This street goes from Prechistenskiyc Gates Square to the Garden Ring. The name first appeared in the 17th century. At that time this was an area of meadows on which stoga (haystacks) stood, and so it was called Stozhye or Ostozhye.
A few noble families lived here, but the area was mainly settled by small traders, craftsmen and members of the intelligentsia of modest means. The aristocracy did not regard the area with favour, and only began to settle here in the 18th century and in the first years after the Great Fire of 1812.
The street's simple appearance corresponds to the unpretentious nature of its residents. Modest commercial properties were to be found next to inns and public houses of which there were none on Prechistenka or the Arbat. There were pigeon lofts here, and people organised cock fighting here as well.
From 1935 the street became known as Metrostroyevskaya (Metro-builders') Street, because the street was opened up for the laying of the first underground rail line. Under the General Plan for Reconstruction promulgated in 1935 it was intended to knock down all the buildings at the beginning of the street so as to turn the area into a huge square in front of the Palace of Soviets.
Before walking up Ostozhenka it is worth going along Vsekhsvyatsky Passage (in Soviet times - Soimonovsky) down to the river. At the junction of this street with Prechistenkaya Naberezhnaya (Embankment) is one of the most beautiful and unusual buildings in Moscow, known as the House of Fertsov (No.l).
Pertsov was an engineer in the early years of this century, and he was devoted to the arts. He decided to build a house which he could rent out to artists as flats and studios. He wanted the house to attract the eye with its unusual appearance, and also to express the national characteristics of the Russian arts.
It was built by the architects Zhukov and Shnaubert to designs made by the artist Malyutin, who was the creator of Russian mafryoshka dolls. The sides of the house are decorated with beautiful majolica panels with themes from Russian faiy tales, and one of the balconies is supported by fantastic snakes twisted into spirals.
This fairy tale house entered Moscow's history not only in architectural but also in theatrical terms, because the famous Moscow cabaret 'The Bat' was started here. It was founded by Nikita Baliyev, a member of the Moscow Arts Theatre, who became the first Russian compere, and Nikolai Tarasov, an oil industrialist who was a devotee of the theatre. They decided to organise comedy evenings for members of the Arts Theatre, and chose the basement of the Pertsov house as the venue. It is said that when Baliyev and Tarasov first ventured into the basement a bat flew out at them, and this event gave the cabaret its name.
The opening ceremony took place on 29 February 1908 with a parody on the show 'The Blue Bird', which had been premiered by MKhAT the week before. The cabaret's theme song was given its first performance:
A whirling bat takes off
Among nocturnal fires,
We weave a gaudy pattern
Against the monotony of life.
The most important rule in The Bat's' Comedy Charter was: Thou shall not take offence'. The cabaret's shows featured well-known actors in unexpected roles:
Kachalov as a circus strongman, and Knipper-Chekhova as a Paris chanteuse. Nemirovich-Danchenko directed the amateur orchestra, and Stanislavsky demonstrated 'the wonders of black and white magic'.
The cabaret soon acquired a good reputation in theatrical circles, but it did not last long. In the autumn of 1910 Nikolai Tarasov, 'The Bat's' patron, killed him-
self. Thus deprived of their source of finance, 'The Bat' began charging for its performances to a wider public, and in 1912 Nikita Valiyev set up his own theatre under the same name after leaving MKhAT. The address of 'The Bat' changed and from 1915 it settled in the theatre basement of the famous Nirnsee house on Bolshoi Gnezdnikovsky Lane. At present the former Pertsov house is owned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
