Pekhra-Yakovlevskoye, Golitsyn estate in Balashikha, Moscow Oblast, Russia

Pekhra-Yakovlevskoye is an estate with a three-story main building showing classical design and balanced wings on either side. A church stands near the Pekhorka River, and the grounds include a park with preserved pathways and garden spaces.

The village of Yakovlevo passed to Prince Andrei Ivanovich Golitsyn in 1591 and stayed with the family for over two centuries. In the 1760s Pyotr Mikhailovich Golitsyn built a wooden house with two wings and enlarged the park; his son Mikhail and guardian Alexander completed the ensemble, including the 1782 Transfiguration Church. The estate was damaged in 1812 and rebuilt, and the main house burned in 1924 before being reconstructed as a three-story building.

The estate shows how Russian nobility valued formal gardens mixed with open landscape design. The church and residence buildings together reveal how wealthy families organized their lives and displayed their status.

The main building houses an agricultural university today, but the surrounding park with its pathways remains open for exploration. Walking through the grounds is most enjoyable when the weather is clear and dry.

The Church of the Transfiguration, built in 1782, is a rotunda flanked by two bell towers at the entrance, a layout rarely found in the Moscow region. It was probably designed by the son of Matvey Kazakov. A Sunday school, library and Orthodox society now operate at the church.