Nikolaevsky Palace

The Nikolaevsky Palace (1853–61) was built by Heinrich Stackenschneider between Horse Guards Boulevard and Galley Street on Annunciation Square (now Ploschad Truda) for the third son of Tsar Nicholas I, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich the Elder. The palace was surrounded by cast-iron railings and employed elements of Italian Renaissance architecture in the facades. After the grand duke’s death (1891), the building was presented to the Xenia Institute of Noble Girls (1894). The institute was named after Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, eldest daughter of Tsar Alexander III and patron of this establishment for daughters of the impoverished nobility. After the revolution, the Nikolaevsky Palace was awarded to the Petrograd Trade Unions Council and renamed the Palace of Labour.