At the end of the XIX century merchant Georgy Alexandrov bought a plot on Kamennostrovsky Prospekt. He planned to place a giant aquarium here: for a certain amount of money, visitors could meet various species of flora and fauna, listen to lectures and marvel at marine life. In 1886, Alexandrov even opened his “Aquarium” here, but not a glass kingdom with cubic meters of water, but a restaurant.

A few years later, a theater hall was erected next to the restaurant. For a while, one could listen to an opera there, and then they staged all kinds of operettas. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a frequent guest of the Alexandrov Theater.

Year after year, the Aquarium has acquired new buildings. One of these rooms was allocated for a film studio. The massive building with white columns — the main building — was built in the 60s of the last century, but films began to be shot in 1908 in the building next door. At the time of its foundation, the studio was headed by Vladislav Karpinsky. Urban chronicles, short documentaries and educational films were shot with his light hand. After the revolution, the building was transferred to Sevzapkino for filmmaking: it was here that the first Soviet film based on Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky's script, “Sealing”, was shot.

The studio was named “Lenfilm” only in 1934, and the famous Bronze Horseman became a symbol of Soviet filmmaking only in 1975.

The modern building, made in classic style, was built in the back of the park. It has a columned portal and a triangular pediment. Films were shot here that later became part of the golden fund of Soviet cinema - Striped Flight and Hamlet, Heart of a Dog, Wedding in Malinovka and about 1,500 more immortal works cinematography.

During the Great Patriotic War, Lenfilm residents continued to make films, and the post-war period became a special milestone in the development of production technologies: the first color film, Mussorgsky, appeared, and widescreen tape using stereo sound — “Don Quixote”.