The mansion was built in 1913 by architect M.M. Sinyaver as a suburban house of Mrs. M.A. Voutgaft, the wife of a prominent local lawyer.

The faith of most mansions on the Kamenny Island was similar: after the October Revolution they were given to various public organizations and government offices.

During the Stalinist period (1930-50s) the mansions began being used for meetings and leisure of bureaucrats (the individual estates were then surrounded with high wall-like fences, giving the island its most recent nickname: “The Island of Solid Fences”).

During the Perestroika years there was much talk about “giving the island back to the people”, but nothing had changed since. The mansions are now privately held or owned – and are still closed to the people.

Now, let us return the Blue Dacha. A famous banker D.L. Rubinstein lived at this “Blue Dacha” in 1914.

After the October Revolution of 1917 the mansion was turned into a Resort/Sanatorium.

In the middle of the 1940s there was a hotel, then, in 1956-58, a kindergarten.

The mansion was a government residence ever since. Today the residence is operated by the municipal government, but can be rented for parties or weddings, if someone is willing to pay a lot of money for that.

And this is the view onto the opposite side of the building. The stairs lead you straight into the main hall.

A small park with Soviet-era park benches covers the territory between the mansion and the bank of the Krestovka River.

The Malo-Krestosvsky Bridge.

Designed and built in 1961-62 by engineer Yu.L.Yurkov and architect L.A.Noskov. Before 1962 here stood an old bridge dating back to 1817.

Far behind the bridge you can se the building of LDM (the Leningrad Palace of Youth) at 47, Ulitsa Professora Popova.

Opposite the mansion one can see the site, where the old oak-tree –allegedly planted by Peter the Great himself - once grew.

Recently the old 300-years-old tree had died, removed and a new tiny oak planted on its spot.