Dattan's House

38 and 40, Svetlanskaya Street

Dattan’s House

The building opposite GUM merits special attention because it is also connected with the Kunst and Albers firm. The construction was commissioned to the same architect as the main building across the street, Junghändel; it was intended as dormitory quarters for the company staff. Designed in art nouveau, it is noted for its lavish, even sumptuous, interior decor. There was a white-columned dance hall exceptionally richly decorated, a library, a billiard room, and a cafeteria with catering services for the residents. Not much has survived after several reconstructions, but you can still see the cut glass in the doors of the former dining room, and the bright and elegant columns in the former dance hall.

This building was also known as Dattan’s House because one floor was used by the manager of Kunst & Albers, the Councilor of State, Adolph V. Dattan. Other floors served at different times as the German Consulate, and as the Headquarters of the American Expeditionary Force during the 1918-20 Intervention. In 1930 the building was given over to the Physiotherapeutic Research Institute (FTII) and has housed it ever since.

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