Perlov Tea House

The shop “Tea-Coffee” on Myasnitskaya street 19 is the only “pagoda house” decorated in Chinese style in Moscow. The three-story house on Myasnitskaya was built in 1890-1893 by the famous tea merchant Sergei Vasilyevich Perlov, who acquired old buildings here from merchant-philanthropist Varvara Yakovlevna Lepeshina in 1877. The shop for selling tea was built by the project of Moscow architect Roman Ivanovich Klein, one of the most popular architects in Russia at the end of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th century.

The subsequent decoration of this house in the style of a Chinese pagoda was appeared in 3 years and associated with the visit of the representative of the Chinese emperor, dignitary Li Hongjan, to Moscow for the coronation of Nicholas II in 1896. The Chinese chancellor thought he would stop at the Perlovs tea dealers, so Sergei Perlov decided to give the house the appearance of a Chinese pagoda to win the attention of the important guest to negotiate a contract for tea delivery. The magnificent exotic facade and interiors of the building were designed by another Moscow architect Karl Karlovich Gippius, a master of eclectics and modernism.