Over the weekend, the first floor of the Au Pont Rouge department store opened in St. Petersburg - perhaps the largest project in the world of urban shopping since the launch. The building of the Esders and Scheyfals trading house, built in 1907 according to the design of Constantin de Rochefort and Vladimir Lipsky, took two years to reconstruct. It was restored to its original appearance and a number of lost details, including the most characteristic - the atrium and spire, dismantled in Soviet time and restored according to sketches on the initiative of the BTK Development company, which is the owner of the building.
Au Pont Rouge was originally planned to open in the fall of 2014, but then the date was postponed several times - according to representatives of the department store, due to prolonged construction. Several architects from different countries world: Christopher Jenner and Rafael de Cardenas, Liveshuts Davidson Sandilands and Cheungwogle studios. Each floor will be different from the previous one in style. For now, you can only visit the first one, created in accordance with historical references to its original form. The interior is designed in Art Nouveau style: the floor is decorated with mosaics, and the smooth-shaped furniture is made of natural wood with marble inserts and brass casting.
Now Au Pont Rouge operates in the format of a pop-up store - summer collections of brands are presented here, already with discounts of up to 50%. These are mainly niche brands such as MSGM, Each x Others, Etre Cecile, T by Alexander Wang, Christopher Raeburn, Marques Almeida, Japanese Issey Miyake and Y-3, minimalist MM6 Maison Margiela, NO.21. Among the more expensive ones are Erdem, Toga, Isa Arfen, Simone Rocha, Ashley Williams, Peter Pilotto, Yohji Yamamoto, Victor & Rolf. Prices start from 4–6 thousand rubles for a top (including discounts) to 900 thousand rubles for a couture dress (part of the range can be viewed in the online store).
After the next floors of the building are put into operation, which is planned for the fall, a suite will remain here and a small coffee shop and souvenir shop will be opened. The brands, which are democratic by the standards of Au Pont Rouge buyers, will move to the third and fourth floors, and the second will be occupied by a store of ethical cosmetics and niche perfumes from the Moscow chain Cosmotheca. There are also plans to create a spa area and a salad bar with light dishes and drinks. Gosha Rubchinskiy, Nasir Mazhar, Illestiva and Comme des Garçons will be added to the brand list; perhaps the British brand All Saints will open its own corner.
The next stage in the revival of the department store will be the opening of a restaurant on the seventh floor - with a roof terrace and a VIP table for two in the same dome with a spire. Its opening will take place no earlier than 2016. The fifth and sixth floors will be rented out; what projects will appear there is still unknown.
At the beginning of 1905, the Belgian merchant S. Esders and the Dutch citizen N. Scheyfals received permission to build a five-story building with an attic for their trading house on the site of house number 15 on Gorokhovaya Street.
The building was built in 1906-1907 according to the design of architects Vladimir Aleksandrovich Lipsky and Konstantin Nikolaevich de Rochefort.
The prototype of the huge store was the house of the Singer company built on Nevsky Prospekt according to the design of Suzor. The main thing that these large structures have in common is the use of a metal frame base, first used by Suzor. The frame weighing 1120 tons was manufactured by E. Tillmans plant (Northern plant).
The new trading house initially had a double name: “At the Red Bridge” and the second “Esders and Schefals”. It sold clothes, shoes, haberdashery and other goods, and there were workshops for sewing dresses.
The building is decorated with abundant plaster decoration. Huge windows and narrow partitions create a clear geometry of the facade. In the three lower floors the windows are rectangular, in the fourth - with a semicircular ending, in the fifth - double window openings, in the attic - horseshoe-shaped windows. Above the windows of the fourth floor there are water lilies, and on the walls there are garlands descending from the medallions. The facade from Gorokhovaya Street ends with an attic with the names of the former owners. The rounded corner creates a smooth transition from the street to the embankment. The elegant tower, topped with a glass dome, is decorated with a spire in the form of a caduceus - the staff of the god Mercury, the patron of trade. The core of the internal space was the hall-atrium.
House near the Red Bridge – shining example rationalist modernity. It embodied innovative techniques, which were soon further developed in commercial buildings.
