Apraksin Yard (also Apraxin Dvor; ) is a market and retail block in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, covering . It is currently under a massive long-term renovation project. The buildings of Apraksin Dvor stand between

Sadovaya Street Sadovaya Street or Garden Street is a major thoroughfare in Saint Petersburg, Russia, passing through the Central Saint Petersburg, historic city center. From east to west, it begins near the Field of Mars (Saint Petersburg), Field of Mars, cr ...

and the Fontanka River, just southwest of the

Alexandrinsky Theatre The Alexandrinsky Theatre () or National Drama Theatre of Russia is a theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The Alexandrinsky Theatre was built for the Imperial troupe of Petersburg (Imperial troupe was founded in 1756). Since 1832, the theatre ...

. The first market there began in the mid-18th century, deriving its name from

Count Apraksin Count Fyodor Matveyevich Apraksin (also ''Apraxin''; ; , Moscow) was one of the first Russian admirals, governed Estonia and Karelia from 1712 to 1723, was made general admiral (1708), presided over the Russian Admiralty from 1717 to 1728''GRE' ...

who owned the plot. After a merchant named Shchukin purchased a portion of it, that part became known as Shchukin Dvor. The market buildings were wooden and burnt to the ground in 1782. A new department store, built to a design by Geronimo Corsini, was opened in the vicinity in 1863. Over the next decade, more than 45 shops were constructed in the area. In 1913, Apraksin Dvor contained more than 500 shops. A further 270 small wholesale enterprises were located in the grounds of Shchukin Dvor. After the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, most buildings of Apraksin Dvor were given over to use as depots and warehouses. By the beginning of the 21st century, Apraksin Dvor was a large city of block of small, downmarket shops facing the street with an open-air market – mostly clothing and accessories – on the inside: an enormous downmarket retail area in the middle of the ever more upscale city center. A long-term renovation plan was instituted; the market stalls were removed in 2008–09 to the Grazhdansky Rynok market on the periphery of the city. There are plans to turn the area into a modern, pleasant retail, office, residential, hotel and cultural space.

Wilkinson Eyre Architects WilkinsonEyre is an international architecture practice based in London, England. In 1983 Chris Wilkinson founded Chris Wilkinson Architects, he partnered with Jim Eyre in 1987 and the practice was renamed WilkinsonEyre in 1999. The practice ...

and

Foster and Partners Foster and Partners (also Foster + Partners) is a British international architecture firm with its headquarters in London, England. It was founded in 1967 by British architect and designer Norman Foster. The firm has been involved in the desig ...

are the lead architectural firms.

References

{{coord, 59.930678, N, 30.327523, E, type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Saint Petersburg Department stores of Russia 1863 establishments in the Russian Empire Shopping malls in Russia Cultural heritage monuments of regional significance in Saint Petersburg

Further reading

References