Palazzo Barbaro Wolkoff, Gothic palace in Dorsoduro, Venice, Italy

Palazzo Barbaro Wolkoff stands on the Grand Canal in Dorsoduro, between Ca' Dario and Casa Salviati. Its almost entirely red-brick façade is highly asymmetrical and vertically developed, divided into ground floor, mezzanine, piano nobile and two upper floors. The piano nobile is dominated by a six-light polifora with pointed frames, while the upper levels mix monofore, bifore, trifore and quadrifore asymmetrically; the water portal is a pointed Gothic arch.

The palace was first built in the Venetian-Byzantine style and was renovated with Gothic elements in the 15th century. In 1883 it was acquired by the Russian watercolourist, botanist and chemist Alexander Wolkoff. His companion, the actress Eleonora Duse, stayed on the top floor as his guest in 1894.

In 1894 the actress Eleonora Duse lived on the top floor as the guest of Alexander Wolkoff, the Russian watercolourist, botanist and agronomist who bought the palace in 1883; their long relationship links the building to the theatre world of the time.

The palace sits directly along the Grand Canal in a central area of Venice, easily reached by vaporetto. Its neighboring structures help identify the location during a boat ride.

The fourth floor holds a bifora and quadrifora with inflected, ogee-like arches that clash with the Gothic trifora and monofora of the top level, an anachronism noted in surveys of the facade. The water portal is a pointed Gothic arch. The paterae and coats of arms on the brick front are modern additions, not original carvings.