Countess Aleksandra Grigorevna Laval (née Kozitskaya; March 18, 1772 – November 17, 1850)[1] was one of the heirs of Myasnikov's millions, a salon owner, art collector and philanthropist.

At the age of 26, after the wedding of her younger sister Anna with Prince Aleksandr Beloselskiy, she fell in love with the French emigrant Ivan Laval, an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The mother, Ekaterina Ivanovna, although she was herself the poorly educated daughter of an Old Ritualist ferryman on the Volga, according to family legend, opposed such an unequal marriage.

Skillfully using the resulting wealth, in 1814 Ivan Laval was elevated with his descendants to the Dignity of Count of the Kingdom of France, which was recognized for him in the Russian Empire in 1817.

The title and successful career finally reconciled Ekaterina Ivanovna with her daughter's choice; in 1833, before her death, she generously gifted the Laval Couple.

According to Baron Modest Korf, Countess Laval introduced and brooded in her family an extraordinary disorder; she herself was:[2] Small, pockmarked, disgusting, like a Chinese doll and always with bare shoulders and colossal breasts, looking at which you just wanted to spit.

Her husband was in no way inferior to her in disgustingness, but in completely different dimensions, this is a kind of skeleton of a small heron with eyes like buns, but seeing nothing, with legs that can, it seems, knock down any breath of wind, and, moreover, with similar character.Aleksandra Laval died on November 17, 1850.

On March 10, 1816, Nikolay Karamzin read unpublished chapters of the "History of the Russian State" here, hoping that an influential high–society salon would provide sufficient support from people close to the court, which would help in obtaining permission to publish the book.

Similar receptions took place not only on the English Embankment, but also at the Lavals' Dacha on Aptekarskiy Island, at the confluence of the Malaya Nevka and the Karpovka River.

In 1825, after the Decembrist Uprising, the mansion on the English Embankment was subjected to a thorough search, since Lavals' eldest daughter Ekaterina was married to Colonel Sergey Trubetskoy, one of the leaders of the Northern Society.

In the halls there were up to 300 ancient Greek and Italian vases, including "Dionysus Fighting a Giant", "Farewell of a Warrior to His Family", "Feast Scene", clay and glass items and about 300 antique bronze objects.

There was a rich library of five thousand volumes with bookplates by the engraver Nikolay Utkin with books on history, philosophy, economics, art, and geography.