St. Petersburg is rich in amazingly beautiful and attractive corners for tourists and citizens. The Petrograd side is not an exception, where over its long history a great architectural heritage has been accumulated, striking with its originality and originality.
Back to the past
The Petrograd side is one of the oldest historical districts of St. Petersburg, whose origins are in the first quarter of the 18th century, when Peter I began the construction of the Peter and Paul Fortress, modern at that time, on Zayachy Island. Then its builders began to settle on Fomin or Birch Island. And later, settlements were formed here, where gunners, potato hunters, coins, and others lived. Now streets with the names: Bolshaya and Malaya Pushkarsky, Bolshaya and Malaya Zeleniny, Monetnaya and others that were laid later on the territory of those settlements resemble this period of the city’s history. .
In the 19th century, the district at that time of the Petersburg side became one of the centers for the development of St. Petersburg's profitable business. And now it is attributed almost to the historical center.
Pearl of Petrograd
If you are looking for the most interesting places on the Petrograd side, then you should definitely pay attention to Leo Tolstoy St. Petersburg Square, located at the junction of Kamennoostrovsky and Bolshoi Prospects.
Highways come out to her like rays, among which there is a small, but important for the city street of the same name - formerly Bishop's. It is on it that the main entrance to the territory of the 1st Medical Institute. Pavlova. This street is clearly visible in the photo of Leo Tolstoy Square in St. Petersburg.
The historical building of the Soviet era was preserved on the square, where the fashion house, innovative at that time, functioned. On its ground floor there is a fairly old station of the St. Petersburg metro - Petrogradskaya. Therefore, getting to Lev Tolstoy Square in St. Petersburg is quite convenient.
Rosenstein Castle
One of the sights of Leo Tolstoy Square in St. Petersburg is the famous "tower house", so named for its characteristic appearance - two faceted towers, flanking the front facade, facing just in the direction of the square.
In total, in this unusual house you can count three front facades. The other two overlook Bolshoy Prospect and Leo Tolstoy Street, respectively. The plot is occupied by the house, which once constituted the possession of the Prussian citizen K.F. Felkel, and then her brother and son.
In 1912, the owner and owner of the plot was engineer and architect K. I. Rosenstein, who demolished all the wooden buildings and houses on the purchased plot and destroyed the garden. According to his project, he built a house here, reminiscent of the design and decoration of a medieval Gothic castle.
To decorate the house, a dark brown decor was used, contrasting with the gray-yellow color of the walls, made in the form of lancet portals and windows. The towers are decorated with a border with elements reminiscent of pinnacles and violets and looking like a lace frame. The author of the towers was another architect invited by Rosenstein to collaborate, E. Belogrud. It is he who is the author of the idea of a pseudo-Gothic decor of the building.
House with a turret
This house on Lev Tolstoy Square in St. Petersburg is one of the brightest dominants of the architectural ensemble. Known as the Chubakovs' apartment building. According to Kamennoostrovsky Prospect, it is listed at number 38. It was built by the Dutch architect Van der Gucht in 1911.
The house is settled in the neo-baroque style. Its facades are divided by floor cornices into horizontal tiers. The first two floors are combined in one tier. The decor is in the form of half columns and pilasters, on the second tier - Atlantes and stucco moldings are contrasted with the main color of the facade and in the Baroque tradition painted white. The corner of the building is decorated with a tetrahedral half tower, the lower tier of which is smoothed into a semicircle. Above the tower is a tower-superstructure with a dome, decorated with lucarnes and semicircular windows with the same visors.
Meisel House
This house adjoins the famous Fashion House and on Bolshoy Prospect is numbered 98. It was built by the architect Kryzhanovsky for the wife of St. Petersburg pharmacist Meisel in 1911 on a site that once belonged to the merchant Kopeikin.
The next owner of the land was the merchant Gvozdev. Then - a foreign national Marts. The last owner in front of Meisel was Felkel. Meisel managed to buy part of the site from its previous owner in connection with the fragmentation of land. The fragmentation of the site was due to the laying of the Bolshoi Prospect here.
The house has an unusual decor in the form of balcony grates, made in floral motifs.
If you are a guest of St. Petersburg, Leo Tolstoy Square is a must visit for you. Otherwise, your impressions of the city will be incomplete.