Until the end of the 19th century, the future site of the "Astoria" was occupied by a four-story income house owned by Prince Lvov. At the beginning of the 20th century, the plot with the house was purchased by the English joint-stock company "Palace Hotel" with the intention of building a hotel with expensive rooms here. On February 21, 1901, the land was bought by the Insurance Society "Russia" for the sum of 1.3 million rubles. Until 1907, the house served as a hotel, with some apartments still rented out. In 1907, the new owner became the London joint-stock company "Palace Hotel," and the income house was dismantled the following year. The new hotel on its site was planned to be completed by the end of 1909, but construction was only finished in 1911–1912. The project was designed by the famous St. Petersburg architect Fyodor Lidval, assisted during construction by engineer Kozlov, engineer-architect Eilers, and graduates of the first Women's Polytechnic Institute in Russia.

What the journal "Zodchiy" wrote in 1908: "A new grand hotel in Petersburg. In March of this year, 1908, the demolition of the old house at the corner of Morskaya and Voznesensky Avenue, owned by the insurance society 'Russia,' will begin, and an enormous hotel with all the latest improvements will be erected in its place. The owner of the enterprise is a joint-stock company formed in London called 'Palace Hotel' with a capital of 4 million rubles, three-quarters of which will be subscribed in England, and for the remaining million, upon legalization of this company here, a subscription will be opened in Russia. The hotel building is designed to be entirely fireproof and will be equipped with the latest systems of heating, ventilation, water supply, sewage, elevators, refrigerators, etc. It will contain about 250 living rooms, several large halls, including one with a stage and a winter garden, and more; the basement floors and space under the courtyards will be waterproof and intended for service premises. The construction is expected to be completed in rough form by autumn 1908, with the opening scheduled for December 1909. The design and development of the building project have been entrusted to a St. Petersburg construction firm, in cooperation with a foreign architect specialist in hotel construction. It is regrettable that such a notable building of the capital, capable of significantly changing the entire appearance of St. Isaac's Square, was undertaken without a project competition."

The hotel project met all the innovative architectural trends of its time, and the decoration was to correspond to the highest class of comfort. Structurally, the building is a reinforced concrete frame on a single foundation, connected floor by floor with beams and slabs, with partitions made of slag concrete or wire mesh, making it completely fireproof. Construction was carried out with the participation of the company "Weiss and Freygart."

To increase capacity (and thus profitability), the "Astoria" was built six stories high, significantly surpassing the size of neighboring buildings. The facades are designed in the neoclassical style with elements of Art Nouveau. To harmonize with the surrounding buildings, the facades are visually divided into three tiers: the two lower floors, clad in granite, appear as the hotel's base; the middle floors (third to fifth) are plastered to resemble stone and united by wide fluted pilasters. On the granite cladding of the lower floors, carved medallions with garlands are featured, with mascarons above the windows. The top floor, separated by a cornice, is decorated with relief vases. The powerful cornice above the fifth floor visually reduces the building's height, and the smoothly cut corner (done at the request of the Academy of Arts so that the new building would not block the view of St. Isaac's Cathedral), the glazed arched windows of the first floor, and the restrained decorative ornamentation give the monumental structure elegance.

The hotel included 350 rooms, a restaurant, a winter garden, a banquet hall, three salons, a ladies' salon, 8 offices, a reading room, its own kitchen and confectionery. The interiors were done in Art Nouveau style with elements of classicism; walls and floors were laid with marble, columns were clad in red wood, and chandeliers were supplied from the Saxon factory in Wurzen. Vladimir Shchuko participated in the interior decoration.

"Astoria" was equipped with the latest technology — the building had 10 elevators, central water supply with filters and heating, a dust removal system, and telephones in the rooms. Guests had access to a translation bureau, hairdresser, tailor, and library. The dining silverware for the restaurant was purchased from Christofle, and the porcelain from Bauscher. The first hotel director was the Parisian Louis Thérie.

The official opening of the hotel took place on December 23, 1912. The name was given in memory of the fashionable New York hotels owned by the Astor cousins, one of whom had died a few months earlier on the Titanic, giving up his place in a lifeboat to women. The first hotel director was the Frenchman Louis Thérie.

In 1914, the Russian authorities sequestrated the hotel, and in 1916 it was finally closed and repurposed for military use.

During the 1917 revolution, the hotel was at the center of military events, and the building was stormed several times. After the October coup, the hotel was nationalized; in September 1918, it was renamed the "1st House of the Petrograd Soviet." After the start of the NEP, "Astoria" was corporatized and reopened on a commercial basis in 1922. In 1929, the hotel was transferred to the joint-stock company "Intourist," which managed it until 1996.

During the Great Patriotic War, in 1941, Hospital No. 926 was located in the Astoria, and later Stationary Hospital No. 108 opened, where residents remaining in the city during the blockade were treated. In 1941–1942, the hospital specialized in treating creative professionals who remained in the city — writers, artists, sculptors, and musicians were treated there.

According to Emil Kio's memoirs, after the war, for some time, artists were housed in the building, and each family was allocated a plot for a garden in the square on St. Isaac's Square.

On May 21, 1957, Alexander Vertinsky died in the hotel from acute heart failure.

In the early 1990s, the hotel underwent major reconstruction. The interiors were restored as much as possible to their original early-century appearance.

Since 1997, the hotel has been operated by the company "Rocco Forte Hotels," which owns five-star hotels and luxury resorts worldwide. The hotel has 169 rooms, including 86 suites, among them presidential apartments with two bedrooms, one royal suite with a terrace, and the Tsar Suite.

In 2012, the "Astoria" celebrated its 100th anniversary. As part of the centennial celebration, a large-scale renovation of the hotel was carried out. The new design was developed by the famous Italian decorator Olga Polizzi, who creates interiors for the Rocco Forte hotel chain. The historic tea lounge "Rotunda" was renovated in 2015.

On the eve of Valentine's Day in 2007, Forbes magazine published a ranking of the most romantic hotels in the world. The ranking considered service level, quality of bed linen, range of services (such as the possibility to order breakfast in bed, scatter rose petals in the room, or organize a romantic dinner for lovers). The only Russian hotel on the list was "Astoria" in St. Petersburg, ranked 9th.

There is a legend that, preparing to enter Leningrad after the 1941 siege, the German command pre-printed invitation tickets for a ceremonial banquet at the "Astoria" hotel. For this reason, it was forbidden to shell it with long-range guns or bomb it from the air. However, this legend is not supported by any documentary evidence.

Guests of the "Astoria" included Herbert Wells, Alain Delon, Robert Plant, Maya Plisetskaya, Isadora Duncan, George H. W. Bush, Margaret Thatcher, Matthew Bellamy, Rolling Stones, Rammstein, 30 Seconds to Mars, Linkin Park, Depeche Mode, Evanescence.

The artistic decoration of the hotel's interiors includes 17 paintings from the "Angleterre" gallery united by the theme "Guardians of the City," and a series of 7 canvases "Petersburg Carnivals," created to decorate the hotel's casino. The paintings were made by artists from the "FORUS" workshop in 1989.

One of the episodes of the film "The Incredible Adventures of Italians in Russia" was shot at the "Astoria."

When the "Astoria" hotel purchased new tableware, the old was handed over to the "Lenfilm" film studio. Spoons, forks, knives, antique crystal glasses, silver champagne buckets, warming dishes, egg holders, etc. — all were stylish, elegant items originally made for the best Russian hotel by special order. Since then, the "Astoria" tableware has appeared in films multiple times. For example, in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," two English gentlemen use precisely this cutlery.

Sources:

https://www.citywalls.ru/house1079.html

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Астория