The Academy of Sciences was founded in 1725 and was originally located on the Petrograd Side (in the Shafirov Palace and neighboring houses, temporarily during the renovation of the Saltykov Palace). From 1725, it was moved to the palace of Praskovya Fyodorovna (in the 1820s, the building was demolished, and the Southern warehouse of the Exchange was built on its site, with a promise to the Academy to create a new building for the printing house, officials' apartments, some museum collections, and the Gottorp Globe; the promise was fulfilled between 1826 and 1831).
The construction of a new building for the "magazines" (warehouses), a bookshop, and housing for employees began in 1783. The architect was Quarenghi. Unlike the neighboring buildings of the Kunstkamera and the Twelve Collegia, which were designed in the Baroque style, this building was designed in the Neoclassical style. It is three stories high, rectangular in plan, with its long side along the Neva River. The lower floor is treated as a basement and faced with granite slabs. In the center of the main facade is a portico with eight Ionic columns. The facade walls are decorated only with cornices and window sills. Vertical divisions in the center and on the sides form risalites. Catherine Dashkova intervened in the construction (in particular, dissatisfied with the building's modest decoration); Quarenghi managed to preserve the building's exterior appearance, but the interior layout was still changed (it was completed by Antonio de la Porto), becoming asymmetrical, which was uncharacteristic for the architect. Three statues on the pediment, as originally planned by Quarenghi, were not installed. The cornice above the main entrance was "decorated with the Russian eagle in 1794, and on the other side, facing the warehouse, there is an inscription: 'By the generosity of Catherine II. 1787'."
Outside the facade are granite stairs leading to a platform with the entrance to the main vestibule. At the time of the building's construction, the embankment did not yet exist. Between the columns and on the stair landings was a wooden balustrade designed by Quarenghi, replaced in 1881 by a metal grille. In the center under the portico was an entrance that was bricked up in 1870; a similar one remains on the other side of the building, in the courtyard. Window openings are grouped according to the building's internal structure (seven in the central part, three on the recessed parts, five on the risalites and end walls).
In the winter of 1783–1784, pile driving took place, up to 70 piles per week; 400 piles were driven by summer 1784 and another 775 by May 1785 "under the columns and additionally in the piers." The basement was to be made from "the strongest wild sea single-colored stone," hewn with "Kyurnoy work, totaling 180 square sazhen." For the steps, "the best and hardest Putilov stone" was chosen; columns, capitals, cornices, and modillions were made from "the hardest Pudov stone, with the purest and most durable architectural work." Carpentry was done with "the purest work from the healthiest and driest pine wood, excluding knots, cracks, and other defects." Bricks of "iron, red, scarlet, and white" were used, with established samples "of quality and measure." Glazing began in September 1787, with "the cleanest white Bohemian glass, large and small, for the middle and upper floors." From May 1788, roofing work was carried out — "to repair the roof of the new academic building with the most durable work." Dutch tile stoves and Russian stoves, fireplaces were installed, and interior finishing was completed.
Between 1803 and 1805, Zakharov developed a plan to unite the palace of Praskovya Fyodorovna, the Kunstkamera, and the Main building of the Academy of Sciences with passages and colonnades, increasing the number of their wings and floors; since the architectural styles of the buildings were very different, it was proposed to change the facade designs of the palace of Praskovya Fyodorovna and the Kunstkamera. The project was approved but not implemented.
A monument to M. V. Lomonosov, the first Russian academician, is installed next to the building.
On the building's grand staircase is a mosaic panel "The Battle of Poltava," created by Mikhail Lomonosov and moved here in 1925. The conference hall retains decoration from the late 18th to early 19th century; its western wall is adorned with Corinthian order columns made of artificial marble, featuring a semicircular niche-exedra. Along the walls runs a wide sculptural frieze created by Hoffert (depicting events from the reign of Catherine II), and the painting of the vaults was done by F. Richter.
In Quarenghi's design, there was no grand staircase from the second to the third floor; he planned to create a conference hall on the second floor with an entrance from the vestibule, and two-flight staircases to all three floors were to be located closer to the corner risalites. To create a hall on the third floor, additional reinforcement of the floors was required to support the load of a large number of people.
In Dashkova's former office (the Mendeleev lounge), Venetian windows were installed at Dashkova's request as president of the Academy of Sciences.
Sources:
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Здание_Петербургской_академии_наук
