When the Duc de Ribas recaptured the village of Hadjibey from the Turkish army, Empress Catherine II advised him to create in the emerging town the most favorable conditions for trade, as well as to turn it into a safe harbor for merchants. The policy letter of the Russian autocrat was taken into account. At the end of the XIX century Odessa became the fourth largest populated area, and its port — the second largest in terms of cargo turnover in the Russian Empire.
Developed trade stimulated the construction of masses of hotels in the city. «Notel du Nord» on Italianskaya and «Parisian» on Deribasovskaya, «Passage» and «France», «Imperial», «Bristol» and «Bolshaya Moskovskaya» received not only merchants, but also those who later made them famous throughout the world. For example, it is known that not only Chekhov and Kuprin, but also Robert Lewis Stevenson himself stayed in hotel «London».
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The Bolshaya Moskovskaya Hotel was featured in The Golden Calf. The Great Combinator and his milk brothers lived there before moving to Vasisualy Lokhankin’s «crow’s slobodka». The detailed description of the interiors and service features suggest that Messrs. Ilf and Petrov spent a lot of time in the rooms of Bolshaya Moskovskaya.
The construction of hotel «Bolshaya Moskovskaya» fell on the so-called hotel boom in Odessa. Hotels and profitable houses in the city built all those who had money surplus. Among them was the trading house of Dementiev and Vasiliev, specializing in trade in goods from the East — tea, coffee, Japanese silk, Chinese fans and bamboo furniture.
«Dementiev & Co.», according to the fashion of the time and the example of their colleagues, wanted to build a luxurious office for their commerce. Something in the manner of Hamburg’s «Chili House». For this purpose they bought out the half-destroyed house of Gaaz on Deribasovskaya Street and invited Lev Vlodek, an architect known in the city. While they were building (1901-1905), the business of their trading house was shaken. Instead of an office they had to set up a hotel in the building, which was supposed to improve their financial situation. Although, on the first floor there was still room for a tea store, office of «Dementiev and Co.», lamp store of I.I. Radi, haberdashery store of Sh. Nesterman and «Tatar» restaurant.
«Bolshaya Moskovskaya» in 1905 is a luxurious five-story building, made in the fashionable at the beginning of the last century «Art Nouveau» style.
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Even on Deribasovskaya Street it stood out for its mezzanine with huge windows designed for store windows and exquisite stucco on the walls of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors. The moldings were made by sculptors T. Fishel and S. Milman. Milman, and so successfully that they gave rise to the story about the «house with faces», allegedly embedded in the wall of people, which later became part of the «almanac of the most picturesque legends of Odessa».
In addition, the hotel operated one of the first in the city lifting machines, called today an elevator, the rooms had baths, electric lighting and steam heating. «Bolshaya Moskovskaya» was a first-class hotel in terms of interiors and service, but relatively inexpensive — from a ruble per day per room, so it quickly became one of the most popular hotels in the city.
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During the Soviet period, the first floor of the former hotel housed the city’s best confectionery store and the documentary film theater «Khronika», but the top of the building had deteriorated. In 2006, the Odessa City Planning Council gave the «go-ahead» for the restoration and reconstruction of the former Bolshaya Moskovskaya building to Incor Group. Spaniard Alberto Foyo was chosen as the architect, but he was later replaced by a couple of Odessa-based Povstanyukovs.
Those who come on holiday in Odessa today will be amazed by the beauty of the already restored facade of the «house with faces», which has been given back its pristine luster. The only disadvantage of the reconstruction were two zinc-titanium floors added to the roof, which spoiled the overall style and silhouette of the building. Those who will visit the Black Sea coast in the near future, presumably five-star Bolshaya Moskovskaya will be pleased with the opportunity to stay in one of its 59 rooms, as well as to admire the rhythm of life Deribasovskaya from the platforms of elegant balconies, from the windows of one of the two restaurants or from a sun lounger in the greenhouse on the roof of the building.