The selection shows those buildings that are dissonant with environment, violate the basic principles of architectural aesthetics.

1. How not to ignore the new stage of the Mariinsky Theater

The building was put into operation in May 2013. At the end of January 2013, the scaffolding and fence were removed, and the concrete box of the second stage appeared before the eyes of St. Petersburg residents. The house was built according to the design of a Canadian architect. 22 billion rubles were spent on construction. Architects recognized the second stage of the Mariinsky Theater as the most unsuccessful building recent years, and active St. Petersburg residents soon after the opening began collecting signatures for the demolition of the “box.”

For the first time, the head of the Mariinsky Theater, Valery Georgiev, spoke in favor of building a new building for the theater back in the Yeltsin era, in 1997. The design of postmodernist Eric Moss (USA) was chosen, which the architect himself described as “bags of garbage thrown on the ground.” This project was later abandoned. Several general designers took turns at the construction site.

The "Beautiful Petersburg" community conducted a survey, and the majority of respondents indicated that the Second Stage of the Mariinsky Theater looks more like some ordinary shopping center near some metro station, and not like a theater building. The director of the Hermitage, Mikhail Piotrovsky, once said that this building is a great lesson for all of us. In his opinion, it is “nothing.”

Address: Dekabristov street, 34

2. Trade and office complex "Regent Hall"

The architect is LenNIIproekt OJSC, the developers are FASTCOM and Phoenix 10 companies. $18 million was invested in the project. The building was built and opened in the mid-2000s. Immediately after construction, a hail of criticism fell on the architecture of the new complex. The building is an eight-story business center with square windows and a rotunda, dissonant with the surrounding buildings. The rotunda with “columns” is an attempt to link the building with St. Vladimir’s Cathedral opposite. However, according to the architectural community and ordinary city residents, this attempt failed: the building began to look even more defiant. The reason for this is the disproportion of the forms and the lack of completion in the form of a dome. And the square windows of the Regent Hall do not fit into the surrounding buildings of the historical center.

One of the advantages of Regent Hall, if any can be found, is the concave shape of the superstructure. For a small Vladimirskaya Square with an irregular layout, this option comes in handy. Another question is that it has not been implemented properly. The matter can be fixed: now there are special technologies that allow gentle methods to change the façade, since it does not depend on load-bearing supports. There would be a will for this.

How it could be:

Address: Vladimirsky prospect, 23

3. Elite residential complex "Mont Blanc"

A large number of architects were involved in the design of the complex: the design bureau of ZAO Stroymontazh, S.V. Kislova, design and production company "A. Len", S.I. Oreshkin, S.V. Gaikovich. The developer was ZAO Stroymontazh. A brick-monolithic high-rise residential complex with stepped terraces and panoramic glazing was erected at the intersection of Finlyandsky and B. Sampsonievsky avenues. The height of the building is 74.5 meters; for its sake, in the turbulent 1990s, several houses were demolished in the area from the St. Petersburg Hotel to Finlandsky Prospekt.

The Mont Blanc residential complex was built between 2003 and 2009. According to the Town Planning Council, the residential complex has irreversibly distorted the historical and architectural panoramas of the banks of the Neva. The fact is that the construction project was agreed upon in 2003 even before the adoption of the new height regulations. As architect Sergei Oreshkin said in an interview with Online812.ru, former governor Valentina Matvienko, looking at the project, said “tear everything to hell.” "

Stroymontazh actually managed to make the rear facade of Mont Blanc, facing the center and the main one for the city, look like a courtyard with fire escapes and cheap finishing. We tell them: this is impossible, how can concrete fire escapes be placed towards the Neva?

Address: Bolshoy Sampsonievsky pr., 4-6

4. St. Petersburg Commodity and Stock Exchange.

The architect was D. Lovkachev, the developer was the Etalon-LenSpets-SMU company. In 2008, immediately after the Exchange building was built, the City Planning Council perked up and recommended lowering the building by 3.5 meters. The fact is that with the construction of the stock exchange, one of the main postcard views of St. Petersburg was spoiled - the view of the arrow Vasilyevsky Island. The 63-meter building was put into operation in 2008.

