System of financing of construction of the grand Livadia palace in 1910-1912

The article deals with an important aspect of the history of constructing and reconstructing imperial palace complexes in Crimea. Using materials from the Ministry of the Imperial Court’s archives at the Russian State Historical Archive, the author analyzes the financing of architect N. P. Krasnov’s major project - the construction of the Grand Livadia Palace and several service buildings attached to it. The article notes the exceptional organizational, administrative, and financial status of these works from the beginning. The architect personally managed the work and interacted with contractors, forwarding payment invoices to V.N. Kachalov, the manager of the Livadsko-Massandrsky appanage administration. Kachalov then requested appropriations from the Main Directorate of Appanages, which, in turn, sought allocations from the Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty. The multi-stage financing system often caused delays in processing requests from the Crimea and insufficient funds to pay the bills of contractors and suppliers received from Krasnov. Additionally, the duality of administration hampered the issue of the source of funds to pay for single purchases, and failures in communication between responsible persons led to conflicts in using amounts received from the sale of used materials. The author emphasizes that the established financing scheme allowed the architect to exceed the preliminary estimate several times when constructing the new palace for the emperor in Livadia. Officials in St. Petersburg did not pay attention to cost overruns for a long time, becoming concerned only at the projec’s final stages, when completing the construction became the only option, despite significant unplanned expenses.