The Wawelberg Bank Building in St. Petersburg, 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...

 was built by the Wawelberg

Wawelberg

The Wawelbergs were an Imperial Russian banking house with roots in Congress Poland.-Name:The House of Wawelberg, The Wawelberg Bank...

s - a prominent Imperial Russian banking family

Family

In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...

. Although this building

Building

In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:...

 bears initials HW (Hyppolite Wawelberg), it was commissioned by his son, Michael Wawelberg
It is located at 7/9 Nevsky Prospekt and is an important 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...

 landmark.
Architect Marian Peretiatkovich, also Peretyatkovich, Peretiatkowicz;
Style: Historicism, Neo-Renaissance with elements of Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...

History

The present building

Building

In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:...

 was completed in 1912 and incorporates the foundation

Foundation (architecture)

A foundation is the lowest and supporting layer of a structure. Foundations are generally divided into two categories: shallow foundations and deep foundations.-Shallow foundations:...

 and some of the structure

Structure

Structure is a fundamental, tangible or intangible notion referring to the recognition, observation, nature, and permanence of patterns and relationships of entities. This notion may itself be an object, such as a built structure, or an attribute, such as the structure of society...

 of two separate 18th century buildings. In the 18th century the property owners were two brothers, Semen (Semion) Bernikov and Sergei Bernikov, both wealthy merchants. In the early 19th century one T. Roby (Thomas Roby, Robbie, Т.Роби), a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 subject, ran a restaurant

Restaurant

A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...

 or pub in this building

Building

In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:...

. Supposedly this was the first public place in the city where ordinary Petersburgers got their taste of English steak

Steak

A steak is a cut of meat . Most are cut perpendicular to the muscle fibers, improving the perceived tenderness of the meat. In North America, steaks are typically served grilled, pan-fried, or broiled. The more tender cuts from the loin and rib are cooked quickly, using dry heat, and served whole...

, roast beef

Roast beef

Roast beef is a dish of beef which is roasted in an oven. Essentially prepared as a main meal, the leftovers can be and are often served within sandwiches and sometimes is used to make hash...

, pie

Pie

A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients....

 and ale

Ale

Ale is a type of beer brewed from malted barley using a warm fermentation with a strain of brewers' yeast. The yeast will ferment the beer quickly, giving it a sweet, full bodied and fruity taste...

. Around 1850s Bernikov's heirs sold one building to Shchepetilova, an army captain's widow, and the second structure to some Nochbeck, a government official. New owners in turn later sold the structure to another pair of merchant brothers, Nikolai (Nicholas) and Karl Korpus (Charles Corpus) who remained landlords until they sold both properties to Wawelberg interests in the early 20th century. From 1870s until 1910 the building housed a variety of retail establishments and agencies: Captain Mahlein's (капитан Малейн) footwear shop, Betling s governess employment bureau (контора для найма гувернанток и Елизаветы Карловны Бетлинг). Art studios (of August Rakowski, a painter) occupied the mansard space, Ivanov's fruit emporium, Schaf's or Schaff's (Шаф) weapons and bicycle shop were also in the building before Wawelberg's takeover.

Architecture

The structure

Structure

Structure is a fundamental, tangible or intangible notion referring to the recognition, observation, nature, and permanence of patterns and relationships of entities. This notion may itself be an object, such as a built structure, or an attribute, such as the structure of society...

 is a heavy Italianate palazzo

Palazzo

Palazzo, an Italian word meaning a large building , may refer to:-Buildings:*Palazzo, an Italian type of building**Palazzo style architecture, imitative of Italian palazzi...

 built on gargantuan scale - it occupies a full city block. The exterior of the building is made of gray granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

. Walls, cornice

Cornice

Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...

s, columns are richly decorated with northern art nouveau

National Romantic Style

The National Romantic style was a Nordic architectural style that was part of the national romantic movement during the late 19th and early 20th century. Designers turned to early Medieval and even prehistoric precedents to construct a style appropriate to the perceived character of a people...

 inspired sculptures and bas-reliefs by two notable period sculptors Vasily Kozlov

Vasily Kozlov

Vasily Vasilyevich Kozlov was a Soviet sculptor.-Life:The son of a peasant, Kozlov was born and raised in a small village in Saratov Oblast. In 1898 his family emigrated to Petersburg, where Vasily studied in Company's of encouragement of painters School...

 (Vassili, Василий Васильевич Козлов) and Leopold Dietrich (Леопольд Августович Дитрих). After 1917 Kozlov and Dietrich became official Soviet sculptors of the social realism

Social realism

Social Realism, also known as Socio-Realism, is an artistic movement, expressed in the visual and other realist arts, which depicts social and racial injustice, economic hardship, through unvarnished pictures of life's struggles; often depicting working class activities as heroic...

 persuasion. Many contemporaries considered the building too American, too tasteless, and its appearance generated some heated public debate. At the corner of Malaia Morskaia and Nevsky is an entrance to the actual bank

Retail banking

Retail banking is banking in which banking institutions execute transactions directly with consumers, rather than corporations or other banks. Services offered include: savings and transactional accounts, mortgages, personal loans, debit cards, credit cards, and so forth.-Types of...

, now housing a collection of travel agencies, from 1960 until 1992 the building was Leningrad headquarters of Aeroflot

Aeroflot

OJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines , commonly known as Aeroflot , is the flag carrier and largest airline of the Russian Federation, based on passengers carried per year...

, the space is airy, quiet with entrance passage leading through a hall to the cavernous bank lobby, complete with rows of columns and a spacious gallery above. Wawelberg Bank is one of most remarkable turn of the 20th century bank buildings in St. Petersburg. The exterior of the building bears HW - Hyppolite Wawelberg - initials set in an arrangement resembling a coat of arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

.