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- 54.
- THE SINGER COMPANY HOUSE
- Nevsky Prospekt , 28
- 1902-04. Architect P.Suzor
- Now the House of Books
-
- Opposite the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan rises a building with a corner tower that was
- originally built for the Singer shareholding society. During its construction the latest achievements of
- Russian building technology were being used: steel framework, filled with brick-work on mortar, and
- ferro-concrete structures.
- The first two stories are faced with red polished granite, the next three ones - with gray
- hammered granite, and the upper one - with gray polished granite.
- The Singer Company was eager to get the licence to put up a skyscraper. However, the city
- administration did not deviate from the law regulating the height of buildings in the capital; they just
- gave a permission to complete the building with a cupola-tower, topped with a globe.
- Enormous show-windows, their outlines and proportions, as well as the abundance of stylized
- decorative sculpture on the facades (sculptors A.Adamson and A.Ober) are all typical of the Art-
- Nouveau style.
- At present the building houses one of the largest bookshops in the country-the House of Books,
- as well as a number of publishing companies.
-