Maly Gostiny Dvor, Marketplace and federal cultural heritage site in Saint Petersburg, Russia
Maly Gostiny Dvor is a marketplace and protected cultural heritage site with neoclassical design in Saint Petersburg. The building spans along the Griboyedov Canal Embankment and Lomonosova Street with retail spaces on multiple sides.
Built in the 1790s by Giacomo Quarenghi, who was then also working on the neighbouring Assignation Bank, Maly Gostiny Dvor was designed as a trading court with two-storey open arcades on all three facades, echoing the silhouette of the Bolshoy Gostiny Dvor. Its corps were rebuilt in 1860 to a design by N. P. Grebyonka and again in 1879–1880 to a design by G. A. Lvovich. After the revolution the building housed the KOGIZ training combine for bookselling specialists, later a library technical school, and after the war a city art school and the workshops of the Theatre of Drama and Comedy.
The building's name distinguishes it from the larger Gostiny Dvor nearby, and it had its own specialisation: many furniture shops traded here. Sales were held only in daylight, with candles banned for fire safety. After the revolution it housed a KOGIZ training combine for booksellers, then a library college.
The building has facades and entrances on three streets: Griboyedov Canal Embankment (No. 26/2), Lomonosova Street (No. 2/26) and Dumskaya Street (No. 9). It stands in the block between Gostiny Dvor, the University of Economics and Finance, and the Central Railway Ticket Offices. Since 1997 the whole building has been leased to the Petersburg Real Estate Agency until 2046.
Trading here was allowed only in daylight: candles were banned for fire safety, so the arcades closed at dusk. The building also had its own specialisation, housing numerous furniture shops rather than the mixed goods of the larger Gostiny Dvor next door.
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