The new exchange building violated the height standards for the background development of Vasilievsky Island (if, according to the regulations, the permissible building height at that time was 42 meters, then the building itself rose almost 68 meters). In 2008, the City Planning Council of St. Petersburg recommended making changes to the constructed building. This also applies to reducing its height, color, and architectural solutions. The height of the exchange is 3.68 meters more than allowed by the examination. Construction costs amounted to 52 million euros.

Address: Vasilievsky Island, 26th line, 15

5. Glass superstructure over the roof of the Renaissance Hotel on Pochtamtskaya Street

The apartment building, built in 1887, was converted into the Renaissance Baltic hotel in 2004. The house at the time of reconstruction was an identified heritage object (registration number 280) "House of M. M. Zhukov (M. K. Korf); 1740s; late 18th century; 1887; architect F. B. Nagel (1887 )). Removed from protection by order of KGIOP dated 04/24/2003 N 8-37 on the basis of an expert opinion dated 04/11/2003. The historical facades of the old building were more or less recreated (architect Podgornov), but the addition of a glass roof spoiled the view from St. Isaac's Square.

This is what the building looked like in 1999:

And now this view opens from St. Isaac’s Square:

Address: Pochtamtskaya, 4

6. Residential complex "Silver Mirrors" on Kamennoostrovsky

The architect of this building is the workshop of S.M. Zelman, LenZhilProekt, and the developer is the LEK company. We spent 40 million dollars, but got an ugly view from Kamennostrovsky Prospekt and, most importantly, a distorted view of the Trinity Bridge and the Mosque. But residents can clearly see the sights and the Neva from the windows of the upper floors.

The residential complex “Silver Mirrors” is located in the Petrogradsky district of the city on the territory bounded by Bolshaya streets
Posadskaya, Malaya Posadskaya, Malaya Monetnaya, Divenskaya and Kamennostrovsky Avenue.

Panoramic view from the Palace Embankment:

And from Kamennoostrovsky:

Address: st. Divenskaya, 5

7. The Moscow Hotel building

“Moscow” (1964, architect D.S. Goldgor, Vasilyeva and others) - a hotel, the building stands on Alexander Nevsky Square next to Nevsky Prospekt, opposite the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. From the windows of the hotel rooms there is a view of the ensemble of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra (the oldest architectural ensemble of the 18th century), the Alexander Nevsky Bridge and the Neva.

In 2005, reconstruction of the main hotel building began, and by 2007, “Moscow” acquired a new, modern look. Frankly, not all citizens and architects like it.

And this is what the Moscow Hotel looked like before reconstruction:

Address: pl. A. Nevsky, 2

8. Shopping center "Gallery" near Moskovsky railway station

The design and construction of this building was carried out by Grigoriev and Partners LLC together with the British Chapman Taylor. $450 million was spent. It was opened in November 2010, and back in the 1990s, under Governor V. Yakovlev, they wanted to build a new station building on this site, for which they dug a giant pit. But the project was destined to be abandoned. At three meetings of the Town Planning Council, the architectural community of St. Petersburg refused to approve the project of the future shopping center. He was facing the fourth hearing, but the investors somehow received approval directly from the Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture of St. Petersburg.

The shopping center building was built in the spirit of the Stalinist Empire style. During the construction process, the designers changed the appearance of the building, reducing the amount of glass and adding a little stone. Bas-reliefs in the form of ears of corn, Greek meander patterns and columns appeared. Instead of facing with pale yellow matte natural stone, dirty beige stone slabs were used.

Address: Ligovsky pr., 42

9. Freifeld House on Voskresenskaya Embankment (formerly Robespierre)

Project: “Architectural workshop of V.M. Freifeld.” Developer: Construction Corporation "Vozrozhdenie St. Petersburg". If you look from the opposite side of the Neva, the house’s upper part competes with the Smolny Cathedral.

Address: Voskresenskaya embankment, 4

10. Residential building on Bolsheokhtinsky, 9

It is perceived as the background of the Smolny Cathedral when viewed from certain points. Architect Sergei Oreshkin, head of the workshop “A. Len,” considers this house one of the most “terrible” urban planning mistakes. The building was designed by the architect V. Tsekhomsky.

11. Business center "Sovereign"

Architects Sokolov G. B., Parfenov A. A., Makarenko T. V., Birtseva Yu. Yu. Before the construction of the business center, there was a park with paths, an asphalt driveway and a platform in front of the transformer substation, with green spaces (old poplars) . The seven-story building with a round corner turret does not fit well into the surrounding buildings. The standard design and excess glass and stone would look good somewhere in a “sleeping room”, but not in the center of Vasilyevsky Island.

