* Respectable neighborhoods near the Admiralty began to form in the thirties of the XVIII century, when a new area intended only for the nobility began to form on the site of the Marine Settlement, which consisted entirely of daubs of sailors and workers. All the houses were built exclusively of stone in order to minimize the threat of fire from the nearby royal palace. At first, the block was built up on one or two floors, but in the second half of the 19th century, after the closure of the Admiralty, the largest banks, insurance companies, ministries and other government agencies began to open their representative offices here, next to elite apartment buildings, hotels, as well as mansions and palaces of Russia's richest families. The tour route: • Admiralty • The Carpenter King • The Bronze Horseman • Alexander Garden • St. Isaac's Cathedral • Horse Guards Arena • Nabokov's House • Monument to Nicholas I • Large Marine