Saltykov Mansion

Catherine the Great initially granted the land to her personal secretary Pyotr Soimonov who soon sold it to the merchant Philipp Grootten (1748-1815).

[1] In 1796, the mansion became the property of Count (later Prince) Nikolai Saltykov (Nicholas Soltikoff), the interim head of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

[1] From September 1831, for a period of eleven years the Saltykov Mansion was the residence of the Austrian ambassador Charles-Louis de Ficquelmont (1777-1857).

This style, imported by foreign architects, especially during the reign of Empress Catherine II, had become very fashionable with Russian nobility by the 1780s when the mansion was built.

The façade is shaped with great simplicity, combining harmonic proportions and moderate ornamentation that highlight few decorative elements, such as the piano nobile balcony facing the Neva and the palace's pediments.