On May 1, 1703 the garrison of Swedish fortress Nienshanz surrendered at discretion. Having inspecting reconquered territory, Peter the Great chose for the construction of the new Russian fortress island Lust-Eland, that featured favorable geographic location. Behind the fortress, called Saint Petersburg, a tsar residence was to be built, so it overlooked the boundless waters, the surrounding country and the fortress itself.
The first building of Saint Petersburg, the wooden house of Peter I, was erected, as legend goes, in three days (24 - 26 May) by the soldiers of Semenovsky regiment. In the 18th century another legends was quite popular, according to which Peter I, who enjoyed working as a carpenter, constructed himself his first house in Saint Petersburg. The wooden one-story building, made from pine beams painted as bricks, didn't even have any foundation. While the house had neither furnace nor flue it was used only in summer time. In fact it was a typical Russian izba (peasant's house) with two living rooms divided by hallway. Nevertheless, it was called "Red mansion", as red color in Russian culture has been always associated with beauty and besides the walls of the house was painted red.
The building has four rooms: study, dining room, bedroom and hallway. The inside fittings of the room was quite modest. The walls were covered with white linen. Peter I preferred small apartments, that's why the ceiling height was just 2,5 meter and the doors were even lower, whereas the tsar was 204 centimeters high.
Peter the Great, who got easily inspired by fresh ideas and rapidly lost interest in started project, lived in his first residence not for long - from 1703 to 1708, and only in warm seasons. After the Summer and Winter Palaces had been built, the tsar never returned to the first dwelling house.
In the middle of the 18th century in the dinning room of the house a chapel was established. There the miracle-working icon of Christ the Savior, that Peter the Great never left home during all his military campaigns, and the pray "Our father", written by Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, were placed. To bow before the famous icon many citizens came - members of royal family, grandees, merchants and bourgeoisie. It was especially popular with pupils and students, flooding the chapel before the examinations. People believed that this icon could help to pass all the examinations successfully. This belief was so popular that some parents personally took their not so industrious offspring to pray before the icon. The icon gave the name to the wharf on the Summer Garden passage - "The wharf to the Savior". The calls of the sailor on duty sounded quite tempting: "To Savior for two coins".
According to the wish of Peter the Great architect Domenico Trezzini constructed a wooden shed over the house that was to preserve for posterities the first dwelling house in Saint Petersburg. Under Catherine II (the Great) the house was covered with stone case and in 1844 architect Kuzmin changed the old cover with the new one that exists till nowadays. Unfortunately, all these coverings couldn't protect the building from the destructive Petersburg climate. The wooden house suffered greatly from dampness and after the terrible floods of 1777 and 1824 the house required thorough repairs.
In 1852 the building was encircled with cast-iron fence and few years later in front of the house a garden was set, where the bronze bust of Peter the Great was placed.
After the Great October Revolution the first restoration works were started in the house and in 1930 the museum devoted to the founder of the city and the way of life of Saint Petersburg in the 18th century was opened. In the 70s wide-scale reconstruction works were conducted to restore the original image of the building distorted by the later alteration.
In the study, dining room and bedroom of the house of Peter the Great the personal belongings of the tsar, his dress coats, handprint and some household objects of the 18th century are on display. The exposition tells about Russian victories in Northern War 1700 - 1721, about the history of Saint Petersburg's foundation and the history of the monument, a contemporary of the city.