Constructed in 1909 by the engineer I. Meshkov, the building originally known as the Hotel Versailles looked unusual--indeed, ultramodern--to the city’s residents of that time.  Its most outstanding feature is a predilection for the motifs of classicism, such as the use of columns between the arched windows and pilasters.  The building is remarkable for its ornamentation and the lavish use of smalt and ceramics.  While the classical details are strictly decorative, the Versailles is a good example of art nouveau with its apt use of new materials, especially concrete with metal.

     In 1935, the hotel was renamed for the legendary ship the Chelyuskin.  The Chelyuskin expedition had started from Murmansk, the Russian seaport by Barents Sea, with the intention to pursue the perilous “Northeastern Passage” through the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean, the Bering Strait, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the Sea of Japan, in order to reach Vladivostok during a single navigational season.  This daring enterprise met with tragedy, but ended in heroism and great fame.  On February 13, 1934, the ship was forced to a halt in the heavy ice of the Chukchi Sea and began slowly but surely to be crushed.  After months of waiting, the participants in  the Chelyuskin expedition were saved in a daring rescue maneuver by Soviet pilots.  Proud and grateful, their country awarded these pilots the new order of “Hero of the Soviet Union.”  On their way back to Moscow in June 1934, the participants and the pilots were celebrated at the Versailles, which was decorated with lilies-of-the-valley strewn over the street in front.