St. Petersburg courtyards

Famous Petersburg courtyards appeared at one time because of the mass "point" building. The fact that St. Petersburg was the "lease" a city in Russia. Visitors who do not have their own housing (so-called "residents") in the first half of the XVIII century. was twice as much as the owners of the houses - "ordinary people." And all of this ratio is increased up to the October Revolution. From the middle of the XIX century. began to build apartment buildings, etc. Rich not only on vacant lots. Rebuilt for this sturdy stone buildings belonging to private owners.
Build houses "continuous facade" Peter has ordered, but the land is going up rapidly, and the classic U-shaped building was a waste. First 5-7 floors are built street facade. There are around stairwells offers comfortable apartments for the upper class with Switzerland, carpeted stairs and separate bathrooms. Then rebuilt outbuildings standing on the perimeter of the yard. And then, and he began to partition off the yard has one, two or even three narrow houses, pencil cases. Moreover, the wall facing the neighboring plot, for the construction statute could not have windows, so the apartments in these homes were odnosvetovymi with corridor system and shared toilet. Here lived teachers, civil servants, not rich merchants. The degree of prestige property determined by the fact you have lived in the first, second or third yard
Life in hired apartments has become a traditional way of living in the capital. When does the holiday season, thousands of families have returned to the city, but what's interesting: they are often settled in houses, where they lived for a season before, and new apartments. For decades, the St. Petersburg family could change more than a dozen addresses - richer, leaving the yard, down from the upper floors and changed to a more prestigious area.