Address: intersection of Maly Prospekt V.O. and 9th line

12. House for the needs of the FSB on Fontanka, 100

During reconstruction, a fourth floor was added to the house to suit the needs of the security officers. Until 1917, the building belonged to Ekaterina Romanovskaya, the niece of L. Benois. Her son, Evgeny Romanovsky, was friendly with the Beketovs and tried to court A. Blok’s future mother.

The administrative services of the FSB will be located in the courtyard of the house; for this purpose, a historical building was reconstructed. City defenders were initially unhappy that the 5-story building “sticks out” from the courtyard from the opposite Fontanka embankment and Efimova Street, and it was slightly modified; now it does not stand out.

The outer facade of the house cannot be called ugly, but the shape of the windows and the lack of decor (bare facade) give the building an overly office-like, unceremonious style (unlike other houses along the Fontanka embankment).

13. Renaissance Pravda Business Center

Address: Khersonskaya street, 12-14

Photo in the circle: http://architector.ua/images/articles/illuziana/pic_big/pic_1320393838.jpg

In the Nevsky district. The metro is located next to the same name railway station Moscow direction and next to the Obukhovo industrial zone. The industrial zone, on the territory of which about 70 enterprises are located, is one of the largest in the city.

Transport accessibility

Exit from the metro to Gribakin Street. Residential areas are located at some distance. The metro has only the final stop for buses 48, 96, minibus 96 going to Kupchino. The main movement of ground transport: buses and trams goes along Rabfakovskaya Street and Obukhovskaya Oborony Avenue, to which minibus 53 runs from the metro. Obukhovskaya Oborony Avenue is the longest in St. Petersburg and provides communication between the northern and southern regions. The exit to the Ring Road is located next to the metro station.

There is an industrial zone around the metro station. Obukhovo is also a large railway junction. Basically, the metro station is used as a transfer station for workers of numerous enterprises and passengers of commuter trains from Kolpino, Tosno, Lyuban.

Infrastructure

The area near the Obukhovo metro station is divided into two sections. On one side there is an industrial zone and two old cemeteries: Victims of the Ninth of January and Jewish. On the other side, between the Ring Road and Gribakin Street there are SNT “Zvezdochka” and a small sector of houses on 1, 2, 3 Rabfakovsky lanes. The entire main housing stock is spread out much further - on Obukhovskaya Oborony Avenue and Rabfakovskaya Street.

The infrastructure here is poorly developed. An area of ​​old buildings, located in close proximity to industrial enterprises and railway was never in demand. Among the sports facilities, there is only a small play area with a skating rink in the Troitskoye Pole shopping center and the Atlantic swimming pool. Retail facilities are represented by the “Universal Store” on 3rd Rabfakovsky Lane, the “Lenta” hypermarket at the end of Obukhovskaya Oborona Avenue, and a small shopping center on 2nd Rabfakovsky Lane. The area has one school, four kindergartens and a city clinic.

The only thing that has been developed in the Obukhovo district is Lately- these are business centers. In residential areas there is the Obukhov-Center business center, the rest are located in the industrial zone, where there are offices of about 70 companies and firms.

Ecology

This is one of the most polluted areas of the city. Even the proximity of the Neva and Spartak Park does not save the situation. An extensive railway network, a vast industrial zone, and major transport routes intersect here.

Demand

The housing stock is represented by panel and brick “Khrushchev” buildings; several pre-war houses have been preserved on Obukhovskaya Defense Avenue. The area is of no interest to both developers and buyers. The only new house was erected on 1st Rabfakovsky Lane closer to the Proletarskaya metro station. The second new complex, built at the very end of Obukhovskaya Oborony Avenue, is geographically closer to the Rybatskoye metro station. All complexes under construction and more modern housing stock are located in the area of ​​Babushkina Street, located closer to the Proletarskaya station and in the Troitsky Pole microdistrict between the Neva and Obukhovskaya Oborona Avenue. Construction in this microdistrict took place later, in the 70-80s. and at the beginning of this century, these were 9-story panel houses and modern monolithic “economy” class buildings. Apartments in this location are some of the most inexpensive in the city.

