13. Well-yards, Saint Petersburg (Russia)
Courtyards (or well-yards) are a symbol of the Northern capital of Russia. But whose idea was it to start building houses this way? According to one of the legends, Peter the Great ordered the construction of buildings in the Dutch style so the old buildings looked beautiful from all sides.
According to another version, it’s all because of the ground water. It was pretty expensive to prepare the soil for construction and, therefore, each foot of the land was to be used for building. Another reason had to do with the price of property — many people from all over the country used to come to the Northern capital and each person needed a place to live. That’s perhaps how these multi-story courtyards appeared.