The Saint Petersburg City Duma, Saint Petersburg

The Saint Petersburg City Duma is a complex of buildings located on the corner of the Dumskaya Street and Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg, the monument of federal importance. It consists of the City Duma building that  faces the Dumskaya Street and the City Duma Tower, located on the corner. The tower, which is part of the complex, is one of the landmarks of the Nevsky Prospekt. The City Duma Tower, set in the expansion of Nevsky Prospekt near the Gostiny Dvor, is visible from a long distance and takes an important place in the historical ensemble of the central thoroughfare. The vertical of the City Duma Tower, the portico of the Perinnaya Line and monumental building of the Gostiny Dvor create an architectural accent that defines the shape of the Nevsky Prospekt in its central part. The City Duma building originally externally repeated the image of the Silver Rows, and then was repeatedly reconstructed and completely lost its original form. Built in 1847-1852, by architect N. Efimov a three-storey building was decorated in the Italian Renaissance style. This style is characterized by restraint and calmness of architectural decor that serves to the best advantage the social function of office buildings. In 1913-1914, there were overbuilt the fourth and fifth floors by architect V. Kenel. In 1986, the top floor was demolished. The tower is preserved in its original form. Such towers were a characteristic feature of European town halls. After the October Revolution, the city government was housed on Dumskaya Street, but officials gradually moved to the Smolny Palace. Later, the building housed the Experimental Theatre (1920), the Academy of Consumer Cooperatives (1930), College of Catering and  the Central Train Ticket Office. After the city government moved, there was lost the great part of the historic interiors of the building, with the exception of a relatively untouched the Nicholas and Mirror rooms. Nowadays, the building houses the Children's Philharmonic, the Rimsky-Korsakov Music School, the Institute of St. Petersburg, and since 1998 — the North-West and the St. Petersburg branch of the Savings Bank of Russia (Sberbank), as well as the departmental museum of the bank in the tower.