Residential building of Shamsi Asadullayev

The luxurious mansion of Shamsi Asadullayev (1840 - 21.04.1913) is to be found in a green and shady area of central Baku, at the junction of Gogol, Tolstoy (formerly Gimnazicheskaya) and Hazi Aslanov (formerly Karantinnaya) Streets. This principal palace of Shamsi Asadullayev, the "king of oil and kerosene", as the Baku millionaire was known, was built in 1896 to the design of German architect Johann Wilhelm Edel (1863 - 14.02.1932) and has monumental facades on all three venerable city streets.

The luxury of its apartments and the richness of its interiors, including murals in the front rooms, state the significance of this classical building, saturated with shaped space; rhythmic window openings over deeply rusticated floors and an abundance of balconies on prominent stone brackets.

Shamsi Asadullayev was also a major property owner. His mansion on Gogol Street was his main home - he lived and worked in his main office there. He also had houses on the streets now named after Rashid Behbudov and Dilara Aliyeva, and magnificent dachas in Mardakan and Shuvelan. He also built, at his own expense a beautiful mosque in the village of Amirjan, which, alas, was barbarously demolished in Soviet times. He had property in Russia, too.

It is interesting that when construction began on a new building, Shamsi Asadullayev had his own special custom. Before laying the foundation, he assembled all his family at a round table. At its centre was a large jug filled with gold coins in 10-rouble denominations, with the image of the tsar, or with 25 rouble imperials. Each member of the family dipped a hand into the jug and scooped up as many coins as they could in a handful. Then in turn, with the head of the family last, they threw the coins into the foundations of the new building.

The threshold would have the Latin word Salve laid out in marble; directly translating as a greeting, it later acquired a different connotation - as a talisman to preserve the well-being, happiness, wealth and health of all the household.

I wonder how many coins are buried in the foundation of this building, we will probably never know. After all, strategically placed in the urban planning of Baku’s historical centre, it is an architectural monument protected by the state.