Singer House also widely known as House of Books () is a historical landmark

Landmarks of Saint Petersburg

The appearance of St. Petersburg is achieved through a variety of architectural details including long, straight boulevards, vast spaces, gardens and parks, decorative wrought-iron fences, monuments and decorative sculptures. The Neva River itself, together with its many canals and their granite...

 building located at intersection of Nevsky Prospekt

Nevsky Prospekt

Nevsky Avenue |Prospekt]]) is the main street in the city of St. Petersburg, Russia. Planned by Peter the Great as beginning of the road to Novgorod and Moscow, the avenue runs from the Admiralty to the Moscow Railway Station and, after making a turn at Vosstaniya Square, to the Alexander...

 with Griboyedov Canal, just opposite to the Kazan Cathedral in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. It is officially recognized as an object of Russian historical-cultural heritage.

History

The building was designed by architect Pavel Suzor

Pavel Suzor

Pavel Yulievich Suzor was a Russian architect, president of the Architects Society and count.Suzor graduated from the Saint Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts in 1866. He started to work for the city council in 1873, and in 1883 he started to teach at the Saint Petersburg Institute of Civil...

 for the Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n branch of the Singer Sewing Machine Company

Singer Corporation

Singer Corporation is a manufacturer of sewing machines, first established as I.M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac Merritt Singer with New York lawyer Edward Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865, then The Singer Company in 1963. It is...

. Initially, the management of the Singer Company had ambitions to construct a skyscraper

Skyscraper

A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...

, similar to the Singer Building

Singer Building

The Singer Building or Singer Tower at Liberty Street and Broadway in Manhattan, was a 47-story office building completed in 1908 as the headquarters of the Singer Manufacturing Company. It was demolished in 1968 and is now the site of 1 Liberty Plaza....

 - company headquarters being built at that time in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. However, the building code of Saint Peterburg center did not allow structures taller than 23.5 meters (the height of the Winter Palace

Winter Palace

The Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, was, from 1732 to 1917, the official residence of the Russian monarchs. Situated between the Palace Embankment and the Palace Square, adjacent to the site of Peter the Great's original Winter Palace, the present and fourth Winter Palace was built and...

 - tzar's residence). The architect found an elegant solution - the seven story building featured a tower on the top crowned with a glass globe. This tower makes an impression of high rise, but due to its lightness, it doesn't shadow neither the Kazan Cathedral nor the Church of the Savior on Blood

Church of the Savior on Blood

The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood Khram Spasa na Krovi is one of the main sights of St. Petersburg, Russia. It is also variously called the Church on Spilt Blood and the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ , its official name....

. The sculptor was the Estonian Amandus Adamson

Amandus Adamson

Amandus Heinrich Adamson was an Estonian sculptor and painter.-Life:...

.

After the October revolution

October Revolution

The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...

, the building was given to the Petrograd State Publishing House in 1919. It quickly became the city largest book store and earned the nickname of "House of Books".
The bookstore remained functioning during the Siege of Leningrad

Siege of Leningrad

The Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...

until November 1942. It reopened again in 1948. The building was closed for reconstruction during 2004-2006.