If you walk along Nevsky Prospekt from the very beginning, before you reach Palace Square, you will see a building in front of you, which differs significantly from all others in its color and architecture. In front of you will rise a magnificent building of dark color, when the others nearby are painted in yellow, blue or pink. Moreover, this building will look something like a palace. In fact, this magnificent neo-Renaissance granite house is called the Wawelberg House, which previously belonged to one of the richest people in St. Petersburg.
Italian beauty
It is worth saying that St. Petersburg is not without reason called the Venice of the North. There are many analogies for this, and not only numerous canals, rivers and floods bring these cities together. The architectural decoration of the city is famous for many details that were borrowed by Russian architects from their Italian colleagues. One example of such a borrowing can be called this Wawelberg house, which is located on the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and Malaya Morskaya. The house was built at the beginning of the twentieth century, and we certainly recommend getting to know it.
Hard work of the architect
The prototype for the Wawelberg house on Nevsky Prospect is the Doge's Palace in Venice. This fact gave citizens a reason to ironically call the bank building "Denezhkino Palazzo". Previously, on the site where the building was built, there were two three-story houses that were erected for the artists of the Bernikov brothers. Mikhail Wawelberg, the heir to the banking houses, bought these houses and demolished them. He hired the fashionable and expensive architect of those times, Peretyatkovich, who drafted and built this magnificent building on the corner of the Nevsky and the Little Sea. It is believed that he was inspired by the architecture of the Doge's Palace in Venice, and the facade along the Small Sea is somewhat reminiscent of the Medici Riccardi palace in Florence.
As stated by Peretyatkovich himself, he did not want to erect the Doge's Palace directly, but more inclined to the Gothic style. It can often be found in northern Italy. The upper part of the building was erected in the style of the early Renaissance. Architects such as Kozlov and Dietrich dealt with sculptural decorations on the house.
Attractive facade
Facade of the house of M.I. Wawelberg is distinguished by the variety of its sculptural decorations. It consists of 135 masks, most of them, 48, are masks of lions. Above the rectangular attic on the Nevsky inside the hemisphere, you can clearly see the lion mascaron: in his paws he holds a shield with the owner’s monogram on it. Lion masks are located on the balconies of the fourth floor, as well as on the corner of the facade. On the capitals of the majestic column at the central entrance, you can also see four mascarons with lions.
On the facade of the apartment building M.I. Wawelberg from the side of the Small Sea under the capitals of the rusticated column are stylized masks of lions. The most amazing mascaron of this building can be called a lion mask, made in the form of an aquarius, placed on the fountain. For many years the fountain did not work, for some time it was even closed by a newsstand. However, relatively recently, the fountain was saved, and water began to flow from the mouth of a lion. Under the entire building is a monolithic reinforced concrete slab.
Unique material
Unlike colorful and bright buildings in sunny Italy, the Wawelberg Apartment building has a cladding of dark gray Karelian granite. Because of this, it has the appearance of a heavy massive monumental building. Serdobolsky granite is mined in the Northern marshes, as well as on the islands in Lake Ladoga. It is distinguished by its dark and gray color. In this regard, in large volumes, it has not been used before. The only exception was the Wawelberg house. Its entire facade was created from such granite. To the entire height of the facade of the building there are rusticated slabs of similar material, it was used for the manufacture of rusticated columns on the lower floors, window frames, pilasters, cartouche heads, ram skulls and other elements. The First Petrograd Artel was engaged in marble decoration.
Original neighbors
Wawelberg House is located next to the General Staff Building and the Admiralty, which looks very exotic. You can notice a conscious refusal of the architect to maintain the style unity of the building with other buildings. However, this is a characteristic decision for the construction of the time. It is worth noting that the position of the Trade Bank in the system of joint-stock banks of those times did not at all correspond to the impressive type of construction in which it was located. It was located only in tenth place in Russia; its entire capital amounted to ten million rubles.
Building owner
During the revolutionary events, Wawelberg emigrated to Poland, and then to Paris. Nevertheless, the house still retains the name in honor of the previous owner - Wawelberg Banking House.
The operating room of this stately home is decorated with columns and pilasters of the Ionic order, it has a lining in the form of yellow artificial marble. In business premises there is practically no decoration. Peretyatkovich tried his best to get closer to the spirit of Italian architecture. Nevertheless, the building was a bit hostile to its surroundings. During the reception of the house from the construction team, Wawelberg made only one remark. When he saw a sign on the doorway with the inscription: "Push from yourself," he said that this was not his principle, and asked to redo the phrase: "Pull towards you."
Reorder
In the pre-war time, the Gostorg import-export office was located in this house. The best antique thrift store in Leningrad was also located here. It contained ancient expensive furniture, paintings, bronze and marble figurines. It was also possible to admire or purchase expensive binoculars, marble writing instruments. The watch was especially delighted that it was mounted in a bronze figure stylized as a steam locomotive and other steam engines. This was a real treasure of the shop.
In wartime, there was a laboratory of a research institute, important operations were carried out on the synthesis of vitamin B 1 . It was extremely useful for people with severe injuries. After the war in 1960, ticket offices of the city airport were opened here, which were closed only relatively recently.
From here, regular and often supervised high-speed buses that helped passengers get directly to the airport. Moreover, there were several shops inside the building. For a long time, the Birch currency store was also located here. Wawelberg House is included in the Unified State Register of Cultural Heritage of the Russian Federation. At the moment it is under reconstruction and plans to open a hotel in it.
Restoration
According to the owners of the building, no changes will be made to the historic interior of the cash register. All oak cabinets, halls inside buildings and other premises under protection will not be changed in any way.
Procrastination
The restoration work began back in 2012, but they were soon suspended. During this period, a ceiling was equipped between the second and first floor. In this case, not glass was used, but ordinary concrete with small lanterns in a triangular shape.
In December, work at the facility began again. This happened in connection with the change of ownership of the company that owned the building. The new management wants to create a modern and fashionable hotel inside that will have 77 rooms of various classes. The hotel will be managed by the famous Arab chain Jumeirah.
Externally, the appearance of the building will not be changed in any way. They do not plan to demolish the constructed ceiling. At the moment, there are discussions about how to functionally use it in operation. Parking will not work, as the whole building is on a monolithic slab.
What can I see now inside?
At the moment, everyone can visit two rooms inside the popular building: a restaurant that overlooks Nevsky Prospekt, as well as the rooms of the former Aeroflot company cash register. You can look at the photo of the Wawelberg house to evaluate how beautiful and original this building looks.
If you will be traveling in St. Petersburg, then you should definitely go to Nevsky Prospekt. Of course, there are many attractive buildings and monuments in the city, but try not to miss this house during your walks.