Vitebsky is the first railway station in St. Petersburg and Russia, originally named the Saint Petersburg Station after its opening. Since 1900, it was called the Tsarskoye Selo Station of the Moscow-Vindava-Rybinsk Railway. In 1918, it was renamed Detskoye Selo Station, simultaneously with the renaming of Tsarskoye Selo to Detskoye Selo. In the 1920s, reference publications sometimes used the dual name Detskoye Selo (Vitebsky), and in 1935 the station received the name Vitebsky.
Initially, for the station in St. Petersburg and the experimental first railway in Russia, the Tsarskoye Selo Railway, it was planned to build a stone building on the Fontanka River near the Obukhov Bridge, but the landowner refused to sell the land. On July 7, 1836, construction of the Pavlovsk Station had already begun. In 1837, a small plot of land was allocated on Zagorodny Prospekt, and in August construction began on a temporary two-story wooden station building, designed for 1-2 years of use, which was opened with the start of traffic on the Saint Petersburg – Tsarskoye Selo section on October 30 (November 11), 1837. The first train to depart from the station was the steam locomotive "Provorny" with the railway construction manager and engineer Franz Gerstner as the driver, along with honorary passengers including Emperor Nicholas I.
Between 1849 and 1851, a new two-story stone station building was constructed, designed by architect K. A. Ton. In 1876, the station was rebuilt and remained in that form until the early 20th century, when it became clear that expansion and reconstruction were necessary. In January 1900, the Tsarskoye Selo Railway was purchased by the Moscow-Vindava-Rybinsk Railway Company. A new, more representative passenger station building was required. Next to the station, an Imperial Pavilion was designed for the royal family’s trains. As an interim solution, a temporary wooden station—the fourth one—was built, simply called the pavilion. Only after this was the old station building dismantled and the Imperial Pavilion constructed, which was completed by November 1901.
Since 1900, the Tsarskoye Selo line belonged to the Moscow-Vindava-Rybinsk Railway, which built the line to Vitebsk. It was planned to move the station beyond the Obvodny Canal or expand its territory. At that time, it was also planned to fill in the Vvedensky Canal. However, funds were only sufficient to acquire part of the Semenovsky Square and the 1st Officer Regimental Wing, on the site of which the Railway Administration building was constructed. The earth embankment was raised, and at the intersection with the Obvodny Canal, two-level interchanges were arranged.
From 1900 to 1904, the new Vitebsky Station building was erected according to the design of Stanislav Antonovich Brzhozovsky. By 1901, the foundations of the main station building were laid. The relatively short length of the plot along Zagorodny Prospekt required increasing the depth of the premises with active use of upper natural lighting.
In search of the optimal volumetric-spatial solution based on Brzhozovsky’s plan, an architectural competition was held early that year. However, none of the 24 submitted projects were accepted. Brzhozovsky himself completed the design with the participation of civil engineer Minash, who was responsible for the interior decoration. Construction took place from 1902 to 1904 under the supervision of civil engineer Golubkov. The works were managed by railway engineer Ostrovsky. On August 1, 1904, at 5 p.m., the first train departed from the station on the Petersburg – Vitebsk route. That same evening, a suburban train to Vyritsa left the station.
The large volumes are grouped asymmetrically, considering their functional purpose. The building’s exterior reflects its internal structure.
The station building is one of the first public buildings in the Art Nouveau style. Upon opening, the station received enthusiastic reviews from contemporaries.
The main northern facade of the station faces Zagorodny Prospekt. This facade stretches from the clock tower on the left side to the vestibule and the semicircular transition to the western facade on the right. The transition to the eastern facade is decorated with columns of the Roman-Doric order with fluting. The eastern facade has a utilitarian purpose and consists of two volumes: the complex of rooms of the central facade crowned by the clock tower, and the volume of the stairwell and elevator for passengers. After the construction of the metro station on this side of the building, the main flow of long-distance passengers uses this staircase. Reliefs of owls are depicted on the clock tower.
