Vyborgskaya Side

Categories / City Topography/Historical Geography/Historical Districts, Localities, Tracts, Municipal Establishments
VYBORGSKAYA SIDE, a historical district of St. Petersburg, on the right bank of the Neva River and the Bolshaya Nevka River. In the east, it is confined by the Chernaya Rechka River, in the north - with Sestroretskaya Railway Line and Novorossiiskaya Street, in the east - with Karbysheva Street, Polyustrovsky Avenue and Piskarevsky Avenue. The name dates back to an old road to Vyborg (today Bolshoy Sampsonievsky Avenue and Engelsa Avenue). Due to its remoteness from the city centre, the developing of this territory in the 18th - first half of the 19th centuries was slower in comparison to other parts of the city. By the end of the first third of the 18th century, Vyborgskaya Side featured a naval and land hospital with a church, sugar mills and brick-yards, spinning-mill, Dutch Brewery, German Cemetery, Cossack settlement, battalion settlement and assembly quarters. In the late 18th century, an artillery laboratory, cotton-printing factories and provisions stores were constructed on the territory of Vyborgskaya Side; country-houses and parks of Petersburg nobility were located on the bank of the Neva River; ponton bridges connected Vyborgskaya Side and Peterburgskaya Side (on the place of present-day Grenadersky Bridge) and Liteiny Part (on present-day Chernyshevskogo Avenue). In 1798, Medical Surgical Academy (today Army Medical College) was founded, in 1820 - Mikhailovskoe Artillery School (today Mikhailovsky Military Artillery University). In the 1830s, quarters and barracks of Litovsky Life Guard Regiment (from 1850s, the Lifeguard Moskovsky Regiment were located here) were constructed. In 1844-49, the building of the New Arsenal (today Arsenal Joint-stock Company) was erected. In 1856, the first Roman Catholic Cemetery in St. Petersburg was laid out on the site of modern Arsenalnaya Street and Mineralnaya Street. In 1870, Finland Railway Station was opened. In 1879, Liteiny Bridge that bound together Vyborgskaya Side and the centre of St. Petersburg was put into operation. In the late 19th - early 20th centuries, Vyborgskaya Side became one of the largest industrial districts of St. Petersburg. There was St. Petersburg Metal Plant, the Bass Mill and Pipe Works of Rosenkranz (today Krasny Vyborzhets), Phoenix Machine-Building Plant (today Sverdlov), Lessner's Machine-Building Plant (later, was named after K. Marx), Nobel (today Russky Diesel), Sugar Factory of Kenig, Electrotechnical Plant of Ericsson, Sampsonievskaya, Rochensalmskaya and other manufactories. In the 1930s, technical reconstruction of industrial enterprises were carried out, new residential blocks (Baburinsky, Bateninsky, Town of Textile-Workers, At Five Corners, etc.) were constructed. Simultaneously, land improvement programs were carried out, with Vyborgsky Garden and the Garden of Karl Marx laid out and Vyborgsky Palace of Culture built. In the second half of the 20th century, Leningrad Concert Hall (1954), the new building of the Finland Railway Station (1960), the swimming pool of the Army Sport Club (1964), Leningrad Hotel (1970, today Saint Petersburg) were constructed on Vyborgskaya Side; Vyborgskaya Embankment, Arsenalnaya Embankment and Sverdlovskaya Embankment were reconstructed, the ensemble of Lenin's Square was created, new bridges across Bolshaya Nevka River (Grenadersky and Kantemirovsky) were constructed. In the 1960s, the region of Lanskoe Freeway was built up with the first series of mass production residential housing. The present-day Vyborgskaya Side is mainly an industrial region; along with above-enumerated enterprises there is also Leningrad Optical and Mechanical Association open joint-stock company, Igristye Vina Plant, Liebknecht Plant, Tram Mechanic Plant, Klimov Plant, Krasnaya Zarya Plant, Krasny Mayak Industrial Complex, Azart Confectionary Factory, numerous scientific research and project organisations, transport and constructing and assembly companies. A project for the overall development of the territory between Pirogovskaya Embankment and Bolshoy Sampsonievsky Avenue aimed at the creation of trade and commercial zone was launched in the early 2000s. As a part of this programme, Nobel Business Centre and Sampsonievsky Trade and Business Centre were opened. The most well known monuments of history and culture of Vyborgskaya Side are St. Sampson’s Cathedral, the Army Medical College Complex , the New Arsenal (1849, 1 Arsenalnaya Embankment), the summer residence of Durnovo (1780s, 22 Sverdlovskaya Embankment), the summer residence of A.A. Bezborodko (see Manor of Kushelevs-Bezborodkos), the summer residence of N.I. Golovin (1823-24, 63 Vyborgskaya Embankment), the mansion and plant management of Nobel (1879-80, 17 Pirogovskaya Embankment), residential blocks for workers of Nobel's Plant (1911, 20 Lesnoy Avenue).

References: Коган А. Я., Лихтин А. А., Зазнобина Н. В. История Санкт-Петербурга: Выборгская сторона. СПб., 2001.

Е. А. Bondarchuk, P.Y. Yudin. Arsenalnaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city
Arsenalnaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 1
Arsenalnaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 17
Bolshoy Sampsonievsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Chernyshevskogo St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 1
Engelsa Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Karbysheva St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 22
Lesnaya Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 20
Mineralnaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Novorossiiskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Pirogovskaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city Выборгская сторона
Pirogovskaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 17
Piskarevsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 20
Polyustrovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Sverdlovskaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city Выборгская сторона
Sverdlovskaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 22
Vyborgskaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city
Vyborgskaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 63
Выборгская сторона
Коган А. Я., Лихтин А. А., Зазнобина Н. В. История Санкт-Петербурга: Выборгская сторона. СПб., 2001 Army Medical Academy
Mikhailovsky Military Artillery University
Finlyandsky Railway Station
Leningrad Metallurgic Plant (LMP)
Krasny Vyborzhets, Plant
Sverdlov, Plant
Karl Marx Machine-Building Association (formerly Novy Lessner)
Russian Diesel Engine Plant
LOMO
St. Sampson’s Cathedral
1720
1928