АРИСТОКРАТИЯ И ЕЕ ВЛАДЕНИЯ В ДВУХ СТОЛИЦАХ РОССИЙСКОЙ ИМПЕРИИ, 1890–1914 ГГ.: ГОРОДСКАЯ СОБСТВЕННОСТЬ КАК ИСТОЧНИК БЛАГОСОСТОЯНИЯ

Abstract

The article considers an issue of changing the attitude of the Russian aristocracy to their urban possessions in St. Petersburg and Moscow in the context of the capitalist economy of 1890–1914. The study main attention is focused of the composition and value of that property, the nature of its use, the size and dynamics of the urban real estate income. The article analyzes the factors, primarily related to the favorable economic environment and the overall development of the industrial city space in the modern era, which contributed to a fairly successful adaptation of the large landowners from the aristocracy to the new economic realities. The research is based on the archival materials from the personal funds of the largest landowners of the Russian Empire that contain a detailed economic documentation on many urban possessions. The most important conclusions should be attributed primarily to the observed economic pragmatism of the aristocratic owners in relation to the housing complexes and urban areas. Along with spending heavily on their Palace residences in the capitals and maintaining their representative status, they started investing significant assets in other types of urban real estate – the apartment and commercial buildings. This allowed the aristocracy in the period between 1890 and 1914 to significantly increase their revenue from urban property, which, in terms of volume, ranked second after the income from agricultural estates. It can be stated that St. Petersburg and Moscow were then considered by the aristocracy not only as the centers of attraction due to the proximity of the Imperial Court and government institutions, but also as attractive objects for capital investment, the use of technical innovations and a comfortable private life.