Dear All,
I take a keen interest in the biography of Prince Boris, described in the necrologue as ‘one of the most remarkable men of the last century, … aristocrat, linguist, sportsman, traveller, and explorer.’
I’m interior decorator and co-own the design firm that has recently decorated interiors of the house in Moscow (50/53 Povarskaya Street) that belonged to Prince Boris. It is now a famous restaurant called The CDL. The house is a listed building and is well-known as The House of Prince Boris Swiatopolk-Czetwertynski built in 1887 by a famous architect Pyotr Boytsov with Gothic Revival interiors and French Renaissance Revival facade. It’s a rare example of survived boiseries, staircases, wooden ceilings and doors.
We were lucky to set up a small museum in one of the halls dedicated to the history of the house, with some facts and images pertaining to Prince Boris. But regretfully, we don’t know much about him, we don’t even have his portrait.
So I kindly request anyone who has any facts, documents or photos of Prince Boris and his daughters to share with me at e.tischenko@esse.com.ru. You are welcome at the CDL Restaurant and the museum!
My instagram @ekaterinatischenkoblog.
What we know so far:
1. We have a copy of Request for Construction Permit on the plot of land in Povarskaya signed by Prince Boris dated 1887.
2. His two daughters, Princess Eudoxia and Princess Nadejde, mentioned in the Almanach du Gotha were not by his wife Vera as she was 43 when they married in 1885. She died mysteriously 5 years after their marriage and it looks like he had a relationship with another woman with whom he fathered these two girls. There’s no mention of this woman in the Almanach (were they married and where they lived?).
3. He had two stepdaughters Sophie and Anastasia, daughters of Vera from her first marriage. The house in Moscow was built exactly for the family of four, and they lived there for about 3 years up to Vera’s death in 1890. Anastasia later married Karl Gustav Mannerheim in 1892.
4. A chapter dedicated to Prince Boris (referred to as Prince ‘Czet’) in “Memoirs of Prince Blucher” (1932), his close friend, with a citation of a tribute written on his death in The Westminster Gazette.
5. A paragraph dedicated to Prince Boris in “My Memoirs. 1873-1917” (2007) by Prince Mikhail Golitsyn, a neighbour of Vera’s estate near Moscow.
6. Several short mentions of Prince Boris in various books on South Africa with some photos of local peculiarities taken by him and used as illustrations.
7. Description of membership application for the Amphitryon Club in London for Prince Boris dated 1891.
Regards,
Ekaterina Tihaya-Tischenko
