This building was built in one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one by architect Peter Deyneko. Unique in terms of absurdity and pomp, the building in Saperny Lane in its decor has little in common with Deineka's project. The owner of the house, S. F. Anglares, according to some sources was a merchant, and according to others a nobleman. In the house archives, the author's project with Hercules at the entrance has been preserved, but other excesses did not exist yet. Therefore, the general opinion ascribes the authorship of many stucco sculptures to Anglares himself, who, without the talent of Rastrelli or Montferrand, decided to achieve the laurels of the Marquis of Karabas from architecture. Judge for yourself: two pairs of Atlanteans, three pairs of caryatids and thirty-two putti figures can be found on the facade of the building, which is not the most grandiose in size...

However, historian Alexander Dubin suggests that the author of the elaborate decor of house No. 13 was not Anglares at all, but the former owner of the site A. T. Dylev, stone master. This explains the “Slavic” flavor of the Atlanteans, who, instead of the traditionally detached bow, look angrily at the passerby, saying that you can't help what you're staring at, so go through while you're whole. And they support the massive bay window not with both hands, like ancient giants, but with one, like haulers, pulling their load, holding a considerable cam ready.

It is difficult to judge the motives that led the master who created this lurid miracle of art: maybe he honestly paid the money paid by the customer, maybe he decided to have fun with the rich but uncultured “master of life”... Or perhaps he decided to glorify such as him, unknown workers, whose work keeps this shining facade of the world.

By the way, Marina Tsvetaeva and Osip Mandelshtam visited this house. It was home to the legendary Prince Mikhail Ivanovich Khilkov, who entered the history of Russian railway construction, and whose fate deserves to be the plot of a historical and adventure novel.

Another historic event is connected with this house: next to it, at the intersection of Znamenskaya Street and Saperny Lane, the first car accident in St. Petersburg occurred.