ST. PETERSBURG, March 12 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian city of St. Petersburg's municipal authorities have announced a 45.2 million rubles ($1.5 million) tender for a contract to renovate the facade of the Federal Security Service’s regional headquarters.

The nine-storey brick building needs renovation work on the facade stucco, walls, new windows and doors and repairs to the ventilation system. According to the Russian state procurement website, the renovation work must be completed around four months from signature of the contract.

The so-called Bolshoi Dom (Big House) on Liteinyi street, which currently houses the FSB headquarters for St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region, was built in 1931-1932 for the then People’s Commissariat of Interior Affairs (NKVD). Stalin's mass purges in the 1930's began in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad), following the assassination in that city of his rival Sergei Kirov in 1934.

The building is currently listed as a Russian Federation cultural heritage site.