The monumental house at 44 Ligovsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg, built in 1910-1912 by order of civil engineer Alexander Nikolayevich Pertsov and designed by architects S.P. Galenzovsky and I.A. Pretro, is an object of cultural heritage of regional significance.

One of the most interesting stories related to the tenants of this house relates to the poet Maria Vega, aka Maria Nikolayevna Volyntseva, who wrote the lyrics to the iconic romance “Institutka” or “Black Moth” - one of the main songs of the Russian emigration of the XX century.

Maria herself was the daughter of a military officer, not a chamberlain. Their mother abandoned them, so Nikolai Volintsev raised his daughter by himself, and then gave her to the Pavlovsky Women's Institute on Znamenskaya Street. During the revolution, the father and daughter left St. Petersburg for France, and further her fate was also not as in the romance. Maria married a Georgian prince Nijaradze and earned money by drawing. At first she made copies of paintings for sale, and then received a diploma from the Paris Salon, which gave her the right to sell her own work. In addition, the princess worked as a journalist in the émigré press, published poems and translations, being one of the first to translate Rilke's poetry into Russian.

In 1924, Maria participated in the Summer Olympics in Paris, having entered from Russia, although there was no national team at the games. And she competed in the Art Competition - competitions for writers, sculptors, architects and painters, which took place from 1912 to 1948. Maria Nikolaevna did not receive any medals, but the very fact of her participation speaks of her successful integration into French society.

The restoration project for the facades of the Pertsov House on Ligovsky Prospekt was carried out by ACM Group.