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From the town’s legends
“…It must have been a chilly January night. Drizzling rain filled the air. It was late, and the inhabitants of the house were quietly bustling in the corners, attending to minor tasks by the warm glow of candlelight. Maids were issuing final instructions to the cooks. A new trend had surfaced among the fresh bourgeoisie of Chișinău, introduced by the ladies who had visited Paris—the decoration of Christmas trees. Amidst gossip and a glass or two of cranberry liqueur, the women adorned the tree with sparkling ribbons, colorful candles, and an assortment of sweets.”

The maids were working tirelessly; tonight, they would only get a few hours of sleep. Christmas was approaching.Walnut cozies had been baked and were resting on towels. The pig they had prepared for Yule was now sitting in the cellar. From that pig, the householders would have sausages, calabash, and saltison on the Christmas table. Tonight, the cooks would slaughter a couple more pigs from the yard to enjoy conkers and some hot roast meat upon their return from Mass. After the meal, they would bring out the liqueur jugs and indulge in pancakes and jam. Fasting was observed as a sacred practice, aimed at purifying the soul, while houses were being readied for the arrival of the Lord. Children long since sent to bed still giggled under the covers, tomorrow they would go caroling. Adorned with shawls up to their noses, they will fight the snow in their felts and the frost in their cheeks, but they will come home with baskets full of bagels, apples and nuts.
The hutches would not hold back, and every family would buy hundreds of pretzels to be ready for the lines of carolers.
Brothers Ivan and Nicholas Lebedev went out of the house, leaving their carriage and coachman. They took Seminarskaya Street (now Metropolitan G. Banulescu-Bodoni) to Aleksadrovskaya Street and from there another block down the same street to the Nobility Club (today the Patria-Loteanu cinema stands on the site of this building), where the great hereditary nobility, various officials and wealthy merchants used to gather in the evenings. It was also there that the Lebedev brothers met the merchant Jacob Nazarov, a Russian from Lviv whom they had long been courting. He was to buy the brothers’ urban villa.
The villa was located at the intersection of Seminarskaya Street and Kaușanskaya Street (today Column 110). A very good place close to the Diocesan House and the Metropolitan’s buildings (today no longer there), and the Nativity Cathedral.
Kauchenskaya Street until recently was the central axis of the city. This street stands right on the border between the old town, with its streets criss-crossed like a spider’s web, and above that imaginary border the new town began. Across the park, further up the hill, stretched the new axis of Chisinau, Milionaya Street (unofficially named because the owners of the new buildings on this street were very wealthy (today’s Stefan cel Mare cel Mare și Sfînt Boulevard)). It was a perfect place for a wealthy nephew like the lipovinean Nazarov, who was making his way in the circles of the titled families of Chisinau in the 1900s.

After a few rounds of brandy and a few exchanges of cigarettes, the men high-fived. Nazarov left with the promise of a house in the middle of nowhere, and the Lebedev brothers – with a good bargain.
It’s Christmas Day. After Mass, in every house in Chisinau, the festive table was spread with pork roasts, sarmale and cozonaci. But the dishes were not eaten without giving alms to neighbours and the poor. People carrying plates of food were on every street. The Lebedev maids also went out to hand out cakes to the poor, and the whole town already knew that their husbands had sold the lipovean’s villa.
After lunch the children went out to the derdel, and the parents went to their friends’ houses to party. In the evening, the children went out with the Star and the boys with the Irods. A celebration of childhood.
Long after Christmas, Nazarov entered the house with the right of ownership. Here his family had a nice life, they had parties and coveted the most distinguished guests of those times. He loved the house and looked after it. During the war the villa was damaged, but in 1948 it was rebuilt. For many years after that it stood proudly reminding passers-by of the beautiful history of the families who lived there …” (Urban legend by Anastasia Taburceanu)