The three-story building with an angular rotunda and porticoes is Petersburg's last ducal palace. It was designed by architect Alexander Hrenov as a residence of the grand duke Nicolay Nikolaevich, Jr. before the First World War.
Nicolay Nikolaevich was a cousin-uncle of the emperor Nicholas II. At the beginning of World War I Nicolay Nikolaevich was the Commander-in-Chief. A year later he was displaced by the emperor who decided to lead the army himself. Some saw the growing popularity of the Grand Duke as the reason for resignation, while others concluded that it was caused by the defeats of the Russian army in the battles of 1915.
After the February revolution, Nikolay Nikolaevich stayed in Dulber, Crimea. Together with the other members of the Romanov family who managed to reach Crimea and Novorossiysk, he avoided the fate of those who stayed in Petrograd.
18 family members of the Romanov family -including the emperor, the empress and their five children- were killed by the Bolsheviks.
In April of 1919 Nikolay Nikolaevich and his wife left Russia on board the British battleship "Malboro". He settled in France under the assumed name Borisov. During his emigration many saw him as the main contender to the Russian throne. Nikolay Nikolaevich died in 1929 and he was buried in Cannes.
In 1917, the mansion of Nicholay was used by the Investigation Commission of the Revolutionary Tribunal. One of their first victims accused of counter-revolutionary activity was Countess Sophia Panina, known for her charity work. Among the others The Tribunal also arrested Vladimir Purishkevich, one of the leaders of the monarchists, known for his involvement in the assassination of Grigory Rasputin. In 1918, he was sentenced to four years of public works, but was later freed under amnesty.
In July 1918 the famous writer Alexander Kuprin also ended up here. The Tribunal found some monarchist sentiments and the praise of the Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich in one of Kuprin’s newspaper feuilletons.
Kuprin spent a total of three days under arrest before being released. In the early years of the revolutionary tribunal, their actions were not entirely inhumane. However, the oppressive machine of the Soviet state was just starting.
