Tolstoy House, Art Nouveau residential building in Rubinstein Street, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Tolstoy House is a multi-storey residential building in Art Nouveau style on Rubinstein Street in central Saint Petersburg, Russia. The facade shows red brick on the lower floors and gray stucco above, while three inner courtyards open into small urban spaces with their own passages.
Fyodor Lidval, one of the leading architects of Russian Art Nouveau, built the residence between 1910 and 1912 for Count Mikhail Tolstoy. The completion fell in the final years of the Russian Empire, shortly before the great upheavals of the twentieth century.
The name refers to Count Mikhail Tolstoy, who commissioned the building in the early twentieth century, though he never lived there himself. The apartments served middle-class families and academics who sought comfort and elegance in what was then Saint Petersburg.
The complex sits on Rubinstein Street near the Fontanka, a central waterway in Saint Petersburg, and is easily reachable on foot. The inner courtyards are visible from the street, but the residential areas remain private and are not open for tours.
The three arched passages between courtyards form a street system inside the complex that residents can use as a shortcut. This solution arose from the need to connect several plots in a single design.
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