Architectural features of Nikolsk-Ussuriysky station at the end of the XIX – first quarter of the XX century

Glatolenkova Ekaterina ORCID: 0009-0001-6030-700X Senior Lecturer; Higher School of Architecture and Urban Planning; Pacific National University 136 Pacific Street, Khabarovsk, Khabarovsk Territory, 680035, Russia 008703@pnu.edu.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

The area of the railway station in Ussuriysk is a historical part of the city, the appearance of which is associated with the construction at the end of the XIX century of a station on the Ussuriyskaya railway, the eastern section of the Great Siberian Railway, the modern Trans-Siberian railway. The growth and expansion of the city and the introduction of new functional types of buildings into the development led to the fact that individual objects of the station were demolished or rebuilt, its stylistic unity was lost. Today, only some of the preserved buildings are architectural monuments of regional significance.

Traditionally, the buildings of railway stations and adjacent squares are in the center of attention – like at many other stations, the station in Ussuriysk has been restored, inside there are stands with information about the history and reconstruction of the building. But the railway building is not only a railway station. Residential quarters and administrative and cultural facilities were built along the railways for the needs of the station, and their architectural design was unique for each line. And the study of the architectural and urban planning features of the railway station contributes to the study of the construction of the Trans-Siberian railway and the socio-cultural significance that it had on the development of Far Eastern cities.

The source base of the study. The work was based on both historical documents and research by modern authors. Historical materials include drawings and photographs, accompanying documentation for projects and reports on the construction of the Southern and Northern sections of the Ussuri Railway; guidebooks (the most detailed is the "Satellite to Manchuria, Amur and the Ussuri Territory" edited by I. S. Clark, photo albums published during the construction and in the early years of operation of the road. The historical aspects of railway construction in the area of the city of Nikolsk-Ussuriysky are presented in the works of V. V. Burkova ^[1], M. A. Kovalchuk ^[2]. The issues of church building, including at the railway stations of the Ussuri Railway, were considered by S. S. Levoshko ^[3], Yu. V. Okhotnikova ^[4], D. S. Maslennikova ^[5]. The formation of the architectural appearance of the city is considered in the works of E. V. Stekhova ^[6], O. B. Lynsh ^[7], the contribution of railway engineers and architects was studied by N. P. Kradin, M. E. Bazilevich ^[8], A. A. Kim ^[9], A. A. Lisitsyn ^[10]. The stylistic features of railway architecture are considered by L. E. Baklyskaya ^[11], A. P. Ivanova ^[12].

The relevance of the study is dictated by the relatively small number of works covering the railway architecture of the city of Ussuriysk. Despite the sufficient study of the topic of architectural and urban design of the city of Ussuriysk at all stages of its development, railway architecture in these studies was considered only fragmentally, among other buildings, without highlighting a separate group of buildings at the station. Meanwhile, the station building, the complex of railway workshops, residential buildings for road employees, and many other buildings are part of a single ensemble of the railway station, which in different years was called Nikolskoye, Ketritsevo, Nikolsk-Ussuriysky station, the study of which reveals additional aspects in the architectural appearance of the city of Ussuriysk.

The object of the study is the development within the exclusion zone of the railway at the Nikolsk–Ussuriysky station. The territorial framework is defined by the boundaries of the Nikolsk-Ussuriysky station in the first quarter of the 20th century and corresponds to the modern area of the Ussuriysk railway station.

The subject of the study is the architectural and urban planning aspect of the station's construction. The purpose of the study is to identify the features of the construction of the railway station in the late XIX – early XX century. The objectives of the study are: analysis of various graphic materials and design documentation, including plans for the location of tracks and buildings at the station; determination of the station's location in the structure of the city of Nikolsk-Ussuriysky at the beginning of the XX century. and determination of the location of preserved buildings and structures related to the station.

