Rostral columns (the height of each reaches 32 meters) and the Stock Exchange building form the center of the architectural composition.

The Spit is a small cape in the southeastern part of Vasilyevsky Island, washed by the Bolshaya and Malaya Neva. The huge expanse of water allows you to see the Spit’s ensemble in all its splendour. In the time of Peter the Great, it was decided to create the centre of the northern capital on Vasilyevsky Island, and the Spit was given a special place in its composition.

Since the 1730s for a century and a half, the Saint Petersburg commercial port was located here: dozens of ships and boats transported people and goods across the water area. The monumental building of the Stock Exchange, erected in 1805-1810 according to the project of J. Thomas de Thomon in the style of mature classicism was intended for merchants who arrived in Saint Petersburg to conclude trade deals. The building was modeled after the temples of Ancient Greece. The attic of the facade is decorated with a sculptural group "Neptune with two rivers", and on the opposite side of the Stock Exchange there is a sculptural group "Navigation with Mercury and two rivers".

From 1940 to 2012, the building housed the Central Naval Museum, which dates back to 1709, when, by decree of Peter I, they began to collect collections that reflected the history of the Russian fleet. Today, the museum occupies vast premises on Truda Square, and the Stock Exchange building is under restoration for subsequent transfer to the State Hermitage Museum.

In 1826 - 1832, according to the project of the architect I.F. Lucchini, on both sides of the Stock Exchange building, Southern and Northern warehouses were built. Now there is the Zoological Museum the former Southern Warehouse and the Museum of Soil Science in the Northern one. Behind the Northern warehouse, symmetrically to the building of the Kunstkamera (in relation to the Spit’s ensemble), the Customs building is located, also designed by the architect I.F. Lucchini in classic style. Since 1927, the Institute of Russian Literature (the Pushkin House) has been located here.

In front of the main facade of the Stock Exchange there is a semicircular Birzhevaya (“Stock Exchange”) Square, conceived by Thomas de Thomon as an integral part of the ensemble. The creation of the square turned out to be possible as a result of a radical reconstruction of the territory of the Spit: thanks to the filling of the soil, the previously low and indented bank was raised and advanced towards the Neva by more than 100 m, and in the plan it was given the correct rounded outlines. The area is limited by a granite wall with parapets; gentle slopes to the water are decorated with huge stone balls, and the embankment wall is decorated with lion masks.

On the sides of Birzhevaya Square there are two massive columns that served as lighthouses at the entrance to the port. They were built according to the project of Thomas de Thomon at the same time as the Stock Exchange and reproduce the form of antique triumphal monuments. On the trunks there are metal images of the rostra - the bows of the ships; hence the columns are called "rostral". Colossal sculptures are installed at the foot, which are allegories of the Russian rivers - the Volga, the Dnieper, the Volkhov and the Neva. They were carved from Pudost stone according to the models of sculptors I.Cumberlain and J.Thibaut.

Since 1957, it has become a tradition to light bright torches on the tops of the columns on holidays.

In 2003, on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Saint Petersburg, in Birzhevoy Garden, located opposite the Stock Exchange building, an 18th-century anchor found near the Skipper Canal was installed. Nearby a bronze bas-relief depicting the ensemble of the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island with the names of architects and the dates of construction of the buildings of the architectural complex was placed.

Today, the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island is a popular place for walks, concerts and wedding photo shoots.