The State Publishing House had its origins in Imperial Russia as the Royal Print Yard in St. Petersburg. After the Soviets nationalized the print yard in 1917, that action formed the Publishing House of the Petrograd Soviet. It was directed by the Literary and Publishing Department of People's Commissariat for Education. In 1919, the publishing entity was changed to Petrogosizdat (Petrograd State Publishing). During the mid-1920s, its offices were located inside the former Singer Building on the Avenue of the 25th of October (today, Nevsky Prospect). In 1924, the publishing house was named Lengosizdat (Leningrad State Publishing, a.k.a., Lengiz) coinciding with the city being named Leningrad in honor of Vladimir Lenin.