Apraxin Palace

Peter the Great awarded the land around the Admiralty to naval officers, pilots and shipbuilders. Fyodor Vasilyev built one of the largest and most beautiful palaces in the town after a design by Jean-Baptiste-Alexandre Le Blond for Admiral Fyodor Apraxin, commander of the Russian navy, near the Admiralty Shipyard (1716–23). When Apraxin died without leaving any heirs, the palace reverted to the crown (1728). Housed the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences and later the Naval Academy. Absorbed into the Winter Palace by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli for Empress Anna Ioannovna (1731–36). Dismantled during construction of the Winter Palace by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli (1754).