Mansion of the merchants of the Brusnitsyns

In the second half of the 18th century, at the corner of the Kosaya and Kozhevennaya lines, a stone house facing the bay stood. In 1787 it was rebuilt, and in 1844 the house was purchased by peasant Nikolay Mokeevich Brusnitsyn, who came from Tver province and created a leather workshop. Soon, for the illiterate but enterprising peasant, things went smoothly: he became a merchant, and the workshop expanded to become a large factory.

In 1884, the mansion was rebuilt for the brothers-merchants Brusnitsyns, and only then the building has received the present appearance. The interior decoration of the mansion was particularly rich. White Hall, dining room, and living room stood out.

After 1917, the mansion moved to the tannery plant named after A.N. Radishchev, it housed the plant management. In 1993, some rooms of the house were restored. Today, most of the historical interiors are lost, among the surviving ones there is a grand dining room, a living room, a dance hall and a billiard room.

The famous legend of the "mirror of Dracula" is associated with the mansion. It is said that from the middle of the 16th century this mirror hung in one of the Venetian palazzo, where the remains of Count Dracula himself were kept. The merchants of the Brusnitsyna bought this mirror and hung it in their living room, but with all who looked at it, different misfortunes were happening. After the mysterious death of the merchant's granddaughter, the mirror was hidden in the pantry. After the revolution, it was in the recreation center named after Kirov, and later returned to the mansion and hung in the office of the deputy director. After a while, the deputy director vanished without a trace, and the cabinet was boarded.