The Upper Lebyazhy Bridge is one of the few crossings that have survived to this day with almost no changes in structural and architectural forms. The bridge forms a single architectural ensemble with the Palace Embankment and the fence of the Summer Garden and is an object of historical and cultural heritage of federal significance.

In Peter’s times, four wooden bridges were thrown across the Lebyazhya Canal, and the first of them was the bridge built in 1711–1715 at the source of the canal. It was a wooden crossing with a lifting swing span, built according to the design of the Dutch master Hermann van Boles.

In 1754, the bridge was rebuilt in wood. In 1767–1768, as part of the construction of the granite embankments of the Neva, a stone single-span arch bridge was erected in the upper reaches of the Lebyazhya Canal, which has remained practically unchanged to this day. The only difference: initially, gas lanterns were installed on the abutments of the bridge. Presumably by the end of the 19th century, the lanterns were lost.

The project of the crossing was developed by the architect I.L. Rossi and the “master of quadrature” T.I. Nasonov. The bridge was named Lebyazhy (the same was the name of the Lower Lebyazhy bridge at that time).

In 1836-1846, the ferry was renamed Lebyazhy Kamenny, in contrast to the other wooden bridges across the canal. The modern names Verkhniy and Nizhniy Lebyazhy (or Verkhne-Lebyazhy and Nizhne-Lebyazhy) have been known since 1849, they denote the location of bridges along the course of the Lebyazhy Canal.

In 1927-1928, according to the project of engineer L.A. Krushelnitsky Upper Lebyazhy Bridge was overhauled without changing the structure and architectural appearance.