Traces of the Swedes and Swedish influence are very often found in Saint Petersburg. One of these outstanding Swedes who entered the golden fund of the Russian Empire is Baron Fyodor Ivanovich Lidval (Johan Fredrik Lidval), born on May 20 (June 1), 1870 — March 14, 1945), an academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts. Lidval was born in Saint Petersburg. His father, Jon Petter Lidval, was born in the village of Bude in the Liden parish in Hälsingland, came to Russia in 1859, and over time became a well-known tailor in Petersburg, head of a large sewing workshop "Ivan Petrovich Lidval and Sons" and a supplier to the imperial court. His mother, Ida Amalia Fleschow, was born in Petersburg to a family of a Swede, Eva Lakstrem, born in the Finnish locality of Hausjärvi, and Baltazar Fleschow, a cabinetmaker and woodcarver who came to Russia from the Danish province of Slagelse, South Zealand.

In 1882, Fyodor Lidval graduated from the primary school at the Evangelical Swedish Church of Saint Catherine, and then from the Second Petersburg Real School (in 1888). He studied for two years at the Baron Stieglitz School of Technical Drawing. During vacations, Fyodor Lidval, like his brothers, twice served in the Royal Life Guards regiment in Stockholm.

Fyodor Lidval’s works began to play a significant role in the architecture of Saint Petersburg in the 1900s. In the first stage of his creativity (1897–1907), he was a bright representative of the "Northern Modern" style; his pursuits during these years were close to the aspirations of Scandinavian and Finnish architects. At the same time, Lidval’s buildings did not contradict the historically established appearance of the city. The Lidval tenement house, one of the architect’s early works, is usually cited as an example of a residential building in this style. The Ida Amalia Lidval tenement house — the first independent work of this outstanding architect — was commissioned by his mother.

Ida Amalia (Ida Baltazarovna) Lidval, the architect’s mother, in 1898 bought on credit a plot of land at the address Kamennoostrovsky Prospect, 1-3, Malaya Posadskaya, 5 and Kronverksky Prospect 15. On March 23, 1899, Ida Lidval wrote a petition to the Saint Petersburg administration, wishing to carry out construction on her land. Permission was granted on April 14, 1899, and on April 24, Lidval already requested to put up a temporary fence on the site, which meant the start of construction.

Construction of the house began from the side of Malaya Posadskaya Street. In 1900, a four-story building with wings was erected. In 1901–1902, a five-story transverse building was constructed, closing the courtyard-cour d’honneur. In 1903–1904, the construction of the southern building was completed. Thus, the building consists of four buildings of different heights, united by a cour d’honneur, separated from the avenue by a wrought-iron fence on pillars of red Finnish granite (restored in 1995). The fence has two gates with granite pylon lanterns.

In addition to the residential buildings, a two-story stone carriage shed was built in the courtyard.

In the construction of the building facing Malaya Posadskaya Street, Lidval tried to overcome the usual flatness and symmetry. The middle gable of the curvilinear outline and the wide windows below it are shifted from the central axis. The lower floor is separated not by a horizontal molding, but by a wavy line. The bay windows do not repeat each other: the left is rounded, the right is three-sided. The wall is covered with textured "splattered" plaster.

The central building in plan is also asymmetrical, but the main element of its main facade has a symmetrical three-axis structure. The vertical axes of the building are emphasized by three bay windows and gables. The middle gable of a complex curved contour rises above the side bay windows. The three-sided glass bay window in the center is clamped between higher pilasters outlined by vertical moldings. Metal beams and other parts of its structure are artistically processed.

The base of the house around the entire perimeter is made of smoothly processed slabs of red granite; the cladding of the lower floors and architectural details are made of "pottery stone" (talc chlorite) of a light greenish-gray color, supplied from the deposits of Nunnalahti or Kallivo-Murennavaara in Karelia. Various textured plaster and smooth ceramic tiles were also used in the decoration.

Decorative motifs of Northern Modern are widely used in the facade decoration: sculptural reliefs depicting birds, animals, and stylized plants. In the center of the relief decoration above the central portal is the date of completion of the main part of the complex (1902). To the right of the date is a pine branch with cones, a forest bird, and two hares. To the left of the date are leaves, the head of a lynx with an open mouth, and an owl. At the very top of the middle gable is a bas-relief of an owl with outstretched wings. On the second floor on both sides of the building are balconies with railings in the form of spider webs with spiders; sunflowers are depicted on the sides of the railings. The other balconies of the building have a different style: some are made in a plant variant of rhythmic modern, others in neoclassical style. The wrought-iron railings of the first-floor balcony are made in the form of the letter "L" (Lidval). Above the entrance of the left building are images of fantastic fish resembling dolphins. On the protruding part of the wing, a lizard is carved, above it — the head of a lynx. The walls and entrances are decorated with reliefs depicting fern leaves, fly agarics, morels, tulips, sunflowers, forest berries; one of the entrances is decorated with lion masks.

Although the overall plan of the house has an irregular shape, Lidval managed to avoid rooms with sharp and obtuse angles. Inconvenient rooms were used as auxiliary spaces. All apartments were equally well equipped and differed only in size, by floors, and by the direction of the windows. The floors in the apartments were mosaic and parquet, partly with patterns and friezes. In the rooms of the right and left wings, the walls and ceilings were wooden — made of oak and birch. In the bathrooms of the last building were French kitchen stoves and faience washbasins. The windows in the house were both solid and lattice; glass with diamond facets was inserted into them. Marble and tile fireplaces were installed in the entrances; Dutch and Russian majolica stoves were in the apartments. Each building had rooms for doormen, janitors, and engineers, reception rooms, laundries, ironing rooms; electric lighting and water heating machines were installed, as well as elevators.

The Lidval House is an example of a picturesque and at the same time functional comprehensive urban planning and artistic solution of a large trapezoidal plot, active and convincing use of artistic and technical possibilities of traditional and new construction and finishing materials. The building was awarded at the first city competition for "best facades" (1907), became a stage in the development of Petersburg architecture, and glorified the architect.

The northern three-story wing was the family mansion of the Lidvals. This building had majolica stoves, faience washbasins, marble fireplaces. The ceilings and walls in the rooms were wooden, finished with oak and birch. The nine-room apartment No. 18 on the 3rd floor was occupied until her death in 1915 by Ida Lidval herself. In the neighboring apartments No. 21 and No. 23 on the same floor lived her sons Eduard Lidval and Fyodor Lidval, and on the first floor of the house until 1918 was located Lidval’s architectural design bureau.

In the 1990s, the Lidval House’s fifth floor was home to the notorious criminal authority Kostya Mogila. At that time, he was the number one gangster in the city. Residents were not allowed into the courtyard if Kostya Mogila and his thousand guards were leaving. And when Kostya Mogila left the house, everyone had to stay in their apartments; he would come down — and the entire entrance would turn off the lights so it could be seen if anyone was aiming at him. In the early 2000s, Kostya Mogila was eventually shot, but in Moscow.

Sources:

https://www.citywalls.ru/house674.html

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Доходный_дом_Лидваль