Dom knigi (House of Books)

This beautiful, stylish building was the Singer building originally built in 1907 to house the famous Singer Sewing Machine Company. The large ground floor windows let passers-by stop and watch the women at work inside. The building is topped with an elongated dome and glass sphere held aloft by girl and boy statues. After the Russian revolution, the building became a book store and was recently restored throughout.

Inside you'll find lots of souvenir books about St Petersburg art and history, a good selection of foreign language (primarily English, French, German, Spanish, Italian) books, and other souvenirs, spread across a basement, ground and first floor. The first floor also contains the wonderful Cafe Singer in all its art deco elegance, perfect for people-watching and admiring the views.