Gurzuf (Elite residence)

Gurzuf

This was the first major European-style house built on the southern coast. It belonged to the military governor of New Russia, Armand Emmanuel du Plessy, duc de Richelieu. Richelieu acquired the 380-acre property at Gurzuf for 4,000 rubles in 1808 and promptly commissioned an architect in Odessa to design the estate house. Construction was hampered by the lack of good roads and labor, but Richelieu was able to throw a five-day house-warming party for what contemporaries described as his “Greek style” house in September 1811.

Richelieu did not visit again. By the time Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich stayed at Gurzuf in 1816 (for lack of anywhere else to spend the night) the house was a near ruin. Count M. S. Vorontsov acquired the estate in 1824 as real estate values began to skyrocket. He sold it in 1834 to I. I. Funduklei (governor of Kiev 1839-1852 and later controller-general of the Duchy of Warsaw), for 100,000 rubles - a tidy profit. Funduklei cultivated the vineyards and accumulated an impressive wine cellar.

Natal’ia V. Bogdanova, “Dom Rishel’e v Gurzufe,” in ed. Zhanna Amfiteatrova, Frantsuzy v Krymu (Simferopol’: Vidavnitstvo Ragima Gumbatova, 2004): 58-61.

Natal’ia V. Bogdanova, “Imenie I.I. Fundukleia v Gurzufe (1834(35)-1881 gody),” in ed. V.P. Kazarin, Mir usadebnoi kul'tury: II Krymskie Mezhdunarodnye nauchnye chteniia (Simferopol’: “Krymskij Arkhiv,” 2002): 18-22.