Legends of Pyatigorsk. A haunted castle.

A city is always people, without whom it would not have been the place it is now. And each person has his own story, sometimes shrouded in secrets and riddles.

At the end of the 19th century, Elsa, the daughter of a merchant from Germany, was considered the first beauty of Pyatigorsk. As a girl, she was not only beautiful, but businesslike and enterprising. Her lifelong dream was to open a hotel and develop tourism in her native resort town.

In 1901, she married Arshak Gukasov, a famous pastry chef who came from Baku. At that time, he had his own small coffee shop in Pyatigorsk.

The couple purchased a plot on which Elsa realized her dream of developing tourism in Pyatigorsk: in 1904, a hotel in the style of a medieval French castle was built by architect Gushchin (current address: 15 Lermontov Street, Pyatigorsk). It had more than 50 rooms. The living conditions in the hotel at that time were very comfortable: there was running water in the rooms. Bathrooms were located on each floor.

In 1909, also according to the project of architect Gushchin, Elsa and Arshak built a coffee shop, which has been preserved in excellent condition to this day, and has the name "Gukasov's Coffee House". The bank loans received for the construction of the coffee shop were paid in one year thanks to the skillful marketing policy of the owners: they supplemented the treat with excellent coffee with the freshest pastries. The place was lively, next to the Flower Garden park, and there was no end of customers.

10 years after the wedding, the couple divorced. Elsa was left with everything except the coffee shop.

Until 1917, Elsa's hotel business flourished. After the revolution, the Elsa Hotel was nationalized.

The hostess of the hotel disappeared without a trace. There are several versions of her disappearance:
1. Elsa arranged a secret room in her house and hid there. This version is supported by the fact that during the German occupation of Pyatigorsk, Elsa allegedly tried to ask the occupiers to return her hotel, but the request was refused.
2. Elsa immured her numerous savings in one of the walls of the hotel. In retaliation, the Bolsheviks walled her up in the hotel wall.
3. Elsa was shot by the Bolsheviks.

After nationalization, the building was transferred to the sanatorium, but there were always some tragic stories with it: people who rested there committed suicide. The survivors said that they themselves did not want to jump out of the windows, someone pushed them. At night, the guests heard crying of unknown origin.

The notoriety of the hotel spread and there were fewer and fewer people who wanted to rest in it.

There were also frequent leaks and fires in the building. As a result, the roof was completely burned down, and the once beautiful walls were covered with graffiti.

Now the building is fenced, the roof has been restored, some windows have been inserted.

This attractive and deplorable story about the restless soul of poor Elsa makes you think about the broken destinies of purposeful, enterprising, brave and energetic people. They invested their lives in their favorite business, achieved everything with great difficulty and then lost everything overnight. Somehow we need to take into account and not repeat the mistakes of the past: not to extinguish the fire in people inspired by noble ideas.

If you are in Pyatigorsk, be sure to pass by Elsa's dacha. It is located near Emmanuelovsky Park and the cable car. It will be great if you manage to add fresh photos and comments about the condition of the building. Do you think that after the renovation is completed, Elsa's cottage will be available to visitors?