The iron balcony railings of the station are wrought with patterns resembling a lyre. As was noted at the time of the station’s opening, they have a “distinctive pattern.” The original openwork canopies above the numerous station entrances were made according to individual designs.
On the right side is a semicircular transition to the western facade. On the right side is a large risalit with a large stained-glass arch, housing the vestibule with the grand staircase. The main entrance is decorated with the coats of arms of St. Petersburg and Vitebsk—the terminal points of the Vitebsk line at the time of the station’s construction.
The main room of the station is a huge vestibule with a grand staircase. The hall’s height exceeds twenty meters, crowned by a metal dome. The grand staircase is the dominant feature of the room, decorated with marble railings with decorative bronze inserts. The hall is illuminated using natural light: daylight enters through stained-glass windows located on all walls. Artificial lighting is provided by electric lamps arranged around the perimeter of the hall. They are made of iron and painted black.
The semicircular side of the facade is decorated with columns stylized as Doric order and balconies with iron railings. The iron balcony railings are wrought with patterns resembling a lyre. The openwork canopies above the numerous station entrances were made according to individual designs. Almost all parts of the station (balconies, staircases and flights, stained glass, lanterns) are decorated with artistic wrought ironwork.
Between the windows in the piers are plaster panels painted in the color of old bronze. They depict the head of Mercury and female heads framed by stylized plant ornaments. This choice is not accidental: Mercury is the god of trade and travel.
On the vestibule facade is a large risalit with a large stained-glass arch. Its decoration echoes the arch on the building of the Yeliseyev Brothers’ store on Nevsky Prospekt, built according to the design of civil engineer Baranovsky in 1902–1903.
The main entrance at the top is decorated with the coats of arms of St. Petersburg and Vitebsk, the terminal points of the Vitebsk railway line at the time of the station’s construction. Besides the vestibule, the vertical dominant of the building is the tall clock tower, which has an impressive picturesque silhouette.
The transition between facades is decorated with columns stylized as Doric order.
Most of the facades are occupied by a three-arched debarkader, designed by engineer Gerson.
The arches of the debarkaders are metal, riveted, originally covered with glass. The railings are made of sheet iron decorated with metal flowers. The debarkader does not cover the platforms entirely; about one-third of the platforms are open-air.
On the western facade side, suburban train departures are organized; suburban ticket offices are located in this part of the building. To support the operation of an automated fare control system for suburban train passengers, metal railings were installed, significantly altering the building’s overall appearance.
The station widely used various complex technical innovations, many of which were pioneering for their time:
lifts for luggage and passengers;
conveyors;
rail tracks located on the second floor,
extensive use of electricity.
A memorial plaque dedicated to Gerstner and the locomotive Provorny is installed on the facade of the building. It is placed on the curved colonnade connecting the northern and western facades. On the western facade side, suburban train departures are organized; suburban ticket offices are located there. The three-span roof over the platforms is the largest example of “iron architecture” in St. Petersburg.
The arches of the debarkaders are metal, riveted, covered with glass. The railings are sheet iron decorated with metal flowers. The debarkader covers two-thirds of the platform length; the rest of the platforms are open-air. The author is engineer V. S. Person.
During construction, the latest building technologies were used, including extensive metalwork, electricity, elevators, a huge debarkader, and the railway tracks themselves were laid on the second floor of the station complex.
Contemporaries of the construction wrote interestingly:
"An excursion of architects to inspect the buildings of the Vitebsk line of the Moscow-Vindava-Rybinsk Railway.
At the kind invitation of the head of the first section for the construction of the Vitebsk line, F. I. Knorring, a considerable number of members of the Society of Architects responded and gathered last Sunday, November 7, on the platform of the Petersburg station, which currently undoubtedly represents the most interesting among the stations of our capital.
