The mansion on Fontanka, where the opera "Eugene Onegin" was performed for the first time, will become a five-star hotel

The ACADEMIA Group of Companies has launched a large-scale investment project to restore and adapt a historic mansion on the Fontanka River embankment, 23. The historic building will become a five-star hotel with a restaurant that revives the atmosphere of the St. Petersburg literary and musical salon of the XIX century.
The mansion at 23 Fontanka Street, the I. Forsh Residential Building, has been a cultural heritage site of regional significance since 2012. The investment project will combine the architecture of the XVIII century with modern hotel infrastructure. The main halls of the historical building will be restored with all security items preserved. The work with the architectural monument is carried out by the investor in coordination with the KGIOP and leading restorers.
"The tourism industry of St. Petersburg continues to develop actively: According to official data, in 2025 the city received a record 12.5 million guests. The growth of domestic and inbound tourism increases the demand for high-quality hotel infrastructure, including historical hotels, allowing guests to explore the cultural heritage of the city. It is important that investors' work is not only about restoration, but also about restoring St. Petersburg traditions," said Ivan Skladchikov, Chairman of the St. Petersburg Investment Committee.
The ACADEMIA Salon 23 Hotel has more than 100 rooms, and the facility will be managed by a single hotel operator, ACADEMIA.
"ACADEMIA Salon 23, as in all our projects, is based on respect for architecture and history. The hotel's restaurant will revive the atmosphere of Yulia Abaza's salon. The hall with impeccable acoustics will be filled with the sounds of chamber music in the evenings, and gourmet dinners will be a continuation of cultural performance. We want the mansion at 23 Fontanka to once again become a place of attraction for those who appreciate art, music and the authentic St. Petersburg atmosphere. And the architects and restorers of ACADEMIA will restore every detail of its great past. Restoration and careful adaptation are long and painstaking processes that require serious preparation and numerous approvals. We plan to open the hotel in 2031," said Sergey Stepanov, Strategic Partner at ACADEMIA Group.
It should be recalled that ACADEMIA Group specializes in complex restoration and adaptation of windows and has been an official partner of St. Petersburg in window restoration since 2025. The corresponding agreement was signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The company was awarded the honorary government badge "Investor of the Year" for the best investment project in the nomination "Preservation of historical and cultural heritage sites" for the project of adapting the mansion of A.P. Shuvalov to a hotel.

For reference:
The history of the house on Fontanka began in the 1790s, when the plot was owned by the court gold seamstress Ivan Forsh.
The Abaza family, who owned the house from the 1840s until 1917, brought true fame to the mansion. Yulia Fedorovna Abaza is an outstanding singer and one of the founders of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, her music salon has become a real cultural phenomenon of the capital.
On March 6, 1879, in the great hall of the mansion, the audience heard for the first time P.I. Tchaikovsky's opera "Eugene Onegin" — the performance took place 11 days before the official Moscow premiere.