The street was planned and laid after the catastrophic fires of 1736 and 1738 destroyed most of the buildings on Шаблон:Interlanguage link multi of Saint Petersburg. The original name Sredny Prospect (literally the Middle Prospect) outlined its connection to other two prospects converging on the Admiralty building, Saint Petersburg: Nevsky Prospect (known as Bolshoy, The Larger, Prospect) and Voznesensky Avenue (known as Maliy, The Lesser, Prospect).[1]
In 1770, the street received its present name Gorokhovaya Street (literally Pea Street). According to a popular legend the name comes from a German merchant Harrach, whose name was russified as Gorokhov. Some historians find the legend unconvincing as no records indicate presence of a merchant named Harrach and merchants named Gorokhov were not associated with the street.[1][2]
Between 1918 and 1927 the street was renamed Komissarskaya Street, then between 1927 and 1991 it was renamed Dzerzhinsky Street after Felix Dzerzhinsky. Both names were connected with the Cheka office headed by Felix Dzerzhinsky situated in house number 2 of the street.[1][2]
In 1991, after the Perestroika the name Gorokhovaya was restored.[1][2]
Landmarks
Briantsev Youth Theatre, one of the first professional children's theatres in Russia, has been located on the street since 1922.