12 points
3 km
4 hours
Historical Background
The building was erected in the late 1760s in the style, typical of the 18th century, that was transitional from Baroque to Classicism. Later, in the 1930s, two floors would be added to the cinema. The building was reconstructed in the 1950s: the carriage archway was bricked up and the exterior decoration completely changed. In the early 20th century the building belonged to two ladies, M. D. Arefyeva and E. E. Popova. Popova, the owner of the western part of the house, opened a cinematograph called Vulkan (Volcano) in her half in 1915–1916. The part that belonged to Arefyeva housed the most prestigious photographic establishment in Tver. In the late 19th century the renowned photographers S. D. Krinsky and Ya. A. Ellengorn worked here, but it was the Ellengorn dynasty that made this house famous. In the 1870s the process of making photographs was complicated and demanded great precision. Using light, photographers brought out the volume of a face, hid flaws, and emphasized good features. The Ellengorns worked with light as painters work with paint. The son, Evgeny Yakovlevich Ellengorn, became a member of the All-Russian Society of Photographers in 1920, photographed the “star” of the day, Sergei Yesenin, during his visit to Tver in 1924, and in 1929 took part in the 3rd International Photographic Salon in Japan. On June 30, 2015, a memorial plaque was installed on the building.