What St.Petersburg and Moscow looked like before the Soviets?

Question by .^.: What the cities of St. Petersburg and Moscow probably looked like before the Soviets took over power in Russia?
how the architecture was similar or different than western European countries? and please give names or describe the styles of the buildings in main center that were there before? how many of these did the Soviets tear down and which years and how they did this so quickly?

also, is St. Petersburg a good place to see examples of this previous style of architecture? are many buildings there still in this style? where this style originates? and is this similar at all to GERMAN architecture? which buildings? (since have heard that the German Monarchies and the British were the big hands in Russia before the “Communist Revolution”) how this was too if you can explain
?

thanks for your answers!
ALSO, HOW BIG WERE THESE TWO CITIES BEFORE COMPARED TO AFTER THE COMMUNISTS TOOK OVER? HOW AND WHY POPULATION INCREASED SO MUCH AND WHICH DECADES MOSTLY?

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Answer by Anti-Liberal
it looked good.

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