Apraksin Yard

Categories / Economy/Commerce
APRAKSIN YARD, a group of shops, storehouses, and offices built in the 18th and 19th centuries in the area belonging to the Counts Apraksin (hence the name) and bounded by the Fontanka River, Sadovaya Street, Lomonosova Street, and Apraksin Lane. The yard consists of two major areas - Apraksin Yard and Shchukin Yard. Trade has been conducted here from the mid-18th century. After the fire occurred in 1782 and Bolshoy Morskoy Market was closed down, Apraksin Yard was built up mainly with wooden buildings, and open areas were used as a flea market. Count G. P. Chernyshev's land, which was next to Apraksin Yard, was built up at the same time. Merchant I. M. Shchukin (hence the name of the area) bought the land bounded by Chernyshev Lane (today, Lomonosova Street) in the 1750s to conduct trade, mainly in a three-storied stone building in Sadovaya Street. Although Shchukin's property was transferred to the public treasury in 1777, trade was still carried on here. New buildings constructed in Shchukin Yard accommodated 579 shops by 1802. Trade was expanding in Apraksin Yard too, and in 1818 stone buildings were planned to be constructed in symmetrical patterns on its territory by architect A. Maudui. Six two-storied buildings were erected by 1828, and various goods were sold there except for meat and fish. Apraksin Yard became the center of book trade by the mid-19th century. However, nearly all buildings of Apraksin Yard and Shchukin Yard were destroyed by fires in May 1862. When reconstructed, both yards were united into a single trading area including Alexandrovskaya Line of Apraksin Yard, the main gate, and a number of buildings erected by architect I. D. Corsini in 1863 and Mariinskaya Line of Shchukin Yard erected by architect A. I. Krakau in 1864. Other 45 buildings were constructed in Apraksin Yard by the early 1870s, and the flea market moved to Novo-Alexandrovsky Market in Voznesensky Lane. There were over 500 stores in Aprkasin Yard by 1913 trading in drapery and foods, mostly wholesale, and over 270 stores in Mariinsky Market, former Shchukin Yard. The inside of both markets was used for storehouses and offices since the 1930s, and trade was conducted, mainly on commission, in external buildings of the yard. Apraksin Yard accommodated the only car shop in the city in the 1960s and has been the largest small-wholesale market in St. Petersburg from the 1990s.

Reference: Рубахин В. Ф. Графы Апраксины и их петербургская вотчина - Апраксин двор. СПб., 1912; Новиков Ю. В. Есть ли будущее у Апраксина двора? // ЛП. 1988. № 12. С. 29-30.

V. G. Avdeev. Chernyshev Grigory Petrovich, Count
Corsini Jeronim Domenikovich
Krakau Georg Alexander (Alexander Ivanovich)
Maudui A.K.
Shchukin Boris Vasilievich
Shchukin I.M.
the Apraksins
Alexandrovskaya Line/Saint Petersburg, city
Apraksin Lane/Saint Petersburg, city
Eleninsky Passage/Saint Petersburg, city
Fruktovaya Line/Saint Petersburg, city
Grafsky Passage/Saint Petersburg, city
Instrumentalnaya Line/Saint Petersburg, city
Kuryatnaya Line/Saint Petersburg, city
Lomonosova St./Saint Petersburg, city
Mikhailovsky Passage/Saint Petersburg, city
Moskatelnaya Line/Saint Petersburg, city
Sadovaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Stepanovsky Passage/Saint Petersburg, city
Voroninsky Passage/Saint Petersburg, city
Voskresensky Passage/Saint Petersburg, city
Voznesensky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Yagodny Passage/Saint Petersburg, city
Рубахин В. Ф. Графы Апраксины и их петербургская вотчина - Апраксин двор. СПб., 1912
Новиков Ю. В. Есть ли будущее у Апраксина двора? // Ленингр. панорама, 1988