Until 1918, this square was called Ilyinskaya – in honor of the Church of Ilya the Prophet, which was built here more than three and a half centuries ago and served as the architectural centerpiece.
The decision to rename the square Sovetskaya was made in connection with the placement of the executive committee of the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies there. In 1919, they planned to erect a monument to Lenin in the center and rename the square once again – to Leninskaya. But this was never destined to happen.
Modern Sovetskaya Square is surrounded by low three-story buildings. Two of them – to the left and right of the Church of Ilya the Prophet – are public offices (this is what administrative buildings used to be called in the past). Externally, they are almost identical, except for the triangular pediment on the right wing. One of the buildings now houses the Yaroslavl Regional Duma, while the other is occupied by various social organizations.
Between these two buildings there once stood the governor's palace. It was very beautiful, with graceful statues rising above the roof. Together, all these buildings formed a magnificent architectural ensemble.
With the coming to power of Pavel I, the palace was destroyed, and a vacant lot remained in its place for a long time. Later, an unremarkable police administration building was built here, but in Soviet times it too was demolished.
The party obkom needed a new building. Then the blueprints of the governor's palace were found in the archives so it could be rebuilt in the city center, restoring the integrity of the architectural ensemble. The idea was supported in the capital, but the local authorities changed everything at the last moment. As a result, a building modern by the standards of that time was constructed, and it now houses the Administration of Yaroslavl Oblast.
