Before the revolution, the creation of apartment buildings in St. Petersburg was one of the most successful businesses. They tried to fill as much space as possible, from noble mansions made the same apartment buildings. Because of this, by the beginning of the XX century, the entire St. Petersburg center was filled with houses that are still popular among tourists.
However, few people think about the fact that many architectural landmarks served only to increase the profits of the owners. That is, there was the same greed, only it would be wrong to use this word with a negative color.
City Landmark
If the apartment house was located on a corner plot, the owner decorated it with turrets. In addition, in St. Petersburg there were no restrictions on the height of the building. For example, the height of the Winter Palace is 23 meters.
As a rule, the towers were residential. Why not use extra meters? And the superstructures served as a guide. At the end of the XIX century in the northern capital there was already a numbering of houses according to the modern type: the street and the house number were indicated. However, sometimes it was easier to describe in words a certain building, as they were recognizable. For example, "go to the house of Muruzi"or "you need to get to the house of Joff". It was a good advertisement – constant repetition of the name of the building in conversations.
In Moscow, it was different: the bell towers of the temples served as a landmark, of which there were many. Each bell had its own name. Today, as a landmark, we call the metro station.
Function of decorated facades
Methods of decoration of the facade - a separate topic. Many buildings are similar to palaces made in the styles of Neo-Gothic, Neo-Renaissantism, Neoclassicism, Neo-Romanticism, European or Northern Modernism. It seems that this is an unnecessary expense, since the cheaper the building is, the better. Why make an expensive order from a popular architect? Logically, such houses for rent should have been no better than modern "people", but sophisticated techniques were involved, for example, mosaic panels. This is famous for the apartment house of Leuchtenberg.
Entrepreneurs knew that the unique jewelry would pay off with an increased rental rate. In addition, the individual décor will be a guide. And if such a building was located on the corner and could boast of a unique décor, it became especially noticeable. So there were the main city landmarks - these include, for example, the Rosenstein House.
Why do we need courtyards-kursoners?
Kurdoner was originally called the courtyard in front of the palace, which was limited by side wings. They arose during the reign of Louis XIII. Such courtyards and today are attractive due to their decoration. They combine the features of famous palaces and city estates in Moscow, in which the main building was drowned in the depths of the garden. One of the most beautiful examples is the Lidval House,on which the famous Swedish-Russian architect worked. The building was intended for his mother.
However, the function of the kurdoner in an apartment house is less poetic: this increased the number of rooms whose windows overlooked the street, and not on the courtyard devoid of attractiveness. Such rooms cost more, bringing the homeowner more income.
Popular places on the back side
Today, tourists often visit the courtyards-wells. Everyone knows: cramped courtyards are the consequences of the desire of entrepreneurs to build up their plot as much as possible.
No less tourists and photographers are attracted by the light yards,which are a small well inside an apartment building. You can get there only in one way: only through the apartment in the building. Light yards had a simple function – increasing the number of rooms with natural light, which also made the rental price higher.
Another element of the courtyard of an apartment house is considered to be noisy. At the junction of the walls formed some semi-kolodtsy, most often one, but sometimes more. Their function is not known for certain even to guides, there are different assumptions, disputes are underway. According to the most plausible version, they are needed for the kitchen: light got through the windows and unpleasant odors were eliminated. Also through such a snack it was convenient to lift firewood, water and other household goods to the kitchen with the help of ropes and winches.
Ceilings
We are still amazed at the high ceilings in old houses! From the point of view of business, it is unprofitable for the homeowner to make a high ceiling, because it turns out to be less than the floors. Most likely, it would have been, but hygienic restrictions played a role. Houses were heated with the help of furnaces, as a result of which carbon monoxide arose, accumulating under high ceilings, but gradually weathering - otherwise it would have fallen into the respiratory tract of the residents. Although this rule was not observed in relation to the poorest tenants renting attics and attics.
Attractiveness of bay windows
Another distinctive feature of apartment buildings in St. Petersburg is the façade protrusionsthat produce an effect. The most beautiful corner bay windows. So, aesthetics is combined with profitability: bay windows allow you to increase the room area, make it lighter.
Delightful stained glass windows
It is amazing how they managed to survive for more than a hundred years, despite the severe blockade. Stained glass has long gained fame as an artistic technique - apparently, from the time when people learned to produce colored glass. For a long time, they were available only to the owners of palaces, but over time, the technology became more accessible, attracting the attention of entrepreneurs who own apartment buildings.
Stained glass windows became an ornament of the main staircases of apartment buildings, and carried not only an aesthetic function: they helped to close the view of the courtyard, where there were outbuildings, cesspools and everything that could be an unpleasant sight for the tenant.
Probably, for this reason, many stained glass windows were not affected by the St. Petersburg blockade: the waves of the explosion did not reach these windows, since they overlooked the courtyard part.
Unusual architectural forms
Artists and photographers are often interested in iron houses (as they are called because of the sharp or blunt corner of two walls facing different streets). This configuration is also dictated by the desire to maximize the development of the acquired site.
Greedy were the city authorities, giving for development inconvenient plots that would be much better suited for creating a square. Subsequently, houses-walls, houses-ringsalso began to appear.