Nikolsky village station and residential environment for railway employees

There are several stages in the history of the development of the Ussuriysk railway station. The first stage was connected with the construction in 1891-1897. The South Ussuri Railway. Nikolskoye station was 2.5 km from the village of the same name and 100 versts (about 107 km) from Vladivostok. The movement from Vladivostok to the village of Nikolsky was opened on November ², 1893.1 The settlement at the station was called Slobodka or Zheleznodorozhnaya Sloboda. Later, a road was built (modern Pushkin Street), which united the village of Nikolskoye and the station. In 1898, the village was transformed into the city of Nikolsk-Ussuriysky, while it should be noted that this name remained until 1935, when the city was renamed Voroshilov; Ussuriysk received its modern name in 1957. The Album of executive drawings of the Yuzhno-and Severo-Ussuriysky Railway (hereinafter – the Album) contains a plan of the Nikolskoye station. This is a compact station, on the plan of which several functional zones can be distinguished: the station building and the forecourt at it, a rectangular locomotive depot, large repair workshops, a railway hospital, buildings of the military department and an Orthodox church (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Layout of tracks and buildings at Nikolskoye station: PZ – passenger building (station);

BLN – hospital; KZ – barracks; No.1-18 – residential buildings. Designation of zones: a) the station building and residential buildings of station employees; b) the locomotive depot and residential buildings attached to it; c) large repair workshops and residential buildings of employees; d) a temple; e) a hospital and a medical house; f) buildings of the military department (scheme and color marking of the author based on the station plan ^{[13, p. 85]})

Residential buildings were built in each zone, designed to accommodate employees. In total, 18 projects of residential wooden houses of rectangular type were developed for the station. Outwardly, they are barely distinguishable, but the layout depended on the number of families living. Figure 2 shows the main types of residential building layouts; individual apartments and office premises are highlighted in color. In Fig. 2a is a residential building of type No. 7 for the families of the depot chief, the assistant depot chief, the clerk and the guard at the depot office. The total area of the house is 47.83 square fathoms (sq. s.). The apartments of the depot chief, with an area of 22.54 sq. s., and the assistant chief, 13.24 sq. s., had separate entrances, access to the rest of the apartments was through a common canopy. Figure 2b shows a house for station employees (storekeeper, clerk, telegraph supervisor, stove maker, etc.), with a total area of 47.83 sq. s. (No. 2). The house of the district doctor, paramedics and midwife with an area of 35.06 sq. s. (No. 14) – Fig. 2b. House No. 18 with an area of 52.88 sq. s. was intended for workshop workers and accommodation of gendarmes. Residential buildings had outbuildings, glaciers, and were fenced. The listed wooden buildings were located at a sufficient distance from each other to form a reserve area for the future expansion of the station. The costs of the station's construction were described in the Report on the construction of the Southern section: "Work on the construction of buildings was carried out mainly in 1893 and 1894. In 1891 and 1892, materials were harvested, and in 1895, during temporary operation, finishing was carried out. In total, 1731578 rubles 53 kopecks were spent on station buildings, or 4587 rubles 58 kopecks per mile of road" ^{[14, p. 23]}.

Fig. 2. Types of residential buildings: a) house of the depot chief, type No. 7; b) house for various railway employees and gendarme, type No. 2; c) house of the district doctor, paramedics and midwives, type No. 14; d) house for workers of large repair workshops, type No. 18 (diagrams according to drawings ^{[13, pp. 51-52]})

As an example of the architectural design of a residential building of the Yuzhno-Ussuriyskaya railway, the Album shows the main facade of the house of the head of the site at the station. Nikolskoye, which also housed the office, and housed the accountant's apartment (Fig. 3). The chief's apartment with an area of 30.33 sq. s. consisted of eight rooms, including a kitchen and a toilet, had two entrances. There was an exit from the living room of the apartment to the office. The accountant's apartment has three rooms, counting the kitchen, with an area of 9.46 sq. s. The facades of the building are lined with wooden boards, with simple platbands on the windows, without shutters, the gable roof is covered with iron.