Safety

It is difficult to call an area with such a structure prosperous. The location near the Obukhovo metro station is recognized as one of the most troubled areas.

Problems

The area is considered the most unfavorable for permanent residence. There are more disadvantages here than advantages:

• Extensive industrial zone;
• Extensive railway network;
• Proximity of the ring road and a busy highway;
• Bad ecology;
• Insufficient landscaping.

The Obukhov hospital for the mentally ill in St. Petersburg was painted yellow in the 19th century. After this, the insane asylums began to be called the yellow house.

The Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary (1904), for the phrase “yellow house”, indicates:

"This house is named" yellow" - from the yellow color ( Obukhovskaya Hospital); then “send to the yellow house” was replaced by the words “send to the thirteenth verst” (along the Peterhof road), where the madhouse was transferred.”

(1863-1866) to the word "yellow", indicates:

"Yellow house, insane asylum, from yellow coloring Obukhovskaya hospital In Petersburg."

Obukhovskaya hospital opened in 1779. In 1782–1787, according to the design of G. Quarenghi, the architect L. Ruska built the building of the Obukhov Men's Hospital, designed for 300 beds. In 1836–1839, the architect P. S. Plavov built the building of the Obukhov Women's Hospital with 200 beds.

Currently, the Naval Medical Academy is located in the building of the Obukhov hospital. The building has been preserved and has a characteristic yellow color. Address of the building of the former Obukhov hospital: St. Petersburg, Fontanka embankment, 106, Zagorodny pr., 47, Vvedensky Canal st., 1.

Obukhovskaya hospital

Examples

(1895 - 1958)

“M.P. Sinyagin (Memories of Michel Sinyagin)” (1930) - the author describes how the protagonist’s relative ended up in the Obukhov hospital:

"Yellow House" with peeling, dirty plaster was now all in sight. White figures flashed behind bars at the windows. Some stood motionless at the windows and looked out onto the street. Others grabbed the bars and tried to move them from their place. Down on the street, on the bank of Pryazhka, they stood normal people and looked at the madmen with undisguised curiosity, raising their heads up."

(1860 - 1904)

(1887), d. 4, k. 2 yavl. 3:

"Le B e d e V. I'm tired of you... Listen, Matvey, you'll agree to the point that you, excuse the expression, yellow house They'll take you.

Shabelskiy. With what yellow house worse than any white or red house? Do me a favor, at least take me there now... Do me a favor..."

(1828 - 1910)

"War and Peace" (1863 - 1869), Volume 3, Part I, XI:

“As for, sir, the man who recommended the camp at Drisei, then, in my opinion, there are only two places for him: yellow house or the gallows."

(1795 - 1829)

" " (1824), act 3, scene 16, Zagoretsky about Chatsky.

Question for experts: When and why did the slang name for the mental hospital “yellow house” appear?

Best regards, Incognito Mask

Best answers

I have other information.
The yellow house comes from the yellow color of the Obukhovskaya hospital in St. Petersburg.
On August 16, 1780, the 1st city public hospital opened on Fontanka.
Located near the Obukhovsky Bridge, it was named Obukhovskaya.
The hospital also included a nursing home for the insane - the first institution of its kind in Russia. Initially, the House of Charity was painted in the traditional yellow color for St. Petersburg. But it was he who became the decisive sign for the popular name of this charitable institution - “The Yellow House”. Very soon this idiom became an allegory for all madhouses.
Read more.

Russian psychiatry in the 18th century remained at the level of the 15th-16th centuries. In the 60s of the 18th century, a certain revival began in the field of psychiatry, but when it came to building a hospital, no one in vast Russia, not even members of the Academy of Sciences, knew where to start and what principles to follow in their work.

In 1775, when Russia was divided into provinces, Orders of Public Charity were established under the provincial administrations, which began to open psychiatric departments at hospitals and build special houses for the insane - “yellow houses”. The first “yellow house” was opened in Novgorod only in 1776. Then - the St. Petersburg hospital, the Poltava department, the Kharkov hospital. The medical “inventory”, for example, of the Poltava department consisted of seventeen “rawhide belts” and eleven “chains for chaining”. The staff included a doctor, one “cook,” two laundresses, several soldiers from the disabled team, and several street vagabonds to help them in emergency cases.

