The idea of installing a monument to Joseph Alexandrovich Brodsky on Malaya Okhta arose among local residents, it is believed, in the late 1990s. However, more than ten years passed before their own "Brodsky spot" appeared on the map. The commemorative sign to the outstanding poet was solemnly unveiled near house No. 19 on Stakhanovtsev Street on December 1, 2011.

The location was chosen deliberately. In house No. 17, where dormitory No. 1 of the Russian State Hydrometeorological University is now located, there was a dormitory of the Leningrad State University named after A. A. Zhdanov in the 1950s. A girl lived there, in whom the young Brodsky was in love.

The commemorative sign to Brodsky on Stakhanovtsev Street is designed with utmost simplicity. It is a massive granite boulder, specially brought from Karelia. On the polished front side of the stone, above the facsimile of the poet’s signature, the last line of the first stanza of his poem "From the Outskirts to the Center" is engraved. Written in 1962, it has preserved a remarkable image of Malaya Okhta at the turn of the 1950s–1960s:

Here I have once again visited

this land of love, the peninsula of factories,

the paradise of workshops and the Arcadia of factories,

the realm of river steamships,

I whispered again:

here I am again in infantile laras.

Here I have once again run through Malaya Okhta through a thousand arches.

Despite its granite severity and even brutality, the commemorative sign on Stakhanovtsev Street is perhaps the most romantic "Brodsky spot" on the map of our city. As already mentioned, this place is connected with the poet’s youth, with his love for a university student. In the 1950s, Joseph often visited here, usually coming on foot from Liteyny Prospect, where he lived with his parents. The Alexander Nevsky Bridge was opened only in 1965, so Brodsky crossed to the right bank of the Neva via the Bolsheokhtinsky Bridge. Then he hurried across all of Malaya Okhta with its countless arches.

Later, already in emigration, Brodsky shared his memories of industrial Leningrad, of the city outskirts, and of how he "‘herded’ the girl" in the Leningrad State University dormitory very emotionally with Solomon Moiseyevich Volkov. In particular, from these conversations was born Solomon Volkov’s book "Dialogues with Joseph Brodsky."

According to Inna Khanonovna Saksonova, a resident of one of the neighboring houses, the connection between Brodsky and this place was first reported by candidate of architecture Tatyana Vladimirovna Kovnator, who drew attention to the lines from the poem "From the Outskirts to the Center." Subsequently, Inna Khanonovna persistently advocated for the installation of a commemorative sign here. This idea was approved by the then governor of Saint Petersburg, Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko, but it took about ten years to realize it.

Sources:

http://krasnakarta.ru/spot/id/5/brodskymonument