Owners of the Palace

It was a member of the next generation of the Yusupovs, Prince Boris (1794-1849), who bought the house on the Moika in 1830. Seven years of remodeling transformed a modest mansion into a sprawling, luxurious palace, a very fitting, sumptuously decorated St. Petersburg residence for the Yusupovs. Prince Boris soon relocated the priceless collection of paintings, marble and porcelain artifacts amassed by his father, N.B. Yusupov Senior, to the new St. Petersburg estate.

Boris' spouse, Princess Zinaida Yusupova nee Naryshkina (1809-1893), a woman of extraordinary beauty, eagerly took over the matronly duties at the Moika palace. The irresistible good looks of Zinaida Yusupova were admired by many contemporaries, including royalty, Russian Emperor Nicholas I and French Emperor Napoleon III among them.

Zinaida's son, Prince Nikolai Yusupov (1827-1891), usually referred to in the family as "junior" to distinguish him from his celebrated grandfather, took over the palace in the mid-1850s.

A law graduate of St. Petersburg University, Yusupov Jr. started his career as a clerk in the Chancellery of Emperor Nicholas I, his godfather. Then he went on a long trip to Europe, running various diplomatic missions for the Tsar. Upon his return to Russia, N.B. Yusupov Junior married Countess Tatiana Ribotpierre. They had two beautiful daughters: Zinaida and Tatiana.

Nikolai Yusupov Jr. made an excellent career as a courtier and statesman. In his free time, he composed and played music, displaying a great deal of talent in the musical arts. Prince Yusupov was an honorary academic of the Paris Conservatory, Music Academy in Rome, and Munich Artistic Society. He donated generously to charity and patronized the arts, especially after his wife and younger daughter Tatiana passed on.

The dazzling beauty and kind, affable personality of Nikolai Yusupov Jr.'s daughter Zinaida (1861-1939) made her the brightest star in the constellation of aristocratic heiresses of her time. Her son Felix recalls: "Not only was she intelligent, educated and artistic; she was also the most charming, kind and outgoing person I knew "When my mother appeared, she lit up the room with some kind of heartfelt, demure inner radiance".

Zinaida Yusupova was a naturally gifted person and destiny's darling, an heiress to a fabulous fortune. Young men from the best aristocratic families of Europe sought her hand in marriage, but she chose Count Felix Sumarokov-Elston (1856-1928) in whose veins, according to his family legend, flowed the blood of legendary army general Kutuzov and King of Prussia Friedrich-Wilhelm IV. When Felix married Zinaida, the only remaining Yusupov after her father's death, in 1882, Felix sought the royal permission for himself and his spouse to be titled both as Princes Yusupov and Counts Sumarokov-Elston.

While remaining the largest landowners in Russia, the Yusupovs could not remain aloof to the ongoing industrial revolution. By the beginning of the 1900s, they had reinvented themselves as successful entrepreneurs, owners of brick factories, sawmills, textile and cardboard factories and mines. But the main wealth of the family was entreasured in priceless art collections and palaces of unheard-of magnificence: the Moscow palace at Kharitonievsky pereulok, a palace in Moscow's suburb Arkhangelskoe, Koreiz Palace in the Crimea, and the palace on the Moika in St. Petersburg. Realizing the historical and monetary value of their riches, the Prince and Princess Yusupov made a will in 1900, wherein they wrote: "In the event of sudden termination of our family, we hereby bequeath all our movable and immovable property, in particular, our collections of fine artworks, rarities and jewels, to the state". Fortunately, the ancient family did not cease, although the Yusupovs' oldest son Nikolai was shot and killed in a deal at the age of 25.

Zinaida Yusupova was concerned about her younger son Felix (1887-1967), whose outrageous behavior ran contrary to aristocratic rules. Felix had earned quite a reputation as a mindless person and womanizer.

It was a great relief for the family when Felix announced his decision to find a wife and settle down. Princess Irina of royal descent seemed like a prime match for an heir to such an ancient and distinguished family as the Yusupovs. The bride's parents, Nicholas I's grandson, Grand Duke Alexander, and Alexander III's daughter, Grand Duchess Xenia, cooperated in making this matrimony a success. Irina Yusupova was born on March 21, 1915 in the old Yusupov mansion on the Moika. Her godparents were Emperor Nicholas II and widowed Empress Maria. The newborn princess was the last Yusupov ever to be born in Russia.