The history of New Holland begins with the founding of Saint Petersburg. Parallel to building the city, the creation of the Northern Fleet took place. In 1704 a shipyard and the building of the Admiralty were founded on the left bank of the Neva. To make it more convenient to build ships and deliver materials and timber to the shipyard, channels were dug on the Admiralty side. This is how the Kryukov and Admiralteisky canals appeared, connecting the Neva and the Moika rivers. The island which appeared as a result of that work became known as New Holland. This name came from the custom of calling the area around the Admiralty “Holland”, since it had been modeled after the Dutch shipyards.

In 1732, the Admiralty commissioned the architect Ivan Korobov to build a network of pools and a number of warehouses along the perimeter of the island for the needs of the shipbuilders of the Galley Shipyard. Most of the territory of the island was built up with sheds, in which ship scaffolding, tools and various devices for building and repairing ships were stored. Over time, there was not enough space and it was decided to carry out a comprehensive reconstruction of the island with the replacement of all buildings with stone ones.

In 1829, on the western spit of the island a ring-shaped building of a naval prison was constructed according to the project of A.E. Staubert. The author called it the “Prison tower”, but the popular name for it was “the Bottle”. In 1852 a brick building of the Forge was erected next to it according to the project of a military engineer, lieutenant colonel M. A. Pasypkin.

In 1894, an experimental pool was built in New Holland, where the Russian shipbuilder A. N. Krylov, who worked on the theory of ship unsinkability, conducted his experiments.

During the First World War, the most powerful naval military radio station in Russia at that time was equipped in New Holland. In Soviet times, New Holland was a closed zone; warehouses of the Leningrad Naval Base were located on its territory.

Projects for the reconstruction of the island and its transformation into an urban space have been put forward since the 1970s, but this idea was realized only in 2011.

Today, New Holland is a popular recreation area for Saint Petersburg residents and guests of the city, where restaurants, cafes, exhibition and lecture halls can be found. The island offers its visitors comfortable green areas and a vast playground for children.