If you walk along Nevsky Prospekt from its very beginning, while you have not yet reached Palace Square, you will see a building in front of you, which differs significantly from all the others both in its color and architecture. A majestic dark-colored building rises in front of you, when the rest nearby are painted yellow, blue or pink. Moreover, this building will be somewhat similar to a palace. In fact, this magnificent Neo-Renaissance granite house is called the Wavelberg house, which previously belonged to one of the richest people in St. Petersburg.
Italian beauty
It's worth saying that St. Petersburg is called the Venice of the North for a reason. 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 counterparts. One example of such borrowing is this house. Vavelberg, 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.
Architect hard work
The prototype for the Vavelberg house on Nevsky Prospect is the Doge's Palace in Venice. This fact gave the townspeople a reason to ironically call the banking 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 Vavelberg, heir to the banking houses, bought these houses and demolished them. He hired a fashionable and expensive architect at that time, Peretyatkovich, who drafted and built this majestic building on the corner of Nevsky and Malaya Morskaya. It is believed that he was inspired by the architecture of the Doge's Palace in Venice, and the facade along the Little Sea is somewhat reminiscent of the Medici-Riccardi Palace in Florence.
As Peretyatkovich himself stated, he did not want to build the Doge's Palazzo directly, but was more inclined towards the Gothic style. It can often be found in Northern Italy. The upper part of the building was built in the early Renaissance style. Architects such as Kozlov and Dietrich were engaged in sculptural decorations on the house.
Attractive facade
Facade of M. I. Vavelberga is distinguished by the variety of its sculptural decorations. It consists of 135 masks, most of them, 48, are lion masks. Above the rectangular attic on Nevsky Prospekt, inside the hemisphere, one can clearly see the lion's mascaron: in its paws itholds a shield bearing the owner's monogram. Lion masks are 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 M. I. Vavelberg from the side of Malaya Morskaya, under the capitals of a rusticated column, there 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 lion's mouth. There is a monolithic reinforced concrete slab under the entire building.
Unique material
Unlike the bright and colorful buildings in sunny Italy, the Vavelberg Profit House is faced with dark gray Karelian granite. Because of this, it looks like a heavy massive monumental building. Serdobol granite is mined in the Northern swamps, as well as on the islands in Lake Ladoga. It is distinguished by its gloomy and gray color. As a result, it has not been used on a large scale before. The only exception was the Vavelberg house. Its entire façade is made of exactly this kind of granite. There are rusticated slabs of similar material throughout the entire height of the facade of the building; it was used to make rusticated columns on the lower floors, window frames, pilasters, cartouches of heads, ram skulls and other elements. Marble decoration was carried out by the First Petrogradskayaartel.
Original neighbors
The Wavelberg House is located next to the General Staff Building and the Admir alty, which looks very exotic. One can notice the conscious refusal of the architect to preserve the stylistic unity of the building with other buildings. However, this is a typical solution for the construction of that time. It is worth noting that the position of the Merchant Bank in the system of joint-stock banks of those times did not at all correspond to the impressive appearance of the building 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 adorned with Ionic columns and pilasters and is clad in yellow faux marble. There is practically no decoration in business premises. Peretyatkovich tried his best to get closer to the spirit of Italian architecture. However, the building turned out to be a bit hostile to its surroundings. During the reception of the house from the construction team, Wavelberg made only one remark. When he saw a sign on the door with the inscription: "Push away from you", he said that this was not his principle, and asked to change it to the phrase: "Pull towards you."
Changing orders
Before the war, this house housed the Gostorg import-export office. The best antique commission shop in all of 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. Of particular delight was the clock that was mounted in a bronze figure stylized as a steam locomotive and other steam engines. It was a real treasure of the shop.
In wartime, the laboratory of the research institute was located here, important operations were carried out to synthesize vitamin B1. It was extremely useful for people with severe injuries. After the war, in 1960, ticket offices of the city air terminal were opened here, which closed only relatively recently.
High-speed buses were regularly and often supervised from here, which helped passengers get directly to the airport. Moreover, there were several shops inside the building. For a long time, the Beryozka currency store was also located here. The Wavelberg House is included in the Unified State Register of Cultural Heritage Objects of the Russian Federation. At the moment, it is under reconstruction, and they plan to open a hotel in it.
Restoration
According to the owners of the building, no changes will be made to the historical interior of the cash hall. All oak cabinets, halls inside buildings and other areas under protection will not be changed in any way.way.
Delays in work
Restoration work began in 2012, but soon they were suspended. During this period, a ceiling was installed between the second and first floors. In this case, not glass was used, but ordinary concrete with small lanterns in a triangular shape.
In December, work on the site began again. This happened due to the change of ownership of the company that owned the building. The new management wants to create a modern and luxurious hotel inside, which will have 77 rooms of various classes. The well-known Arab chain Jumeirah will manage this hotel.
The appearance of the building will not be changed in any way. There are no plans to demolish the existing roof. At the moment, discussions are underway regarding how to functionally apply it in operation. It will not be possible to build a parking lot, since the entire building is located on a monolithic slab.
What can you see inside now?
At the moment, everyone can visit two rooms inside the popular building: a restaurant overlooking Nevsky Prospekt, as well as the rooms of the former Aeroflot ticket office. You can take a look at the photo of Wawelberg's house to appreciate how beautiful and original this building looks.
If you are passing through St. Petersburg, 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.
