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