Expansion across the meadow's Neva frontage continued in the 1780s with the construction of the service wing of the Marble Palace, and the and the Saltykov Mansions. The Betskoy Mansion, now the home of the Saint-Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts, was built between 1784 and 1787 by Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe, stands on the west bank of the canal, close to the Upper Swan Bridge. The canal's banks were reinforced in 1934, though a similar strengthening project planned for 1941 had to be cancelled after the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union. Further work on the structure of the canal was carried out between 1953 and 1956, involving deepening it, facing the banks with granite, and landscaping the slopes with earth. In 1997 the walkway beside the canal embankment was repaired, trees planted, and new fences installed.