Yesterday, the Rops House, a regional cultural heritage site located at 9 Petrovskaya Spit on Petrovskiy Island in St. Petersburg, burned almost to the ground.
History of the house: In 1871, US citizen and merchant William Hopper Rops leased a plot of land on Petrovskaya Spit and built concrete storage tanks there for flammable liquids. In 1894, his youngest son, Ernest Rops, an activist in the Young Men's Christian Association, took over as head of William's company, the V. Rops & Co. Oil Refinery. He commissioned the wooden mansion built on the refinery grounds in 1897.
After yesterday's fire, only a fragment of the building's façade remained. The Committee for State Control, Use, and Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments reported that they are preparing to initiate a criminal investigation. A little over a month ago, on June 2, the building's protected status—a list of elements defining its cultural value—was approved.