Today I stumbled upon an amazing example of northern modernism. I had previously seen images of owls in the decor of this style, but a bear, for the first time. In the entrance hall, a real fireplace has been preserved, dating back to the early last century.

This architectural masterpiece on the former Shirokaya Street was built in 1910 as an income house for Klara Josephovna Volkenstein. The project was authored by architect Sima Isaakovich Minash, known for his "Karaite roots." It is considered his most famous work in St. Petersburg.

Klara Josephovna was the wife of attorney Mikhail Filippovich Volkenstein. He was the one who hired Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov as an assistant in 1893 and recommended him to the St. Petersburg Bar Association. After Ulyanov's arrest in December 1895, Volkenstein, at the request of his mother, tried to act as a guarantor for his release before trial, but unsuccessfully.