For many years the building housed clothing industry- factory named after Volodarsky.
The corner tower with a dome and spire was demolished in the mid-sixties of the 20th century due to its poor condition. Restored during reconstruction in 2008 - 2011. The height of the building to the top of the spire is 52 meters.
The repeatedly postponed opening of the Au Pont Rouge department store in a historical building on the corner of Moika and Gorokhovaya took place. Launching the project in the midst of a crisis, the owners did not revise the concept in favor of a more democratic one. But in vain, experts say.
Three years after the completion of the reconstruction of the façade of the Erders and Schefals Trading House, the Au Pont Rouge department store opened there on the corner of Moika and Gorokhovaya. To avoid competition with DLT and other sellers of premium and luxury products, its owner, BTK-Development, decided to focus on lesser-known, but no less expensive, niche brands. In Moscow, a similar concept brought success to the Tsvetnoy department store, but experts warn that in St. Petersburg the audience of potential buyers is quite limited, and in the midst of a crisis, the new project will have a particularly difficult time.
Au Pont Rouge department store welcomes visitors with gleaming brass and polished wood Art Deco interiors. Relaxing music is playing in the hall, and about ten consultants are walking around busily.
True, there are fewer visitors than sellers. “Really, not many people are coming in yet. They’re looking more for now, but they’re also starting to buy little by little,” the female consultant shares her impressions.
The Au Pont Rouge department store, which translated from French means “At the Red Bridge,” began operating in a historic building on the corner of the Moika embankment and Gorokhovaya street on July 18. Since the opening was at the end of the season, it had to start immediately with a sale. Now the discounts on the summer collection reach 50%. For example, a dress that previously cost 48 thousand rubles can now be bought for only 24 thousand. In August, the retailer promises to increase the discount to 60%.
Department store instead of factory
Who buys "At the Red Bridge"?
The Art Nouveau building on the corner of Moika and Gorokhovaya was built in 1907 by architects Constantin de Rochefort and Vladimir Lipsky for the ready-to-wear seller Esders and its Russian partner Schefals. During Soviet times, the house lost its trading function, but retained its fashionable orientation - a garment factory named after Volodarsky was located here. However, in the 2000s, the “heiress” of the factory, BTK Group, decided to rebuild the building into a trade and business complex and return it to its historical appearance, including the famous glass dome with a spire, dismantled during Soviet times.
The reconstruction of the facades was completed in 2012, but the opening was delayed for another three years. In particular, after DLT, which appeared nearby, attracted some of the luxury brands, BTK Group decided to do without tenants and independently develop the concept of a department store with an emphasis on niche designer brands.
The opening in this capacity was planned for the fall of 2014, but was postponed for a year. The official reason was “we didn’t have time to complete the finishing.” However, experts attribute this rather to the unstable economic situation. “Due to a sharp jump in the exchange rate and uncertainty in demand, many investment projects were frozen,” comments the head of Y Consalting Daria Yadernaya. But considering the amount of funds already invested (previously the project was estimated at $100 million - Note ed.), there is no point in waiting any longer, the expert adds.
However, for now only one floor out of seven is available to visitors. Two more levels will begin operating this year. The second, which will be decorated in Japanese style, will house the Cosmotheca cosmetics store. The third floor, like the first, will also be designed in Art Deco style. Cheaper clothes and shoes will move there, while more expensive ones will remain at the bottom. In addition to it, a flower boutique “Rose Fairy” will open.
It is planned to launch a view restaurant on the seventh floor, but this is unlikely to be a prospect this year, the company says. However, it is possible that in the near future several coffee operators will appear in the department store - we need to feed visitors something.
Not like DLT
In order not to repeat the assortment of premium and luxury players already present on the market, the Au Pont Rouge team decided to abandon the sale of Armani, Versace and other Dolche & Gabbana, which are boring to St. Petersburg fashionistas, and offer more youthful collections from European, American and Asian designers.
