Visitors who dedicate time to explore what's beyond St. Petersburg's palaces will have the chance to see many conventional home yards, as well as interesting scenes from the local life.
Tour guide Nina Astashkina has always been eager to take visitors in tours across the city and provide them with useful information on the sophistication of some buildings like the House of Benoit featuring a maze composed of around 12 interconnected yards, the German News Agency reported.
In this house, visitors can explore the other side of St. Petersburg's attractive facades featuring carriages made of wavy steel, tangled electricity wires, collapsed historical buildings, and graffiti drawings. The House was built by three members of the Benoit architects family before World War I; at the time, it was the largest and newest residential property in the city.
During the Soviet era, composer Dmitri Shostakovich lived in it, and it still represents a suitable place for living.
"People who have lived here are very different. Some drive Tesla and Bentley cars, while others share apartments," says Astashkina. It is a remnant from the Soviet era, during which spaces were so limited that vast apartments housed an entire family in each room.
Astashkina's favorite spot is the Petrograd Side, an island to the north of Neva River, thin the beginning of the 20which was developed after the establishment of a bridge century. The island has become home for modern art houses with a northern touch similar to buildings in Stockholm and Helsinki.
