- Ivan Vladimirov - Intourists in Leningrad
Soon after the death of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, the city was renamed Leningrad. During the last year of the World War I and the years of the Revolution the population of the city had reduced dramatically and the recovery of the once magnificent city was slow and only partial. From the 1930s the economic growth was considerable but came at the very high price of Stalin's regime.
Since the late 1920s mass construction of cheap housing to for workers began. It became a very prominent feature of the Leningrad city landscape. Many cultural centers - so called "palaces of culture" were built to provide the city's common folk with entertainment, clubs and other social activities. The large apartments of the Imperial St. Petersburg were turned into "communal" (shared) apartments, making small living rooms. Previously being an average flat where only 1 family lived, now there placed several. Life was not that good but even it had to be changed when the World War II and the Siege of Leningrad began.