Despite the crisis, the general concept and price positioning of the department store were not adjusted. Currently on sale are niche brands ranging from 5 thousand to 20 thousand rubles per item (MSGM, Each x Other, Etre Cecile, T by Alexander Wang, Christopher Raeburn, Peter Pilotto, Y-3, Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, MM6 Maison Margiela, NO.21), as well as luxury Erdem, Toga, Isa Arfen, Simone Rocha, Ashley Williams, Marques Almeida, Victor&Rolf. Their cost starts from 50 thousand rubles excluding discounts. “The most expensive Erdem dress costs 900 thousand rubles, but so far it is presented only on the Internet,” says CEO Au Pont Rouge Denis Ryzhenko.
Au Pont Roug's assortment overlaps with DLT by only 10%, and with Babochka by 30%. The brands Bao Bao Issey Miyake and Sophia Webster are exclusive within St. Petersburg, that is, they are sold only in this department store. Brands GR80 and Bouchra Jarrar are exclusive on a Russian scale.
There are no domestic products in the department store yet, but in October the retailer promises to exhibit clothes by Russian designer Gosha Rubchinsky.
However, the main thing is not the brand and nationality, but the conceptuality of this or that thing. For example, on the shelves of Au Pont Rouge you can find terry swimsuits, shoes with feathered feathers, lip-shaped glasses and rubber sandals with wings a la Hermes. British fashion director Caroline Greer, who previously worked at the Moscow Tsvetnoy department store, is responsible for the selection.
“However, we take into account that St. Petersburg residents tend to dress stylishly, but less flashily than Muscovites. They prefer more restrained and laconic brands,” says Denis Ryzhenko. For example, among the niche collections there are black or gray unisex sweaters and hoodies with a simple cut.
True, potential clients are not only local residents. Now half of the buyers are foreign tourists, mostly Asians. Residents of other regions order from the online store.
Crisis Premium
Market participants surveyed by Fontanka were skeptical about the new project. “The first thing people began to give up was unnecessary expenses, such as frequent purchases new clothes, shoes and accessories. That's it now shopping centers, especially new ones, are experiencing general difficulties - a decrease in purchasing demand, a reduction in the average bill,” says Mikhail Rozhko, director of the brokerage department at NAI Becar in St. Petersburg.
According to Daria Yadernaya, despite the fact that the middle price segment suffers first of all during the crisis, the premium segment in the Northern capital also does not feel very confident. “The decline in sales in quantitative terms reaches 62% compared to last year,” the expert comments.
Such consumer sentiment against the backdrop of rising currency-linked rental rates led, in particular, to the closure of the Armani boutique in the Grand Palace shopping center on Nevsky Prospekt by the Babochka retailer.
According to Daria Yadernaya, Au Pont Rouge, despite a new concept for the Northern capital, may face a shortage of potential clients. "Potential buyers of premium designer brands there are in St. Petersburg, but their audience is not enough for an entire seven-story department store,” she says. In the same “Tsvetnoy” in Moscow there are brands of the middle price category - Rive Gauche cosmetics, Jewelry Uno de los 50, Topshop clothing.
According to the expert, in the current economic situation of Au Pont Rouge it would be advisable to invite them as tenants. “For designer items, I see these sales more online, if anywhere, as the dispersed demand can only be met online,” she says.
However, Mikhail Rozhko, on the contrary, believes that attracting tenants will not be easy. The Grand Palace and DLT projects already operating on the market are underfilled by 25-20% and 10%, respectively. “For “At the Red Bridge” to fill empty spaces, it is necessary or unique competitive advantage, but for objective reasons it is not there, or there is demand and prospects for growth in consumer activity, which, according to the optimistic scenario, will not happen for another 7-8 months,” he concludes.
Galina Boyarkova,
The history of the Au Pont Rouge department store building in its modern form begins in 1905, when representatives of the board of the famous Belgian-Dutch trading company S. Esders and K. Scheyfals, a global supplier of ready-made women's and men's clothing, bought a plot and a corner house on the Moika River embankment, 73, and Gorokhovaya Street, d. 15.
That same year, Belgian-Austrian entrepreneur Stefan Esders and his partner and nephew Karl/Charles Scheefhals from the Netherlands applied for permission to build a five-story building with an attic for a modern trading house.
