Victor Varganov will accompany us in the walk around Kamenny island, making sure we don't overlook interesting buildings. And he's the one to blame for over enumeration of historical facts :) This album (including comments) is a product of our joint efforts.
So then, the "Island of Solid Fences" - the resting place for old and now new masters. The latest years had an influence upon this place, the state of the majority of buildings is rather sad comparatively to the photos of the mid 70s.
John the Baptist church (by architect Y.M. Felten), functioning today.
Krilichevskaya mansion. Now it's at the disposal of Petersburg eparchy and is called the dacha of metropolitan.
The house of the famous scientist and doctor V.M. Bekhterev.
The Mertens house.
Oldenburgsky dacha. Peter Oldenburgsky was an outstanding figure of russian philanthropy.
They say that the latest fire of Oldenburgsky dacha (1978) happened in the presence of the Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers Kosygin, who lived in the neighbor state dacha. They say Kosygin ordered to restore the dacha. However it remained neglected until 1982, after that it was demolished and in the late 80s reestablished anew. And they still can't finish the outside painting…
The Chaev house. Forestalling the evident question - yes, there was supposed to be a dome according to the project. But the intention was not realized.
M.A. Vurgaft house.
A famous rich man Dmitry Rubinshtein was its leaser for many years. He initiated merry new year's celebrations and dancing parties with gifts and cheers for kamennoostrovsky children in the house. In 1918 the house was nationalized and was occupied by the colony for children according to Petrosovet decree. What a twist of fate…
This plain dilapidated building is the Sobstvennaya (Own) dacha built by Karl Rossi for the imperial family.
Indeed, he is not the namesake of the Main Headquarters arc architect :-)
Krestovsky canal
House of A.G. Soloveychik built in 1911 according to the project of the civilian engineer I.F. Edel. Nowadays it's occupied by the specialized T.B. prophylactic kindergarten (despite the vicinity of the state dacha).
The M.E. Kleinmichel dacha. The house was rebuilt in the gothic style by architect I.A. Pretro in 1904. The wooden dacha of the wife of the circus owner L. Chinizelli was situated nearby in the same plot, but it was demolished in 1983.
The A.A. Polovtsev dacha was built by the outstanding master of neoclassicism, architect Ivan Fomin. A.A. Polovtsev was a State secretary (person in charge of the State Council).
Someone has carefully parked the car in the middle between the columns.
Dacha of Gausvald built in 1898 by architects V.I. Shene and V.I. Chagin. Miraculous expressiveness of this building's architecture has anticipated many ideas of the modernist style in many respects. The dacha has been shot in movies more than once: in the films about Sherlock Holmes (the house of the former girlfriend of the throne heir of some german shire) and in the film "Don Cesar de Bazan".
The Follenveider house.
There is Danish consulate today.
The author of the Wandering Camera nearly got arrested for making an attempt to take a picture of it. By the way, this house is partly wooden. Though it doesn't show from the outside.
The building of the 1st Saint Petersburg agricultural courses (1914)
The reinforced-concrete construction in the shot is one of the exhibits of the International construction-architectural exhibition of 1908. The exhibition which took place on both banks of Bolshaya Nevka - at the Kamenny island and in the Novaya village - was visited by more than 100 thousands people. Built out of the newest material (the reinforced-concrete) railway awning was the exhibit of the "Reinforced-Concrete" association. (resemblance with the bus stop is nonrandom).
Just a blank fence which determines the bounds of the plot.
But a bit too impressive fence indeed. It makes you want to contrive some kind of striking comparison, for instance, with the wall of the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris or the famous picture by Francisco Goya "the Third of May". Actually, the tight brick fence is not a bad protection from the fires in the island where more than half of the constructions were built out of wood and used to burn often.
The oak which according to the legend was planted by the Peter the I himself. The oak's age can't call in question, the more so as its long life has arrived to the end: all that remained from it is a big stump amidst the street. But it's unlikely that some well-bred person will dare to destroy something that was possibly created by the very Peter the Great. It's time to start looking for the "barbarians".
The sphinxes greatly worn by treatment..
I'll go on saying that the students of LITMO (the author is among them) had to run several kilometers along the alleys of the island regardless of weather almost at each physical culture lesson (that is each lesson which one managed to attend :-).
Here we'll finish the journey around Kamenny island. Not everything is shown here - there is Kamennostrovsky palace and several more buildings behind the bridge. Unfortunately, sanatorium is situated there and getting there on the purpose of shooting is impossible.
Besides, there is no any opportunity to shoot the buildings hidden behind the huge fences.
As I have promised, it started snowing in this album. And winter will start in the next one..
