In 1871, the Voronin Baths opened on the Moika Embankment, named after their owner, merchant and academician Mikhail Voronin. The building on Fonarny Lane was designed by architect Pavel Suzor at his commission, the author of the Singer Company building and other famous buildings in St. Petersburg.

The Fonarnye Baths, also known as the Voronin Baths or "Fonari," were built in 1870–1871 in the courtyard of M. S. Voronin’s income house, designed by architect Pavel Suzor, who was renowned for actively incorporating technological innovations into his projects. M. S. Voronin invested 200,000 rubles in the construction of the baths. The bath complex was inspected by the Society of Architects. In 1872, Suzor received a gold medal for the baths at the Polytechnic Exhibition in Vienna. The Voronin Baths attracted widespread attention from the residents of St. Petersburg almost immediately after opening. The baths stood out for their quality compared to other public baths existing in Petersburg at the time. In the first 10 years, 433,000 people visited the "Fonari." They gained a reputation as the best baths in Europe.

Soon after opening, the baths became some of the most popular in the city. They attracted attention with their eclectic interiors and technological innovations. Everything captured the imagination: fountains, vaulted ceilings, marble pools with regulated water temperature, Louis XVI style furniture, and even their own barbershop. Water was supplied to the pools from a private artesian well, and the boilers were fueled with smokeless Cardiff coal. The stoves consisted only of weathered boulders that did not crumble when heated. Cast iron cannonballs and iron were also placed in the stoves. A shower was supplied to the stoves to generate steam. Legend has it that for their engineering achievements, the Voronin Baths were awarded a gold medal at the Polytechnic Exhibition in Vienna in 1872. During the construction of the bathhouse building, advanced technologies of the time were used. The owner himself, Mikhail Voronin, was a scientist specializing in the study of fungi and lichens, and he wanted his baths to be designed to protect against fungi and erosion caused by dampness. In particular, the masonry was made with the recently invented Roche cement, which resisted moisture. The vaults were built using Portland cement, which only strengthened with moisture. The walls in the soap rooms were lined with ship decking tongue-and-groove boards. Wooden window frames with cast iron bindings were used.

The pools installed inside allowed setting the water level and temperature. Water was supplied to the pools from an artesian well built specifically for the baths and encased in a wooden casing a hundred fathoms deep. In case of water supply damage, the bath could use a reserve of "ten thousand buckets" of water.

The floors were made of asphalt, as asphalt was considered non-slippery for walking barefoot. The room had ventilation that admitted warmed outside air. Special stoves with tiled heaters were made for the baths. Around the largest stove, a bench was installed for elderly visitors with "strained backs." 

The rooms in the baths were illuminated by gas bronze chandeliers that provided bright lighting, a technological innovation for that time. The rooms were lit by 300 gas jets shaped like chandeliers and sconces.

Nevertheless, the Fonarnye Baths quickly gained a bad reputation due to the rampant "debauchery" and mass orgies, with the boundary between the women's and men's sections often becoming conditional. Grigory Rasputin visited the baths with his followers.

The baths continued to operate after the revolution and were renamed "Baths No. 43." In Soviet times, they fell into decline and lost their luxurious decor. They operated until 2006 and closed due to their dilapidated condition. The reconstruction of the baths was initiated by Valentina Matviyenko, who visited the ruins of the building in 2007. Initially, the reconstruction and reopening of the baths were planned for 2009. In 2021, the baths were reopened. After restoration, the appearance of the rooms was brought closer to the historical one, with luxurious decor restored, but without division into four classes. After restoration, the premises opened both classic Russian baths and a Finnish sauna and hammam, divided into men's and women's sections.

Under their original name, the baths operated until the 1930s — in Soviet times they were assigned number 43. The place became iconic: among visitors were not only residents of nearby houses but also famous city figures, from politicians and cultural figures to gamblers and other "not-so-simple" Soviet citizens. Even then, guests often called the baths "Fonarnye" or simply "Fonari." By the late 1990s, the building had become unusable, and in 2006 Baths No. 43 were declared dilapidated and closed.

Fifteen years later, on their 150th anniversary, the Fonarnye Baths welcomed their first guests after the completion of a major restoration. During the work, original decorative elements were restored, historical stoves were preserved and modernized, and updated classes were designed.

Today, Fonarnye is a modern bath complex that combines love and respect for the past with high-quality service. We see our mission in developing bath culture and want one of the oldest baths in Russia to remain a place of power for many more centuries.

Sources:

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

https://fonari.ru/o-proekte/