Let’s take a look at St. Petersburg’s finest offerings. You can click on photos to view full-size images, and hover over each to read captions.
Above photos: St. Petersburg’s first and foremost flagship department store, similar to Harrods in London, with Art Nouveau Interiors
Photos, below: Original Singer Store (from US Singer Sewing Machine fame), now a book store, with Art Nouveau traces*
Photo, below: DLT Department Store, St. Petersburg’s newest and flashiest shopping center, ca. 2014
And a potpourri of street scenes, below. For Julianne and Melissa from Dostoyevsky’s 19th C. apartment building, “Here’s lookin’ at you kids”.
*excerpt from Wikipedia
The famous Singer House, designed by architect Pavel Suzor, was built in 1902–1904 at Nevsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg for headquarters of the Russian branch of the company. This modern style building (situated just opposite to the Kazan Cathedral) is officially recognized as an object of Russian historical-cultural heritage.
Travels with Myself and Others 
Fascinating ! It is so wonderful to get your insights. I am following your posts with enthusiasm. Your travels give me a broader approach to the real life experience at the micro level back home 🙂 For example: every summer for the last 30 years we have a classical music festival in La Jolla organized by the La Jolla Music Society called SummerFest. It lasts the whole month of August. Every year they deep dive into the art of one composer. This year they dedicated the festival to Dimitri Shostakovich who is a celebrated composer of the 20th century and had a tremendous impact on the classical music in Russia. Shostakovich was born in St. Petersburg (1906). He died in 1975 in Moscow. He composed during the cold war but his art transcended the Soviet audience. I will learn more about him this summer and about the architectural and cultural environment he composed in through your posts. Priceless experience !!
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I had been meaning to follow up on the Singer House and just attached an excerpt to this post from Wikipedia. It identified the cathedral that you can see in the interior photo of the cafe. The history is interesting, particularly since it was built the year that Shostakovich died! I wonder if he ever met Dostoyevsky?
The festival sounds great. Send more info as you attend performances and we can link our experiences! I hadn’t thought about composers from here until you mentioned it. I’ve been stalking German composers but maybe it’s time to pursue the Russian ones. Will keep you posted if I discover anything along the way.
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I am running behind on your posts so tonight is the first night I can sit and enjoy them. Leaving for CO in the morning so this is my “get in vacation mode” experience!
I loved this post, esp the bride. You really captured the moment!!
and of course what is not to like about the beautiful shops – they take “window shopping” to a whole new level. Awesome!
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It seemed more exotic than Harrods. I posted a picture last year from there of the Russian caviar and champagne counter, but this was the real thing! We had champagne and caviar for a fraction of the price and that made it taste even better!
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Saint Petersburg’s loss of capital city status helped the city to retain many of its pre-revolutionary buildings, as modern architectural ‘prestige projects’ tended to be built in Moscow; this largely prevented the rise of mid-to-late-20th-century architecture and helped maintain the architectural appearance of the historic city center.
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Thank you for your comment. It certainly helps to explain the wealth of neoclassical buildings throughout the City. I hope there will be funds available to preserve and renovate some of the city’s masterpieces. It Looks like the renovation of the General Staff Administration Building for the Extension to the Hermitage was a big step for St. Petersburg. Do you know if there are plans to renovate the Singer Buildng interior?
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