German Embassy Building

Categories / Architecture/Architectural Monuments/Public Buildings and Edifices
GERMAN EMBASSY BUILDING (11/41 St. Isaac's Square), a monument of Neoclassical architecture. In the 1740s, a two-story stone building was constructed on this site, which belonged to Court Jeweller Kh.G. Hebelt (1760s - 1802). In 1815-20, architect V.P. Stasov rebuilt the house in the Empire style. Its facade was designed in 1870-71, in the spirit of Eclecticism. In 1873, the house was bought by the German Embassy, which had some of its interiors redecorated by architect R.B. Bernhard. In 1911-13, the building was totally rebuilt in the Neoclassicist style according to plans by German architect P. Berens. The monumental faced of the three-story building is made of dark red granite; the frontispiece is finished with columns, and the wings of the building are decorated with pilasters. The construction manager was architect Mies van der Rohe, and sculptor E. Enke created the Dioskuroi (the sons of Zeus) sculptural group on the tympanum. Many prominent German masters contributed to the gala halls' decoration with paintings, sculptures and fretwork. The furniture was made in Germany according to drawings by Berens. The St. Petersburg artistic community held a mostly negative attitude toward the German Embassy Building. The Teutonic style, hostile to St. Petersburg architecture, was criticized by A.N. Benois, N.N. Wrangel, G.K. Lukomsky. In July 1914, after Germany declared war on Russia, the house suffered significant damage due to rioting. In 1922-41, the building accommodated the German Embassy; during the siege of Leningrad, a war hospital was quartered there. Today the building houses the Administration Board of the Ministry of Justice and the Chief Technical Commission to the President of the Russian Federation for the Northwest Federal District. Restoration work on the building began in 2001.

References: Платонов П. В. Здание Германского посольства // Памятники истории и культуры Санкт-Петербурга: Исслед. и материалы. СПб., 2002. Вып. 6. С. 228-237.

V. V. Antonov. Benois Alexander Nikolaevich
Berens Peter
Bernhard Rudolf Bogdanovich
Enke E.
Hebelt K. G.
Lukomsky Georgy Kreskentievich
Mies van der Rohe Ludwig
Stasov Vasily Petrovich
Wrangel Nikolay Nikolaevich, Baron
St.Isaac's Square/Saint Petersburg, city, house 11/41
Платонов П. В. Здание Германского посольства // Памятники истории и культуры Санкт-Петербурга: Исслед. и материалы. СПб., 2002 1913