cafe "l'Etrange" in Moscow Maria Mikhailova, Maxim Shirnin

Passing the gallery

A photo: Sergey Morgunov, Ekaterina Morgunov

Leading headings: Nina Farizova

Architect: Maria Mikhailova, Maxim Shirnin, Vera Bobrova

Magazine: (81) 2004

In the Moscow cafe "l'Etrange" (l'etranger translated from French as "foreigner") at 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya, 13, each thing has its own history. It all started with an old bar counter, brought from a famous hotel in Nice, soft chairs and wooden mannequins bought in antique shops in Paris. All these furnishings prompted the idea of ​​an old cozy restaurant to architects, which was once visited by great artists, poets and musicians. Reproductions of paintings with specially painted craquelure give a nostalgic atmosphere to the institution: Claude Lorrain, Antoine Watteau, Joseph Werne, and Jacob van Reisdal. Two-level space with a wooden staircase creates dynamics inside a small room. In general, the interior does not impress the remake: everything looks in the style of a romantic French cafe from the beginning of the twentieth century.