The city of St. Petersburg never ceases to enchant with the grandeur of its monuments, the beauty of the embankments and the monumentality of the temples. Particularly admired are the palaces of St. Petersburg, which are the main evidence of their royal origin. No less interesting are the squares of St. Petersburg for learning the glorious centuries-old history of the city, among which is Austrian Square.
General information
Practically all squares of the northern capital of Russia keep the memory of many historical events of the city: tragic, joyful, solemn. Among them there are those who have completely lost their original appearance, and there are those who have not changed since their inception.
In any case, all these sacred places that keep the memory of the past can give an exciting feeling felt on the verge of the greatest discovery called the past…
Location of Austrian Square in St. Petersburg
Regular octagonal areais located at the intersection of Kamennoostrovsky prospect with the street. Peace. It is part of the Petrogradsky district of St. Petersburg. To take a walk around the square, you need to drive from any metro station to the Gorkovskaya or Petrogradskaya stations.
Austrian Square St. Petersburg is unusual not only for its shape, but also for the unique facades of five buildings that form the same octagon along the perimeter. The area of its territory is approximately 0.8 hectares.
About the name
An interesting fact is that the ensemble of the square formed at the beginning of the 20th century had no name for quite a long time. Only in 1992 she was given the first official name - Austrian. The people call this original square “Vatrushka”, and for its beauty it was given a more appropriate unofficial name - “Star Square”. This is due to the huge neon construction in the form of a star, which in Soviet times was used to decorate 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 in this part of the city with the architecture of the capital of Austria.
Initially supposed name - Viennese, but then the choice was settled on Austrian.
Brief historical information
Instead of the current Austrian Square in the twenties of the 18th century, 19 hut buildings that belonged to the Armory Office were located on this site. They were erected for "boorish" artisans transferred toSt. Petersburg in 1711. Special houses were built for them on Mokhovaya Street, near the Fontanka, and the old buildings were transferred to the Embassy Court. They existed here until the middle of the 18th century.
In the 19th century, there were plots of land with vegetable gardens and orchards, as well as wooden-stone one- and two-story houses on this site. Initially, the territory had an arched shape, and in the 1890s it was replanned and became multifaceted. Since the area did not have a name, on the maps it was simply called the Site or the Square.
At home
The buildings overlooking the Austrian Square in St. Petersburg were erected at the beginning of the 20th century. These are houses at numbers 13, 16, 18 and 20. The building at 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 the house number 13 in 1907-1908 the writer LN 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 1924-1935, the architect V. A. Schuko lived, who created the propylaea at Smolny, the monument at the Finland Station to V. I. Lenin and houses No. 63 and 65.
House No. 15 was built in 1952 (designed by architects Guryev O. I. and Shcherbenok A. P.). It was planned to build the fourth house of the architect Schaub on this site, but this idea did not materialize. Although the constructed building does not look like the houses of V. V. Schaub, it is perfectly combined with those houses in shape and proportions. From 1953 to 1988, an outstanding singer Laptev K. N. lived in one of the apartments of the house -People's Artist of the USSR. A memorial plaque was installed on the house in memory of this event.
House number 16 on Austrian Square was built in 1905-1906. This is the profitable house of the academician of painting Lipgart E. K. - an outstanding historian of painting and an artist of the Renaissance. He was the chief curator of the Art Gallery in the Hermitage. The academician lived in house number 16 until 1921.
Building number 20 is also an apartment building (built in 1901-1902). Its owner was the mayor and honorary citizen of the city Gorbov M. M. In 1907, this building was awarded an honorary diploma of the city facade competition.
House No. 18 (built in 1899-1901, designed by architect A. Kovsharov) is an example of an ordinary ordinary building. The building is closely adjacent to the neighboring house number 16. Until 1905, it belonged to Lipgart E. K.
In conclusion
On the Austrian Square, after its official opening, it was planned to organize a cafe, a chain of Austrian shops, a pharmacy with signboards typical for Austria, garbage containers and trash cans. But even now the crossroads has some similarities in the style of architecture with the style of the capital of Austria, which was noticed many years later.
