The city of St. Petersburg does not cease to fascinate with the grandeur of its monuments, the beauty of the embankments and the monumentality of temples. Especially admire the palaces of St. Petersburg, which are the main evidence of their royal origin. No less interesting are St. Petersburg squares for learning the glorious centuries-old history of the city, including the Austrian Square.
general information
Almost all the squares of the Northern capital of Russia retain the memory of many historical events of the city: tragic, joyful, solemn. Among them, there are those who have completely lost their original appearance, but there are also those that have not changed since their inception.
In any case, all these sacred places that keep the memory of the past are capable of giving an exciting feeling, felt on the threshold of the greatest discovery, called the past ...
Location of Austrian Square in St. Petersburg
The square is located in the correct octagonal shape at the intersection of Kamennoostrovsky Avenue and ul. Of the world. It is part of the Petrograd district of St. Petersburg. To make a walk across the square, you need to go from any metro station to the Gorkovskaya or Petrogradskaya stations.
The Austrian square of St. Petersburg is unusual not only in its shape, but also in the unique facades of five buildings that form the same octagon around the perimeter. Its area is approximately 0.8 hectares.
About the title
An interesting fact is that the ensemble of the square formed at the beginning of the 20th century did not have a name for quite a long time. Only in 1992 she was given the first official name - Austrian. The people call this original square “Cheesecake”, and for its beauty it has been given a more suitable unofficial name - “Star Square”. This is due to the huge neon design in the form of a star, which in Soviet times decorated this place on holidays. The name of the square appeared as a sign of friendship between Austria and Russia, and the reason for choosing this particular intersection was the similarity of the style of buildings of this part of the city with the architecture of the Austrian capital.
The original alleged name is Vienna, but then the choice was stopped on the Austrian.
Brief History
Instead of the current Austrian square in the twenties of the 18th century, 19 shabby buildings that belonged to the Armory Office were located on this site. They were erected for "boorish" artisans who were transferred to St. Petersburg in 1711. Special houses were built for them on Mokhovaya Street, near Fontanka, and the old buildings were transferred to the Embassy Court. They existed here until the middle of the XVIII century.
In the XIX century, on this place there were land plots with kitchen gardens and gardens, as well as wooden-stone one- and two-story houses. Initially, the territory had an arched shape, and in the 1890s it was redesigned and became multifaceted. Since the square did not have a name, on the maps it was simply called the Site or the Area.
At home
Buildings overlooking the Austrian square of St. Petersburg, were erected at the beginning of the XX century. These are houses under numbers 13, 16, 18 and 20. The building under number 15 was built in 1952. The author of the first three buildings is the architect V.V. Schaub, who created the ensemble in the Art Nouveau style.
In house number 13 in 1907-1908, the writer L.N. Andreev lived. In apartment number 20, he arranged literary evenings. Among the visitors were F.K. Sologub and A.A. Blok. In the same house in the years 1924-1935 lived the architect V.A. Shchuko, who created propylae at Smolny, a monument at the Finland Station to V.I. Lenin and houses No. 63 and 65.
House No. 15 was built in 1952 (project by architects Guryev O. I. and Scherbenko A. P.). It was planned to build the fourth house of the architect Shaub on this site, but this idea did not materialize. Although the constructed building does not look like the houses of V.V. Shaub, it perfectly combines with those houses in shape and proportions. From 1953 to 1988, an outstanding singer K. N. Laptev, People's Artist of the USSR, lived in one of the apartments of the house. A memorial plaque is installed on the house in memory of this event.
House No. 16 on Austrian Square was built in 1905-1906. This is the apartment building of the academician of painting Lipgart E.K. - an outstanding historian of painting and artist of the Renaissance. He was the chief curator of the Art Gallery in the Hermitage. The academician lived in house No. 16 until 1921.
Building number 20 is also a tenement house (building 1901-1902). Its owner was the mayor and an honorary citizen of the city of Gorbov M.M. This building in 1907 was awarded the honorary diploma of the city facade contest.
House number 18 (building 1899-1901, project of architect A. Kovsharov) is an example of ordinary ordinary building. The building is closely adjacent to the neighboring house number 16. Belonged to Lipgart E.K. until 1905
Finally
After its official opening, it was planned to organize a cafe, a network of Austrian stores, a pharmacy with signboards typical of Austria, trash containers and garbage cans on Austrian Square. But even now, the crossroads has some similarities between the style of architecture and the style of the capital of Austria, which was noted many years later.