Permission was received, and in the period 1906-1907, an unusual building of the trading house “S.Esders and K.Scheifals” was erected near the Red Bridge according to the design of St. Petersburg architects Vladimir Aleksandrovich Lipsky and Konstantin Nikolaevich de Rochefort.
Stefan Esders (1852-1920)
Red Bridge. View of the quarter before the construction of the Esders and Scheifals department store building (1900)
Construction of the building, decorative features
The basis of the building, designed in Art Nouveau style, was a massive metal frame weighing 70,000 poods (1,147 tons), the idea of which Rochefort borrowed from the recently opened building of the Singer company on Nevsky Prospekt, original example a combination of Parisian and New York styles.
However, the building on the Moika is somewhat more modest; all the magnificent details have been removed upstairs. The bottom of the house is somewhat in tune with modern architecture, huge rectangular windows and rather narrow partitions. On the fourth floor there are window openings with a semicircular ending, on the fifth there are double windows, and the attic floor is decorated with horseshoe-shaped windows.
Above the windows of the fourth floor there are water lilies, and on the walls there are garlands descending from the medallions. The facade from the Moika River ends with a low attic with the names of the owners.
The original cut corner of the house creates the impression of a smooth transition from Gorokhovaya Street to the Moika River embankment. The corner of the house was originally crowned with a tall shako, which became the decoration of the Trading House “At the Red Bridge”.
After completion of the work, the authoritative acceptance commission noted that the trade building commercial enterprise on the corner plot No. 73/15 of the right bank of the Moika and Gorokhovaya Streets fully meets the modern requirements of a large shopping center.
View of the Moika embankments from the Red Bridge (1890-1900)
Source: Iroshnikov M.P., Shelayev Y.B., Protsai L.A., Before the Revolution. St.Petersburg in Photographs: 1890-1914, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York, Nauka Publishers, Leningrad, JV Smart, Leningrad, 1991
The first multi-storey store in Russia
With its layout and convenient placement of retail and showrooms, warehouses and office premises, the building fully complied with the standards of the best European department stores of the early twentieth century.
At the same time, the building became the first multi-story store in Russia.
For ten years, until 1917 Trading house on the Moika was considered the most fashionable and wealthy trading enterprise, offering comfortable conditions and a wide range of products for wealthy buyers of St. Petersburg. It was a chic, spacious, light-filled grand magasin, where literally everything was sold, from lace and gloves to coats and hats.
Among the store's clients were members of the imperial family, including Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Nicholas II.
Trading house "Esders and Scheyfals" 1913 Source: "St. Petersburg through a century",
Garment factory
After the October Revolution, the building, abandoned by the owners, was empty for a year and a half, until in July 1919 the Council of the National Economy of the Northern District of Petrograd made a decision to transfer the store building to the Central Garment Factory. In 1922, this Leningrad production was named after the Soviet commissar V. Volodarsky, who was a tailor before the revolution.
In September 1928, the women's clothing workshop of the factory named after. V. Volodarsky was allocated to an independent factory "Bolshevichka", which became one of the most famous Soviet light industry enterprises.
In 1992, the enterprise was transformed into CJSC Clothes Factory St. Petersburg (FOSP trademark).
Trading house "Esders and Scheyfals" on the Moika.
A tailor and cutter taking a client's measurements (1908)
Moika River and Red Bridge (1910-1913)
There are several versions of why the building's spire was destroyed in the 1930s. According to one of them, many buildings of the Art Nouveau and eclectic era in Leningrad lost their spiers, as they interfered with the passage of the television signal. According to another version, the demolition was caused by regular leaks. There was also a version of dismantling the spire to give a better appearance Gorokhovaya Street and Admiralty.
In the 1960s, the glass dome (skylight) was also dismantled.
It is worth noting that Esders and Scheifals also built buildings in Wroclaw, Vienna, Brussels and Paris, however, only St. Petersburg and Paris, which now houses the C&A department store, were preserved.
Petrograd. Patrol of the Military Revolutionary Committee on the Red Bridge (1917)
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