page_title: Imperial Commercial College
section_title: 1800–1917. St. Petersburg Period
hierarchical_section_title: Imperial Commercial College / History / 1800–1917. St. Petersburg Period
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Здание Императорского коммерческого училища с церковью Апостолов Петра и Павла
context_page_description: Imperial Commercial College is an educational institution founded in 1772 as part of the Moscow Foundling Home for teaching merchants' children. In 1779 it was named after its founder Prokofi Demidov. In 1800 it was separated from the Home and moved to St. Petersburg. In 1904 it received Imperial status and officially ceased its existence in 1918 but de facto it continued working. In 1931, it served as the foundation for Leningrad Training Mechanics and Technology Refrigeration Plant, which later became the St. Petersburg State University of Refrigeration and Food Processing Technologies.
context_section_description: After moving to St. Petersburg, the College took over the Italian Palace on the Fontanka River and in 1801 it moved to a two-story building on the corner of Zagorodny Prospect and Chernyshov Pereulok.
  The College's Council was appointed by the Empress and it was an honor to be invited even if somewhat burdensome. The members were expected not just participate in management but also invest their own funds in repairs, books and general student upkeep. They could only leave the position with an explicit permission by the Empress.
  After the move, the directorship was awarded to Vasily Sergeevich Podshivalov. He put together the first documentation about the College.
  Starting in 1810, the directorship goes to Karl Karlovich Russau. Without higher education or pedagogical experience, he'd been fired from Preobrazhenski Regiment in the rank of major. He was a rather successful in his position as the director.
  From 1818 to 1827 the director was Petr Dmitrievich Lodiy, a lawyer and philosopher. He had previous experience as a director of universities of Lviv and Krakow.
  The admission rules also changed at the new location. Now the College accepted 60 boys for free (instead of 100) and the rest had to pay for their tuition. Education lasted six years. From 61 students moved from Moscow, 58 graduated.
  The challenging part was the condition of acceptance for free: graduates had to commit to doing commerce for life. Parents signed an agreement that their children would stay in merchants forever, no matter what class they belong to previously. In 1811, the Council turned to Emperor Alexander I with a petition to allow graduates to determine their own choices but only in 1822 the life-long commitment was abolished and changed for a 10-year term for mandatory involvement into any kind of commerce.
  The College kept in close contact with the Home, provided boarding for students, but many parents had reservations about letting their children out of their sight for too long. Some of that was because of persisting class differences: as a somewhat charity establishment, the College couldn’t provide any social guarantees for its graduates. But its specialization was training people with European views. It was supported by successful Russian entrepreneurs who thus were raising their future employees.
  In 1834 the number of students reached 200, the staff also grew, and the Council asked Emperor Nikolas I to allow to build a new three-story building on Chernishev Pereulok. It was completed in 1838.
  The College had been under the patronage of emperors for a long time and was opposed to moving under the management of the Ministry of National Education, Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Finance (which in the second half of the 19th century started training staff for its offices in its own commercial colleges not just in the capitals but in smaller towns too.) As the result no ministry could prove the need to restructure the College.
  Under the patronage of the state and mostly working with its support, the College was tasked with training business people for the betterment of the country. But still its graduates even with European-quality education could only get mid-range positions in commerce. To start their own businesses they would need startup capital that most of them didn't have. The best group was between 1820 – 1850, when the graduates took positions in joint-stock companies, banks, etc.
  In 1841 the position of a director was replaced by a trustee. The first trustee (only for a year) was Prince Oldenburgsky, while patronage remained with Empress Aleskandra Fedorovna, wife of Nikolai I.
  That same year, the College also changed its Charter and the length of education. The course lasted seven years and the overall number of subjects was cut from 22 – 29 (depending on age) to 16.
  In 1830-40s Russia needed mechanics and engineers, which was reflected in the curriculum. In January 1843, education in the last years was augmented with chemistry, mechanics and drafting. It became mandatory to have an internship both at commercial companies and man
caption: The building today
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