I knew this couple. We met on various festive occasions in the house of my cousin Rafail Vannikov. She is Lyusya Kosygina, director of the Library for Foreign Literature, daughter of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, he is Jermen Gvishiani - Deputy Chairman of the USSR State Committee for Science and Technology. At the feast, they behaved simply, friendly, with a sense of humor. Jermain sat down at the piano, with obvious pleasure he played and sang Vakhtang Kikobidze's famous song "My Years, My Wealth."
In 1979, Jermain was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. And at the same time he received a plot in the academic village of Nikolina Gora and the right to build a house in this attractive location. Soon my brother called me and asked if I could recommend Jeri - as his close friends called him - an architect. I replied that I myself was ready to help him in this matter.
We met at Kosygin's dacha in Arkhangelskoye, where ten similar state buildings are located behind a green fence and guarded gates. Kosyginskaya was listed as number 1 and, according to the status of the owner, had a second fence and its own gate. When he was the People's Commissar of Armaments of the USSR, during the war, the People's Commissar of Ammunition of the USSR, and after it the leading leader of the atomic project, my uncle Boris Vannikov used dacha No. 3 and the inhabitants of these dachas were friends. The children have inherited the friendship of their parents.
Sometimes I stayed at the 3rd dacha, and once, when I had to return to Moscow, and my uncle and his car were spending the night in the city, my aunt called Alexei Nikolaevich with a request to give me a lift to the capital. I went to the gate and got into his limousine. (Then, in the mid-50s, he was the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR). The acquaintance was limited to the words: "hello, thank you, goodbye." "ZIS-101" moved in the general stream of cars. There was no escort from the front or from the back.
Communication with Lucy and Jermaine was more meaningful. The program of the project was discussed. The house was supposed to accommodate three apartments - the main one and the central one - for the parents and two on the sides for the son and daughter. The house should have a double garage, sauna and something less substantial. At the same time, there had to be one entrance. The future owners are accustomed to living under guard, but here it will not be. In conclusion, Lucy said: "And please make us a pitched roof, otherwise I will not love this house." The site was adjacent to the Moscow River on one side, and I, insisting on the need to go out to it, said that if it was not there, then I would not love the house. Lucy resigned herself to my whim.
After a short time, I handed Jerman a sheet of Whatman paper, on which all the projections of the house were depicted on a scale of 1: 100, without making any claims regarding the fee. One sheet in a friendly way can be easily donated. A few days later the doorbell rang, behind which stood Lucy and Jermain who agreed with the proposal. He had in his hands an imported radio with a built-in tape recorder, and she had a solid-size crystal vase, which is now in my apartment.
As everyone now knows, the customers of private houses can be divided into different categories. On the one hand, those who trust the architect in everything and we like them the most. On the other hand, those who are satisfied with the general decision, believing that they will do the rest themselves. They should not be disturbed. Lucy and Jermain belonged to the second. Working drawings were made by "Gipronia", "Akademstroy" became the contractor. For facing the facades, Jermen received the Latvian red brick “Lode”, which had been used for facing the MIET complex in Zelenograd long before.
Later, already in 84, when the house was almost ready, two Mercedes came for my wife and me. In one there were Jermen and Lucy, in the other Zurab Tsereteli, with whom we were familiar.
The day was overcast. I took some photographs, but the dark red shapes of the building, which were generally in line with the project, were difficult to distinguish in them. However, on the only surviving one, you can see a fragment facing the river, the exit I insisted on, a small terrace, symmetrical stairs descending from it and an arched loggia of the second floor. In the interiors, the owners decided everything according to their own tastes. The campaign spent the evening of that day at a feast in another village behind a green fence, where there were many state dachas lower than those of Arkhangelsk, one of which was occupied by the family of Lucy and Jermain.
The second house was built in America, 15 kilometers south of Naple, New York and almost a hundred from where I live. His customer is Sergei, who is married to the sister of my son-in-law, kind of a relative to me. He is an avid hunter and upon arrival in the United States, having raised three sons, the couple decided to build a house for two, where the game itself would hunt for the hunter. And, having found it in the named place, they bought themselves a wonderful plot with a picturesque relief, a forest and a ravine with an area - you will not believe it - 21.5 hectares. Spacious, beautiful, dream! There is where to place a vegetable garden, a garden, a reservoir. Build whatever you want!
First of all, Sergei purchased and installed a garage as a temporary home, and then he turned to me. In 2000, the three of us started working. On the ground floor there is an entrance hall, a kitchen, a large, two-light and two-level living room with a sloped ceiling, a zenith light in the entrance corner, a staircase and a balcony, a guest room, a toilet, a garage for 1 car. On the second floor there is a bedroom with all annexes, a sauna, a loggia and everything else - household and technical support. The diagonal composition, open to the surrounding space, is crowned with a "tower", from the height of which one can observe all personal space and, seeing a stray deer, an experienced hunter will easily aim and shoot him. The project was completed in all projections, and my wife - architect Galina Zhirmunskaya - glued the model.
However, I do not have a license and I do not intend to receive it. So another architect is needed - an American, who will redraw everything and put his signature. Sergey found him and he did the proper job, paid accordingly. The project received all the approval stamps. And construction began. And then it turned out that Sergei, who had previously built his first house in the Moscow region, is also one of those who prefer to do everything his own way. However, he and Irina had a very convincing motivation for that. First of all, because Irina and Sergey built their second home, like the first, with their own hands. Themselves.
They understood that such large individual stained-glass windows would be much more expensive than standard windows and would affect the cost of heating, that it is easier to make a staircase on two stringers than on one with cantilever steps, that it is more difficult to fold a fireplace than to put a finished stove and it will work more efficiently anyway Further. In a word, Sergei and Irina built their house differently than I saw it and I did not interfere with it.
Of course, not everything was done by oneself. When it was necessary to raise a wooden tower built on the ground, they ordered a truck crane, ordered carpentry, facing bricks, and other materials, but they did a lot of construction and decoration on their own. I believe that life in a house built in this way is also colored with a special feeling. And, it is clear that the owners of such a house are proud to receive guests.
I have never published these objects before for the reason that I cannot call them my own. I believe that they are more the fruit of the creativity of their owners. But the story is funny and it gave me some entertainment.
One question remains: how many deer were shot by Sergei while living in this house? I guess at least one a year. He treated me to venison and more than once. Delicious!
