At the beginning of the millennium we rented an apartment on Zheleznovodskaya Street for a few months, and on this sunny spring day I decided to take a walk and see what had changed in that neighborhood over the past twenty years.
Zheleznovodskaya Street is located on the island of Decembrists, which until 1926 was aptly named Golodai Island (Hungry Island). This was a low-lying area, often severely affected by floods. The island was built mostly with wooden houses, inhabited by the urban poor. Only in that part of the island, which is adjacent to the neighboring Vasilievsky Island, were built several streets of good brick houses. In one of these old houses we rented an apartment.
Zheleznovodskaya Street has changed little over the century from the beginning of the XX century to the beginning of the XXI century. But the surrounding area has changed during this time cardinally. Former streets of wooden buildings have disappeared without a trace, and modern multi-storey houses have grown in their place. The levee reliably protected the island from flooding, and its proximity to the bay made it a prime location. At the beginning of the new century, the Zheleznovodskaya Street area began to change, too.
I got off the bus at Uralskaya Street and immediately noticed the changes in the landscape. On the left side of the street the old houses were still there, but behind the gas station there were new buildings. All of these buildings weren't there twenty years ago, they were already built in the new millennium. I turned right and found myself on Zheleznovodskaya Street. The changes here are rather cosmetic, the walls of the houses used to look much worse. Our house is about in the center.
I walked around the neighboring streets. There were many new buildings, and active construction continues. I almost didn't take pictures of the new buildings, I concentrated on memories and took pictures of what remained unchanged.
This building was built in the mid-twentieth century, there was a hospital, now it is abandoned.
The sign on the gate says "FBI, MIA, FSB - everything here!"
An old brick one-story house near the new bridge. The Betancourt Bridge connected Decembrists Island with Petrovsky Island in 2018. Before that there was a long dusty street, with an industrial area stretching along the river. I often walked home from the subway along this street.
Now it's a car service, but it used to be some kind of factory.
Uralskaya Street. On one side of the street are the old houses, the other side was built up with new buildings recently.
The old building of the plant named after M.I. Kalinin, over the entrance are attached the orders of the Soviet era.
Along Uralskaya Street I reached the border of the island. This is the Ural Bridge over the Smolenka River, behind it is Vasilevsky Island. Here I finished my walk.
This is my entry for the #wednesdaywalk challenge by @tattoodjay and for the Make me Smile challenge by @elizacheng.
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| Smartphone | Xiaomi Redmi 3 |
| Location | Saint Petersburg, Russia |