Admiralty Pavilion

Built by Vasily Neyelov on the bank of the Large Pond in Tsarskoe Selo (1773). Decorated inside (1774–75). Included three pavilions. The central pavilion was known as the Sloop Barn and used to store sailing ships and rowing boats for excursions on the lake by courtiers. These included such exotic vessels as an Indian pirogue, Chinese sampan, Venetian gondola, Aleutian kayak, trekschuits of Catherine the Great and the Turkish kalek of Tsar Nicholas I (a gift from the sultan). The two side wings were aviaries, housing pheasants, peacocks and the black and white swans that swam in the park ponds. Gardens and two round pounds were dug between the main building and the side wings, joined by railings with garlands and oak leaves made at the St Petersburg Mint. Vasily Neyelov added the Sailor’s Home (1781–83), which housed the sailors who rowed courtiers to the island on the Large Pond (18th century). Architect Vasily Neyelov and engineer Johann Conrad Gerhard built a covered jetty for pleasure boats on the shoreline (1774).