The arriving passenger enters the first-class vestibule—a grand room up to 10 sazhen high, crowned with a dome and decorated with a bust of the Sovereign, as well as two panels with views of Petersburg from the side of the Winter Palace and the Odessa port. All artistic decoration of the vestibule, the reception rooms, and the first and second-class halls was executed by the aforementioned members of the Society for Mutual Assistance of Russian Artists. A wide marble staircase with two grand candelabra on the sides leads to the hall and first-class buffet, located on the second floor on the right side of the building. The hall contains several paintings illustrating the history of the Tsarskoye Selo Railway since its foundation, when in 1837 Emperor Nicholas I made his first trip in a carriage placed on a freight platform, and depicting views of the Petersburg, Tsarskoye Selo, and Pavlovsk stations at various times. The buffet room connected to the hall by arches with a rounded corner produces a pleasant impression of light; it will be painted. The hall and buffet are equipped with lifts: the first for the public who do not wish to use the stairs, the second for delivering dishes from the kitchen located on the upper floor to avoid odors. In the latter, attention is drawn to automatic rotisseries for roasting meat, powered by electricity. From the hall, the passenger directly enters the platform. Symmetrically to the first-class hall, on the left side, is the third-class hall, currently temporarily serving first-class passengers. There is also a wide stone staircase, a spacious two-story hall, a buffet room, and an exit to the platform. The rooms for third and first-class passengers are connected on the lower floor by a hall with a separate entrance intended for luggage check-in and ticket sales. Luggage brought here is transported on carts through a long tunnel ending with lifts, through which it is delivered directly to the platform to the luggage car. All platforms are connected by a transverse tunnel passing underneath them. If not all four, then at least the two outer platforms on the side of Podyezdny Lane were recently connected by a tunnel leading to the lane.
Besides the three entrances from Zagorodny Prospekt intended for the public, there are two from the canal side. The first is arranged for mail, whose operations are carried out on the lower floor on the right; the second leads to the grand-ducal chambers, consisting of two small salons with a separate passage to the platform. Passengers arriving in St. Petersburg exit through several staircases directly to the entrances from Semenovsky Square.
Among the separate facilities, attention is drawn to the heating boiler room (low-pressure steam-water), an incinerator for burning garbage, an electrical energy distribution chamber, etc. Ventilation, of course, is electric and operates on a forced system.
According to the explanation of Mr. Knorring, who accompanied the excursionists, the chairman of the board, engineer N. S. Ostrovsky, mainly worked on the construction of the station, as well as other buildings—not only as an architect but also as an artist who did everything possible to give the purely utilitarian buildings an artistic appearance. The facade and plan belong to S. A. Brzhozovsky, and the interior decoration to S. I. Minash, who worked under the direct supervision of engineer Ostrovsky.
The part of the building intended specifically for railway operations will consist of four platforms, from which seven tracks run. Initially, the covering consists of large arches accommodating platforms in pairs; then follow the so-called umbrellas. Currently, only two platforms are fully completed.
Heading from St. Petersburg, at the second-floor level, two tracks diverge significantly, forming a wide area allocated for maneuvering tracks. This avoids crossing operational tracks. Then, converging again, the tracks cross the Obvodny Canal, beyond which is a widely developed freight station with a water tower, and finally, at the 6th verst, a sorting station, marking the end of the development of the tracks of the St. Petersburg station.
In Tsarskoye Selo, the station and the adjacent grand-ducal pavilion were inspected, connected, like the passenger building, to the second platform by an underground tunnel. The special soil conditions, requiring the tunnels to be laid significantly below the groundwater level, necessitated particularly careful construction; the entire structure is enclosed as if in an impermeable lead box, with concrete filling the space between the metal and brick walls. The interior is lined with light tiles. The pavilion contains a salon luxuriously furnished with modern redwood furniture, a room for the suite, and restrooms. The building itself is wooden; the facade and plan were developed by S. A. Brzhozovsky, the interior decoration by S. I. Minash. The latter had the thankless task of adapting the stone part of the old station facade to the new plan, which inevitably constrained the building. Without dwelling on the description of the station, already opened to the public in autumn, it should be noted that the same principle underlies its plan as the Petersburg station: service areas, luggage and ticket offices are located in the center, with spacious halls and buffets for passengers of different classes on the sides. Besides tunnels, platforms can be temporarily connected by movable bridges.
