More than a hundred years ago, the Benois House was the largest residential complex in the city. It had more than 250 comfortable apartments. Over the years, many famous people lived here: composers, artists, politicians. This city within the city had its own infrastructure. It had its own sewerage, water supply, steam heating, telephone, power plant, boiler room and laundry. The yards were equipped with built-in garages, snow melters and stoves that burned garbage. The building was serviced by twenty janitors. And there was a doorman at every entrance.

The facades of the house face three streets at once: Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt, Kronverskaya Street and Bolshaya Pushkarskaya Street. The open courtyards, courdoners, could not provide access to apartments for all residents of the house. Inside the residential complex, a whole network of closed yards, typical of St. Petersburg, was built, which connected to each other. The courtyards were numbered for convenience.

The entrance to the front yard along Kamennoostrovsky Avenue is decorated with red granite columns. Walking along the avenue, it is impossible not to notice these columns, which seem to invite you to look inside, into the courtyards of this unusual, beautiful and majestic house.

If the exterior of the house is beautiful and elegant, its courtyards are the absolute opposite. These are typical St. Petersburg courtyards with bizarre nooks. They make up a whole maze. A wonderful setting, where Lenfilm shot many films with criminal plots. Here is the longest passage yard of the Petrograd side, along Kamennoostrovsky Prospect, 26-28.