Weaving plant in the Ivanovo region and brewery in Kaliningrad, elevator in Chelyabinsk and metallurgical plant in Yekaterinburg. In the new series of the cycle, historian Alexander Mozhaev recounts the fascinating plants and factories that can still be seen in time.
Industrial architecture is an underestimated and therefore little studied genre. Over the last twenty years, its value has been considerably rethought, the concepts of "industrial conversion" and "redevelopment" have become fashionable. Today, the attitude towards old industrial buildings is one of the indicators of the promoters' civilization. On the one hand, there are many examples of successful reconstruction of old factories with adaptation to modern needs. On the other hand, remarkable objects are disappearing (for example, Metrowagonmash in Mytishchi, demolished in 2018). Other monuments are suffering from aggressive reconstruction: the threat hangs over the famous Tryokhgorny brewery complex in Moscow.
Many hand-built provincial antique factories are in desolation. In this selection, we will talk about some objects located outside Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments
A fabric factory in the village of Pavlovskaya Sloboda in the Istra district is one of the oldest remaining production complexes in Russia. Founded in the mid-18th century by Count Sergei Pavlovich Yaguzhinsky, it was transferred in 1806 to the Department of Stewardship, which provided the army with equipment, supplies and uniforms, and in the 1860s it was rebuilt into grenadier barracks. And that is why, unlike the vast majority of old factories, it avoided serious restructuring in the capitalist era.
The Pavloposadsky factory does not look much like an industrial building and is more reminiscent of the service buildings of a rich mansion of the empire. However, it is a production complex in its own right: two enlarged weaving buildings, a barracks church completed later, as well as the buildings of the mowing houses, villas, chests, towers and foundries. Most of the buildings date from the early 19th century, but it is possible that the buildings built by Jagórzynski may be partially preserved.
In Soviet times, there were military warehouses here, and architectural historians knew nothing about this closed object. It was not until 2015 that a decree was issued to place the complex under state protection and, by a strange coincidence, at the same time, in empty buildings, there were fires and the security status decree has still not been adopted. Today, the monument is guarded by volunteers, who drive subbotniks to clean up the ruins.
Verkh-Isetsky Zavod Hospital, East Pavilion. 2014
Marina Mitrochina / CC BY-SA 3.0
The Verkh-Isetskiy Ironworks in Yekaterinburg is a rare example of a factory building that was not rebuilt in the 20th century. The company was founded in 1726. In 1816, a stone building of the factory administration appeared, ten years later - the factory hospital, in 1820-30 - from the shops. The author of the buildings is unknown, but it is quite possible that Mikhail Malakhov, considered the father of Ural classicism, worked on these projects. The hospital consists of three domed buildings, which are connected by a semi-circular fence. Until recently, the building looked like a ruin, but today it is being restored. The Cree workshop, where cast iron was boiled, resembles an elegant garden pavilion or arena with large arched windows. The administration, built in the middle of the 20th century, has preserved the fine stucco of the facades and workshops - classic steel, although it is an ordinary opening, covered with pipes and extensions.
Viciuga is a city in the Ivanovo region, created in 1925 following the merger of several industrial zones and labour colonies. On its territory there are five pre-revolutionary weaving mills. Of particular interest are the abandoned buildings in Konovalovskaya. The factory was founded at the beginning of the 19th century, and on its territory there are still office buildings from the 1860s and 1870s and barracks where the workers lived. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, larger and more spacious spinning blocks with a five-storey corner tower were completed. But the most interesting is the concrete building from 1912-1915, nicknamed as it is because of the progressive concrete slabs. Its end facade, facing the surface of the factory pond, is adorned with a powerful neoclassical portico of monumental proportions reminiscent of ancient Greek classics (except that there are five