Further, the Vitebsk line diverges from the old route to Pavlovsk to the right and, crossing Pavlovsk Highway by a viaduct, leads to the new wooden Pavlovsk II station. Here, attention is drawn to the water tower, built not according to a template but with a shaped facade decorated with a turret and gallery.
Beyond this station, at the 2nd verst, the "Hunting Pavilion" was arranged—the most remote of the inspected buildings—built in the ancient Russian style. The artistic part, mainly stylish oak furniture, belongs to I. Ya. Bilibin, who worked hard not only on the drawings but even on its hand-made decoration. From the outside, the pavilion resembles a terem (traditional Russian wooden tower house) with traditional ridges, supposedly covered with wooden shingles, and windows with mica in frequent frames. In reality, the ridges are made of cast iron, the shingles of painted zinc, and instead of mica, specially made glass is used. On one side, a veranda adjoins the terem, connected by two oak doors with pseudo-rough iron fittings. The interior rooms, only two besides two vestibules, imitate a smoked wooden log house with massive benches, stools, and a table. The stoves are tiled with appropriate patterns. The oil painting above the doors, with its ships, mushrooms, etc., produces a pleasant impression. Some dissonance is caused by parquet floors and restrooms meeting modern hygiene requirements. The official-type foundation and adjacent platform, though decorated with stylish lanterns, also do not harmonize. But these minor details cannot be counted against it when the main inevitable dissonance is the Pullman car delivered directly to the 17th-century terem.
The construction of this original house, carried out by the company’s own workshops according to Mr. Bilibin’s drawings, was supervised by A. G. Golubkov.
The excursion consisted of inspecting the buildings described above, starting from the Hunting Pavilion in reverse order, and made a favorable impression on its participants, expressed by I. S. Kitner, who, upon completion of the inspection, on behalf of the Society of Architects, expressed gratitude to the kind hosts represented by F. I. Knorring.”
In honor of the 150th anniversary of the creation of the first Russian railway, a model of the steam locomotive "Provorny," which made the first Russian trip from Petersburg to Tsarskoye Selo in 1837, was installed on the station territory in 1987.
The station was renamed "Detskoye Selo" in 1918. In the 1920s, reference publications sometimes used the dual name "Detskoye Selo (Vitebsky)," and since 1935 the name "Vitebsky" became official.
For the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg in 2001–2002, the station underwent restoration. The dome was restored, the "historical" color scheme of the station was recreated, the original facade windows were restored, the plaster decor was renewed, the grand marble staircase was redecorated, the "Imperial Café" was recreated, lost elements of the original project were replaced, and the metal decor was restored. The interior decoration used a wide range of Art Nouveau decorative elements.
In 1987, on one of the platforms of Vitebsky Station, in a specially constructed glass pavilion, a model of the train led by the steam locomotive "Provorny," which made the first trip from Petersburg to Tsarskoye Selo in 1837, was installed.
For the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, Vitebsky Station underwent a large-scale reconstruction. First of all, engineering networks, water supply, and heating systems were completely replaced. Electrical networks, security, and fire alarms were updated. Inside the building, vestibules, waiting rooms, staircases were restored, and the roof was repaired. The original stucco and metal decor were restored on the main facade. The large dome and decorative floor paving were also restored. The reconstruction and restoration of gaslight lanterns were completed. The grand staircases on the Vinokurtsevsky Drive side regained their original appearance.
About two hundred films have been shot at Vitebsky Station. Vitebsky played the role of various stations in different cities and countries. Scenes related to London stations in Igor Maslennikov’s Sherlock Holmes film series were shot here. Scenes from the film "Station for Two" were filmed in the station’s interiors.
The latest adaptation of "Anna Karenina" directed by Karen Shakhnazarov was also filmed here.
Sources:
https://www.citywalls.ru/house32267.html
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Витебский_вокзал