Julia-purg @ Cherkasova:

In the USSR it was mandatory to repaint these houses yellow.

Olga:

I think because of the certificates, psychiatric dispensaries used to issue certificates only in yellow. In Samara there is no such expression... we have a “branch of the drama theater”, due to the fact that the b-tsa was built in a similar style (drama theater) and painted very similarly!

Vasily Anoshko:

The main façade paint was yellow ocher (cheap).

Dinara Seilkhanova:

It’s just that back in the time of Griboedov in the 19th century, the walls of this hospital were painted yellow, so people began to call this building the yellow house

NoAnGeL:

For some reason, it was believed that the color yellow had a beneficial effect on the mentally ill. So they painted all the psychiatric hospitals yellow

Owl:

* Kanatchikovo - Mosk station. railway and location of the FAMOUS
Moscow mental hospital No. 1 now (in my opinion) named after. Andreeva.
It seems that it was precisely from its yellow color (the exterior coloring of the walls) that the concept of ending up in the “YELLOW HOUSE” originated...
well, like now in “WHITE” (no difference!)

Video response

This video will help you figure it out

Answers from experts

Galina:

The Yellow House is a psychiatric hospital. The name comes from the ancient custom of painting the walls in mental hospitals yellow, because it was believed that it had a calming effect on patients

EnIgMatIk:

The Yellow House is a mental hospital

do not understand the question! probably because I studied too much this week!

Galina Wasp:

This means PSYCHIATRIC CLINIC!!!

Apostle:

I think it's just the color...

Vasyusha:

mental hospital. This means that it must be reliably isolated.

Yelena M:

mental hospital

kyoshi ****:

Usually in Russia psychiatric hospitals are painted yellow.

Irina Betekhtina:

Madhouse Chamomile (also yellow)!!!

hawk-eye:

This classification should be introduced into the assessment of many answers on the World

User deleted:

The sentence was not composed correctly, in the “yellow house” they can still treat, but after the gallows it’s already a skiff, but the skiff is not treated

Olesya:

this is a mental hospital, the person is declared insane

User deleted:

The yellow house is a madhouse. Not a prison - because if a person is declared insane, then his place is in a mental hospital, and if he is sane and can be held accountable for his actions, then his place is on the gallows.

User deleted:

The Yellow House is a mental hospital... If it is from literature of the 19th-20th century, for example, in A. A. Blok's poems... Why not a prison? Because in the “Yellow Houses” they hid normal people who could provide water. danger and write the truth about Russia... They made idiots out of normal people... (((((
Just like that...
I hope it helped)))))

Lika:

The color yellow is associated with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, delirium, mania and epilepsy. The mental hospital, the “madhouse,” is called the “yellow house.” Indeed, in the paintings of some artists suffering from psychosis, schizophrenia (for example, Van Gogh) and epilepsy, the color yellow predominates.

The aura experienced by epileptics before seizures is vaguely reminiscent of the golden aura of the enlightened ones, saints, which in Christian painting is depicted as a golden halo.

Dahl:
“The yellow house, the insane asylum, from the yellow coloring of the Obukhov hospital in St. Petersburg.” Sindalovsky.

Legends and myths of St. Petersburg: “Initially, the House of Charity (the insane) was painted in the yellow color traditional for St. Petersburg at that time.”

“Then they cover the walls with some kind of paint. The most commonly used one today, which also has a beautiful appearance, is yellowish with white edges in places. Most of the houses are covered with this, and the eye rests with pleasure on this simple decoration of the capital.” Medical and topographical description of St. Petersburg. Heinrich Ludwig von Attenhofer, 1820
_____________

The first institutions appeared after the decree of Peter III on the construction of longhouses (German toll - mad, crazy, German haus - house) in 1762 - “It is not to place the insane in monasteries, but to build a deliberate house for this purpose, as is usually established in foreign countries dollar-gauzes, - but so be it"

The first project of Dolgouz was proposed by the historiographer F. Müller; in the development of the project he was guided by the nosological sign, “There is a difference in the degree of madness among the insane: epileptics, lunatics, melancholics, rabid ones. Each of these illnesses is different in degree, but they are all a burden to society, unless they are kept in special houses, where efforts would be made to feed and use them.”

