My spell checker is going a little nutty, but ya - "glavpochtamt" is the spelling, and it's the word for Post Office. I wonder if that's what the plaque says above the overpass. 
I decided to read about this building, because on our tour our bus kept circling it (maybe because there were no parking spots) and the guide was telling us that for many years this was the only post office in the city where you could mail or pick up parcels from another country. I mean, even I remember the days when mailing something was a big deal. Now I order things from Amazon and I'm shocked to discover where they came from and how quickly I received my stuff.
So this is one of the few historical administrative buildings in St. Petersburg to retain its original function (more or less) to this day, because it is still used as a post office. It was built in the 1780s on the orders of Prince Alexander Bezborodko, chancellor, favorite of Catherine the Great, and head of the postal service, whose own palace had just been completed next door.
I don't have a photos of the whole buildings, so when I looked up the palace part, I saw that the building is now the A.S Popov Central Museum of Communications.
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| Internet pic of former palace |
The architect, Nikolay Lvov and his family lived in the apartments there for twelve years. After a few renovations and changes, in 1903 the building's courtyard was turned into Petersburg's first glass-covered atrium.
Visitors can still view the central granite pillar, marked with a zero. This once marked the official centre of St. Petersburg, from which all road distances to other towns and cities were measured.
