An amazing fact: in the very heart of St. Petersburg there is a huge, luxurious and fully finished hotel, which never once opened the door to visitors. This is a major project of the times of the USSR, in which a huge amount of money was invested and which to this day has remained a ghost hotel. It does not exist in official documents, and in spacious rooms only ghosts can spend time. We are interested in the hotel "Northern Crown" primarily because of its unusual fate. Let's try to figure it all out together.
How to find this hotel?
But this will not be a problem. The Severnaya Korona Hotel is located in St. Petersburg on the magnificent embankment of the Karpovka River. The locations here are really perfect for a luxury hotel. Great views, fresh air - all this should attract tourists. And the very appearance of the hotel gives particular splendor to these places. The Severnaya Korona Hotel is really huge, magnificent, although signs of destruction have already affected its facades. Today, tourists say that trees already begin to grow on the roof, and the building did not wait for its doors to open for visitors.
History of this place
In fact, the sunset of the history of the USSR, probably, was at the same time the end of this hotel. The Severnaya Korona Hotel was designed back in 1988. Then the Council of Ministers decided to lay large-scale construction. And already at this stage the project has undergone changes. At first it was planned to build a three-star hotel on the picturesque promenade, but then they decided to add pomposity. As a result, the five-star Severnaya Korona hotel began to be built. That is, the building that has not yet been built has already been assigned a high status in advance, which was not subsequently confirmed.
You will probably be interested to know that then she had a different name. It was called Petrogradskaya, but the developer of the project later decided that it did not reflect the magnificence of his brainchild, and another name was given. The facility under construction was to become advanced from a technical point of view. It was planned that the "Northern Crown" (hotel of St. Petersburg) will be an ideal leisure complex with developed infrastructure. Here, for guests, a bar and restaurant, a sports complex were to work. The hotel was completed in the Art Nouveau style, due to which it organically fit into the architectural layout of the area.
A series of owners
Initially, they planned to complete and commission the facility by 1995. However, this did not happen. The collapse of the USSR, the difficult economic situation - all this led to the fact that the construction was frozen. Then, in 1992, a large bank became its owner, hopes came to life that the hotel would soon please the guests with its opening, but this did not happen again. Then the building was resold to Interhotel, and construction continued, but soon stopped again. Then the series of sales and purchases of this building continued, until at last the City Council decided that it was completely inappropriate here. Despite all its beauty, it is really strange for the capital. Perhaps the project was too bold, and because of this, such a fate awaited him. Today, the issue is being solved to demolish it and build an elite residential complex.
Myths that explain the fact of abandonment
A long series of hotel purchases, promises of an early opening and a complete lack of implementation of these plans gave rise to a series of rumors. Someone believes that this place is damned, and therefore all attempts to complete the hotel were unsuccessful. Of course, all this has nothing to do with the construction of the building. Just after the collapse of the union, no funds were found to implement this extraordinary and bold project. Probably, it was his exclusivity and originality (a long facade, bay windows and turrets, courtyards, wells) that served as the reason for which there was no one who wanted to put it into operation.
For extreme tourists
However, the minds of young Petersburgers are still worried about how to visit this empty building. Of course, it is closed, because the Severnaya Korona hotel was never officially opened. How to get into its spacious rooms? This is not a big problem for those who really want to penetrate the secrets of empty corridors. Having played a lot of computer games, many people want to wander around the abandoned building on their own and breathe in the air of a bygone era. I must say that the atmosphere here is absolutely amazing. So, the assault begins, and the object is the Northern Crown Hotel. How to get inside, your own ingenuity will tell you, but experienced people suggest that you should not storm windows and doors, it is better to climb the roof and go down the stairs. Imagine what it's worth playing paintball here! In fact, this is not worth it, because open elevator shafts and other imperfections are quite dangerous zones.
To summarize
Guests of the capital have not been able to enjoy their holidays in this unusual hotel, and now everything is going to be demolished, and an ordinary multi-storey building will be erected in its place. Therefore, while her presence in the city has not sunk into oblivion, you can take a Sunday walk, look at the amazing building in all its details and imagine what it could become. This hotel has remained a hazy ghost without entering the vibrant life of the tourism industry.