The project was implemented in the form of two and three storey stone buildings. As follows from the recommendations of that time, the rabid were placed on the lower floor, melancholics and sleepwalkers were placed on the second floor, and epileptics were placed on the third. The cells of the rabid should have windows that could not be reached, and with bars; no furniture, bed on the floor. Müller allowed the use of physical punishment for patients - “The overseer punishes them no differently than small children, and sometimes just punishing the vine is enough,” as well as measures of physical restraint, which consisted of chaining “mad” patients.

Muller, for the first time not only in Russia, but also in Europe, separates medical treatment from religion: “the doctor used all sorts of means to cure them, but before they came to their senses, the priests had nothing to do with them.” He was the founder of occupational therapy, from which part of the income was derived to support the debtors. Only a few people were involved in the treatment, care and maintenance of the debtor - a doctor, a healer, two assistant doctors and a barber. At the same time, it was accepted that “the doctor and the barber should live in the house, and the doctor and the healer in the vicinity, so that, in addition to certain hours of their presence, in times of need they could always and quickly be found,” this requirement was fulfilled right up to modern history.
______________

In general, the first “yellow house” is Bedlam, (English Bedlam, from English Bethlehem - Bethlehem; official name Bethlem Royal Hospital - English Bethlem Royal Hospital), a psychiatric hospital in London (since 1547).

Scene at Bethlem Hospital. William Hogarth's series "The Spend's Career", engraving 8. 18th century

Design studio ARTmobius:

because the mental hospital usually painted the façade walls yellow

User deleted:

Yellow House is a colloquial term meaning mental hospital. The walls in psychiatric hospitals were often painted yellow. It was believed to have a calming effect on patients.

1. Ploshchad Vosstaniya metro station
Despite the fact that the building of the “Uprising Square” lobby can hardly be called a “high-rise”, the building is a striking representative of Stalinist neoclassicism. The metro station began to stand before the start of the Great Patriotic War. First, they dug shafts, including one approximately in the place where “Vosstaniya Square” is now. But they didn’t have time to complete the metro station. During the blockade, the corpses of the dead were allegedly dumped into this mine. The station pavilion was completed after the war in 1955.
Address: Vosstaniya Square, 2A

2. Residential building "Washington"
The first 12-story large-block house in St. Petersburg was built according to the design of architect B. N. Zhuravlev (in collaboration with architect A. D. Kats and engineer N. I. Dyubov). The house is popularly called “Washington”. There are rumors that in a twelve-story building, which in appearance seems like the most ordinary building, people take their own lives once every six months... Unofficial statistics of deaths are kept by grandmothers from the house opposite, watching the nightmare unfold from the benches near their house.
Address: Kuznetsovskaya street, 44

3. Residential building on Moskovsky Prospekt, 37
House No. 37 was destroyed during the Great Patriotic War, then built again. The building is distinguished by a turret with “Stalinist flavor”. On the other side of the avenue is the Olympia Garden. There is also an amazing lantern with which the legend of this house is associated. They say that periodically the lantern illuminates the subtle shadow of a ghost soldier who is buried right under the foundation pit of the house.
Address: Moskovsky prospect, 37

4. Residential building on Moskovsky Prospekt, 190
Viktor Tsoi lived in this house throughout his childhood. The house was built in 1952. The tower was supposed to mark the center of the entire area; it was decorated with a belvedere and a spire. We can say that this was the first “skyscraper” in St. Petersburg. The spire, crowned with a wreath with a celebrity, can be seen from afar. The apartments in the building are huge. “Big” people lived in it. That’s why the building was nicknamed “the general’s building.”
Address: Moskovsky prospect, 190

5. Residential building with a tower on Stachek Avenue 67
On Stachek Avenue, according to the design of Valentin Aleksandrovich Kamensky and Galina Leonovna Ashparyan, house No. 67 was built, in the appearance of which elements of Renaissance architecture were successfully used. At the All-Russian competition for the best buildings in 1952, this building was awarded a prize. The house is perhaps the most expressive building in the Avtovo area.
Address: Stachek Avenue, 67 building 4

6. Residential building on Obukhovskaya Oborony Avenue, 39
A residential building with a faceted corner tower, built in the 1950s, is a striking example of the Stalinist Empire style. There are no legends around this house. The building itself is incredibly beautiful and mysterious, which can easily be done without fables.
Address: Obukhovskaya Oborony Avenue, 39.