Luxury and poverty of St. Petersburg communal apartments

The Instagram of a St. Petersburg photographer is gaining popularity in social networks, who takes pre-revolutionary apartments from the "old fund": with high ceilings, large windows, stucco on the ceiling and fireplaces. Most of them were converted into communal apartments in Soviet times,which still have tenants.

Luxury and poverty of St. Petersburg communal apartments

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) Jun 14, 2016 at 1: 03AM PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

Communal apartment on the 5th Sovetskaya street.

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) Jun 16, 2016 at 8: 37AM PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

Resettled communal apartment on Kirochnaya street.

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) Jun 26, 2016 at 8: 54AM PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

Grandfather clock in the apartment on Petrovskaya Embankment.

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) Jun 29, 2016 at 4: 06 AM PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

A wall safe in a resettled communal apartment on Bolshoy Prospekt of the Petrogradskaya side from the American firm Lowrie S&L.

A photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) on Jul 19, 2016 at 1: 26 PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

A room with a stained glass window and a stove in a communal apartment on Ruzovskaya Street.

A photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) on Aug 11, 2016 at 2: 00 PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

Apartment on Shpalernaya street.

A photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) on Aug 6, 2016 at 6: 55 PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

"These doors are strange because they have glass on one side, and blind panels on the back. On the right is a statue made of Italian marble. The author is unknown, since the signature is chipped. It is expensive. Very much."

A photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) on Jul 26, 2016 at 6: 34 PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

Pre-revolutionary brass mixer. "The two levers were originally connected by a jumper with the words "shower" and "bath" on different sides. And a thermometer was inserted into the mixer from above (now there is a plug)." 

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) Jun 30, 2016 at 6: 44 PM PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

A balcony with a fence in the Art Nouveau style.

A photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) on Aug 15, 2016 at 2: 22 PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

The hostel is located in the house of 1902 on Suvorovsky Prospekt.

A photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) on Aug 16, 2016 at 8: 31 PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

Painted ceiling moldings. "It is difficult to say whether these are original colors or experiments of previous residents. In general, before the revolution, stucco decor was often painted in similar shades."

A photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) on Aug 30, 2016 at 1: 38 PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

Fireplace in the Art Nouveau style in the house on Galernaya, 67. " Made, most likely, somewhere in Poland or Livonia. The condition is so-so, clearly shifted, and quite crooked. Perfectionists will not approve."

A photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) on Sep 4, 2016 at 5: 05 PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

"Do you think this is a staircase in some mansion? Or, perhaps, the grand staircase of a rich apartment building? And here it is not. This is a staircase inside one of the apartments in the Dernov apartment building on Tavricheskaya Street. The apartment now houses a kindergarten, and the house is not famous for these interiors at all. In another apartment, at the very top of the house, there was the " Ivanov Tower — - an informal epicenter of the cultural life of the Silver Age era."

A photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) on Sep 6, 2016 at 7: 04 PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

"Despite the fact that the house was built in the heyday of Art Nouveau (1904), its exterior and interiors are eclectic. However, sometimes Art Nouveau still seeps through."

A photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) on Sep 17, 2016 at 10: 11 PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

"A kitchen in a settled communal apartment in the very center of St. Petersburg. And don't ask what is in the bank on the right."

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) Dec 23, 2016 at 12: 43 pm PST

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

"This is a kindergarten in a former apartment on the Fontanka Embankment, 24. Of course, before the revolution it was not just an apartment, but one of the richest apartments in the city, which occupied an entire floor. Now one half of it is still residential, and the second has been a kindergarten for many years. By the way, if you want to spoil the historical interior, paint the walls in pastel green and lay a resounding laminate." 

A photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) on Sep 22, 2016 at 2: 35 PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

"Communal Putti (boys with wings in Renaissance and Baroque art. - Ed.)".

A photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) on Sep 23, 2016 at 2: 08 PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

"This is where the servants lived before the revolution. A typical human room is a small room near the kitchen, with windows to the courtyard. This room has preserved its historical dimensions."

A photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) on Sep 28, 2016 at 6: 55 PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

1902.

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) Oct 2, 2016 at 2: 03AM PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

The photographer does not name the addresses of abandoned places.

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) Oct 27, 2016 at 6: 09AM PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

"They say that a certain pharmacist, the owner of the whole house, lived in this apartment before the revolution. His pharmacy was located on the first floor. The pharmacist fled the country in 1917, and the pharmacy existed in the same place for almost the entire XX century."

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) Nov 9, 2016 at 1: 27 PST

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

No longer a communal apartment, rented out.

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) Oct 29, 2016 at 4: 06AM PDT

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) Nov 21, 2016 at 6: 56 PST

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

"This stove, by the way, pretended to be a fireplace,but was brought to light. Both doors are historical. External elements supposedly improve the aesthetic perception of the furnace."

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) Nov 29, 2016 at 9: 05 PST

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

Fireplace stove on Chernyakhovsky Street.

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) Dec 1, 2016 at 12: 21 pm PST

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

"Under the layers of wallpaper in Rasputin's apartment, of course, there are pre-revolutionary newspapers. When planning repairs in the old fund, it is necessary to take into account the hours that will be spent reading the centennial press."

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) Dec 5, 2016 at 1: 05 PST

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

"The former owner's apartment on Konnaya Street, in the house No. 8. The apartment has never been communal, and in the late 1990s, a gentle restoration was carried out here. In addition to stucco and stoves, doors with fittings, windows, parquet were preserved and put in order. The house was built by the architect Lev Natkin in 1912."

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) Dec 26, 2016 at 1: 22 PST

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

"The Gothic living room in the kindergarten-the former apartment of the Poklevskys-Kozells on the Fontanka embankment. In place of the cabinet, there used to be a fireplace with a portal. And once the Masonic lodge meetings were held in the house."

A photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf) on Jan 17, 2017 at 8: 40 PST

Photo posted by Maxim (@maax_sf)

Fireplace. "Its tiles were originally made of terracotta, that is, not glazed. Such fireplaces were painted after installation in any color at the request of the customer. And on the left there are traces of an arch leading to the next room. The wall and the door appeared here in the process of sealing."

Keywords: St. Petersburg | Russian Federation | Housing | Design and architecture | Apartments | Pre-revolutionary era | Social networks

     

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