Speaking of architects, several buildings in St.
Petersburg were built by Nikolay Vasilievich Nabokov (b. 1839), Gogol's
namesake, who may (or may not) have been a distant relative of VN's family.
On the other hand, the two authors of the most attractive building in the
Karavannaya street (VN would pass it twice a day on his way to and from the
Tenishev school; see Speak, Memory), that of the Splendid Palace
cinema, were the architects Borovski and Botkin.
Alexey Sklyarenko