Esders and Scheefhaals building, Art Nouveau department store on Moika Embankment, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
The Esders and Scheefhaals building is a monumental Art Nouveau department store at Moika Embankment 73-79, on the corner of Gorokhovaya Street before the Red Bridge. Its corner tower is topped by a glass dome and a spire bearing the caduceus of Hermes, and large shop windows and glazed facades line the street.
Built in 1906-07 by architects Konstantin de Rochefort and Vladimir Lipsky, the store opened in 1907 as the S. Esders and K. Scheefhals Trading House, known as Au Pont Rouge, for Austrian businessman Stefan Esders, who ran a Brussels textile factory and stores in Berlin, Paris, Rotterdam, Breslau and Vienna; Scheefhals was his Dutch partner. In 1919 it became a state clothing factory, renamed the Volodarsky Sewing Factory in 1922. Reorganized as FOSP in 1992, it reopened in 2016 as a department store after renovation.
The store's name appeared on the facade in French as "Au Pont Rouge" and in Russian as "У красного моста", both meaning "At the Red Bridge". The corner tower is topped by a spire with the caduceus of Hermes, the god of commerce. The original signage, in French and pre-revolutionary Russian spelling, was restored during the renovation.
The building stands at the corner of Moika Embankment 73-79 and Gorokhovaya Street, just before the Red Bridge, so it is easy to find on foot from Nevsky Prospekt. The corner tower, glass dome and gilded caduceus of Hermes are best seen from across the Moika. The restored French and pre-revolutionary Russian shop signs are on the facades, visible from the street.
The corner tower carries a gilded spire topped with the caduceus, the winged staff entwined with snakes of Hermes, the Greco-Roman god of commerce. The French name "Au Pont Rouge" was displayed on the facade alongside Russian signage in pre-revolutionary spelling, and both were restored during the renovation.
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