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Houzz Tour: Inherited Home Gets a Bright New Life

The design pays homage to the property’s historic setting and packs lots of function into 592 square feet

Екатерина Перминова
Екатерина ПерминоваApril 6, 2021
Постоянный автор HouzzRu, журналист
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The Palevsky residential complex in St. Petersburg, Russia, was originally constructed in 1925-28 to house factory workers. The owners of this apartment in the historic garden city inherited it from their grandmother and, though they had been living in Canada, decided to hold on to the property and bring it back to life. They turned to architecture and design firm Duga Studio for help.
Duga Studio
Photos by Ivan Sorokin

Apartment at a Glance
Who lives here: A family of three
Location: The historic Palevsky Housing Estate in St. Petersburg, Russia
Size: 592 square feet (55 square meters)
Designer: Dmitry Dubrovsky of Duga Studio

This housing complex, composed of two- and three-story homes connected like townhouses and surrounded by gardens, brings the idea of a garden city to life. The historic site is a listed property, so it was important to get the right approvals for the renovation.

“The flat hadn’t been renovated in a long time, but its best feature was its historic potential,” designer Dmitry Dubrovsky says. “That’s why most of our techniques were aimed at preserving its genius loci,” or its prevailing character.
Before Photo
Екатерина Перминова
Before: “We had to practically rebuild the home from scratch on the inside: Take the old floors down to the substrate and rebuild them, strip the plaster down to the brick, replace all of the plumbing and wiring,” Dubrovsky says. “But this is often what architects and construction crews have to deal with when working on old housing stock.”
Екатерина Перминова
After: Since the space is divided in half by a load-bearing brick wall with a built-in chimney, radical changes to the layout were not an option. The shared space was changed the most: Dubrovsky connected the kitchen and the living room and added a guest toilet. The bedrooms kept their old footprints. In the end, the team managed to fit two bedrooms, two bathrooms and an open-plan kitchen-living room into less than 600 square feet.
Duga Studio
At their first meeting with Dubrovsky, the clients made it clear that they prefer bright interiors with color accents and dislike beige and brown palettes. Otherwise, they gave the designer complete freedom.

Dubrovsky says he designed the interior in a unique style “that comes out of the architectural context but still fits the present day. And — for me this is the most important thing — it includes well-thought-out architectural detail,” he says. “The interior has become an extension of the place where it is located.”
Duga Studio
In the kitchen and living room, the designer and clients had a choice: Either divide the already small space into two small rooms with limited options for placing furniture or create a comfortable if compact open plan. The clients chose the second option.
Duga Studio
To address safety issues related to introducing gas appliances in an open space, they installed detectors and appliances with auto shutoff features.
Duga Studio
The family usually eats in the kitchen, and a section of the countertop was integrated into the windowsill to create a dining area. It flows seamlessly into the peninsula that divides the kitchen from the living room.
Duga Studio
The owners bought a transformable table for entertaining: It may look like a coffee table in this photo, but its height and shape can be changed. Fully unfolded, it seats six.

The apartment is on the ground floor, and there are bars on the windows. Their design echoes the geometry of the fence around the estate, nodding to its history. Shutters provide elegant privacy.
Duga Studio
To underscore the connection to the locale, most of the furniture is from local manufacturers. Almost all the light fixtures were manufactured by Handle Studio, which uses handblown glass and its own crafted brass structures. All of the artwork in the house is by young St. Petersburg artists.
Before Photo
Екатерина Перминова
Before: Here’s part of the living room before the renovation.
Duga Studio
After: The original stove, which had been the main source of heat for the apartment when it was first built, unfortunately could not be preserved. The team replaced it with a rotating stove from Nordica.

They also cleaned the chimney and installed a more efficient flue and an ash box for servicing.
Before Photo
Екатерина Перминова
Before: On the other side of the load-bearing wall are the bedrooms: one for the owners, the other for their daughter. The entrances to the bedrooms are seen here.
Duga Studio
After: The bedrooms feature spacious built-in storage units that frame the doors and windows to make the most of the space.
Duga Studio
The top and middle sections of the storage unit fronts are mirrored to visually expand the space.
Duga Studio
As in the kitchen, the storage unit in the daughter’s room includes a countertop integrated into the windowsill.
Duga Studio
The storage units were made to order in St. Petersburg.
Duga Studio
Freestanding furniture was mostly bought off the shelf.
Before Photo
Екатерина Перминова
Before: This bathroom has two small windows, which bring in fresh air and natural light.
Duga Studio
The team was able to include a spacious shower, sectioned off by a metal-and-glass divider. This echoes the screen between the entry and the living room.
Duga Studio
A stacked washer and dryer were installed in the guest bathroom, which also offers storage for laundry items.

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