The Income House of the Agricultural Partnership "Landowner" — a historic building in the style of Northern Modern with elements of Neo-Gothic, located in Saint Petersburg at 7th Krasnoarmeyskaya Street, 28-30 / Izmailovsky Prospect, 16. It is one of the first examples of sectional houses in Petersburg. The house was built in 1911–1912 for the company "Landowner," which dealt with the sale of milk and dairy products. The project’s author was architect Yakov Bluvshtein. The building’s expressive appearance and the turret with a dome decorating the corner make it an architectural dominant of the avenue.
The first development of the plot was registered in 1822 — at that time, there was already a complex of wooden buildings including the main house, laundry, shed, cellar, workshop, stable, and wood storage. Information about the owner survives only from 1862 — then Lieutenant Corvin-Krukovsky sold the estate to collegiate secretary Vasily Pavlovich Ivanov. Under Corvin-Krukovsky, the stables were rebuilt in brick, and then a three-story stone income house with 78 residential rooms was erected. After a series of owners and reconstructions in stone, in 1889 the property was purchased by Nadezhda Georgievna Neyolova, wife of a court councilor; by that time, the plot included the main house with a wing, a workshop, and three one-story buildings.
The charter of the Agricultural Partnership "Landowner" was approved on June 14, 1900, in Reval. The company was a supplier of milk and dairy products from private Baltic farms. Just 10 years later, "Landowner" had 40 stores in Petersburg and offered home delivery. In the 1910s, "Landowner" received the title of Supplier to the Imperial Court and the right to display the Small Coat of Arms on packaging. The conditions for receiving this honorary title were: eight years of operation without a single customer complaint, exemplary product quality, low prices, and victories at international and all-Russian exhibitions. Court suppliers were required to maintain exemplary stores, hiring only personnel with recommendations. The title was awarded personally to the company owner and was not hereditary. If any complaints about the products or store operations appeared, the eight-year period was "reset."
On March 22, 1911, the Partnership bought the plot from Nadezhda Neyolova. According to documents, the unpaid loan on the property reached almost 80,000 rubles. After repaying the debt, the company invited the young architect Yakov Bluvshtein to build a new house. He likely received the project thanks to the patronage of Alexander Lishnevsky. Incorporating the already existing three-story stone building on the plot into the new volume, he erected an eight-story income house in the style of Northern Modern. The large-scale building with nine entrances had two courtyard wells, and the total area of the interior premises exceeded 20,000 m². The permit for commissioning was issued by the Department of Private Construction of the city administration on November 5, 1912. The building used the most modern engineering solutions of the time: central sewage, water supply, vacuum cleaning system, elevators, and water-heated boilers. The interiors were richly decorated — ceiling stucco, stained glass, tiled stoves, and fireplaces. Tenants were offered two types of apartments — small (from 100 to 160 m²) and "general’s" (about 240 m²), with windows facing the intersection and two streets.
The stylistic solution of the facades of Bluvshtein’s "Landowner" house largely repeats Lishnevsky’s House of City Institutions. Bluvshtein used contrasting finishing materials and decorative elements from different styles. The facades are laid out with hewn and split stone, velvety plaster, and smooth ceramic tiles. From the third to the fifth floor run bay windows that transition into Gothic gables. The corner of the building is crowned by a faceted tower with an arcade under pointed pinnacles and a dome with a small lantern and spire, making it an architectural dominant of the avenue. The stucco on the facade is characteristic of Northern Modern — represented by sculptures of owls, foxes, hares, bears, and wolves. Additionally, the house is richly decorated with plant motifs, grotesque masks, reliefs, decorative vases, and mascarons of demons. Elements of the Estland Governorate coat of arms are placed on the facade. In the niche of the tower stands a statue of Grace, which some sources call "The Reaper, wiping sweat from her brow."
The building housed the management and warehouses of the "Landowner" partnership, as well as a 24-hour store. A cinema with 200 seats operated on the first floor of the wing, and a garage was provided in the courtyard. The building also housed the photo studio of Vladimir Maksimovich Kodlubovich. Among the notable residents was Pavel Alexandrovich Marzhetsky, a soloist of the Mariinsky Theatre.
After the revolution, the building was nationalized, apartments were converted into communal housing and dormitories. On the site of the former "Landowner" store, Gastronom No. 22 was opened. After the lifting of the blockade, "Osobtorg" No. 3 operated there, where scarce products could be bought in exchange for gold. In 1962, the "Strela" store opened in the house. It became the first in the city to install automated cash registers. According to the "All Leningrad" directory of 1965, the building also housed the 4th workshop of the toy factory, savings bank No. 2005, and production workshops of vocational school No. 18.
During the Soviet years, the building underwent several partial repairs. In 1962, the floors between the first and second stories were replaced. In the 1980s, a centralized city heating system was connected, pipes were partially replaced, and at the tenants’ request, new flooring was laid over the old parquet in the apartments.
Various legends surround the building, which is a recognized cultural heritage site. According to one, before the revolution it housed a house of tolerance, as evidenced by the sculpture of Venus installed in a niche on the rotunda.
Another legend says that the building was connected by secret underground passages to the Warsaw and Baltic railway stations.
The "Leningrad Martyrology" reports 11 residents of this house who were arrested and executed during the Great Terror.
The spire from the tower disappeared after a fire in the late 1980s.