Fig. 3. Residential building of the Southern section at Nikolskoye station, type A, No. 1 (house of the head of the section): a) the facade and b) the plan with the zoning of the premises (reconstruction of the author according to the drawings ^{[13, p. 50]})

There are very few photographs that could be used to determine what the wooden building of the Nikolskoye station looked like. Relying on the experience of previous studies, it is impossible to say with certainty that the house of the head of the site was built according to the project. However, some evidence provides an understanding that the location of the buildings in nature corresponded to the layout of the tracks and buildings at the station. Thus, the drawings by P. Y. Pyasetsky allow us to assess the construction of the street closest to the railway tracks (modern Vokzalnaya Street). Pyasetsky traveled along the Great Siberian Railway under construction in 1894-1900. The watercolor (Fig. 4) shows a view of the street from the station square. On the left you can see a fenced square located along the railway tracks, a water tower, a locomotive depot and, in the background, the barracks of the military department. To the right of the street are residential buildings with private plots and outbuildings, these are houses (№№ 3, 7, 9, 11 according to the station plan in Fig. 1). The drawing well conveys the details of the design of the side facades of residential buildings – these are carved spires at the end of the pediments, wooden paneling and carved cornices of the canopies of the entrances. Outbuildings – glaciers and sheds - are displayed in the foreground.

Fig. 4. Panorama of P. Y. Pyasetsky with the image of the street next to the railway station (modern Vokzalnaya Street) ^{[15, pp. 218-219]}

One of the buildings depicted in the watercolor is captured in a photograph of the beginning of the XX century (Fig. 5). Most likely, this is the building of the depot chief (No. 7), the layout of which is described above, oriented to the railway tracks with two entrances.

Fig. 5. The apartment building of the depot chief, fragment of photo ²

The listed sources suggest that the facades of residential buildings at Nikolskoye station had a more complex decorative solution than what is available in the Album. The design of the wooden buildings used a recognizable frieze decor with an ornamental image, in the center of which was the logo of the Ministry of Railways in the form of a crossed anchor and an axe. Such decor was common on buildings of various purposes throughout the entire length of the Ussuri railway. The author describes the use of this decor in residential buildings at Vyazemskaya station ^[16]; he also met in the projects and buildings of the first wooden railway station in Khabarovsk and at Bikin station. At the same time, among the standard drawings presented in the Album there is only one drawing of an apartment building at the Kiparisovo station with an identical decor. In the structures of the Ussuri Railway, inconsistencies are often observed between the realized buildings, their designs and images in the albums of executive drawings; at the same time, uniform principles in architectural design were preserved from station to station, which ensured the stylistic unity and ensemble of the entire route. Figure 6 shows a graphical reconstruction of two facades of the depot chief's apartment building. In addition to the ornament on the frieze, decorative carved elements were also used in the building on the pediments of the side facade and in the design of the canopies.

Fig. 6. Facades of the depot chief's house: a) the main facade oriented to Vokzalnaya Street; b) the facade oriented to the railway tracks (reconstruction by the author based on the photo

The layout of the Ketritsevo station and its location in the city structure

The next stage is connected with the construction of the Chinese-Eastern Railway in 1896-1903 and the first years of its operation. These works required the laying of a connecting branch from Nikolsky to the border with China (to the Border station, now Suifenhe, through the stations of Grodekovo and Khorvatovo) and the associated increase in the residential settlement and expansion of depots and workshops. In 1903, the railway settlement and Nikolskoye station were renamed Ketritsevo (in honor of railway official V. E. Ketrits). The renaming is explained by the popularity of the name Nikolskoye – stations with the consonant name Nikolskoye are on other roads – so that there are no mistakes in sending goods. However, the name did not catch on and after the renaming, complaints and petitions for a reverse renaming began to be received by the city administration. In 1905, the name of the station was changed again, to Nikolsk-Ussuriysky. The guidebook edited by I. S. Clark, first published in 1906, describes the city of Nikolsk-Ussuriysky and the railway station at it as the most significant, after Vladivostok, and the most populated commercial and industrial center in the South Ussuriysky Region. "Next to the station, a number of buildings of large railway workshops, a locomotive depot, a hospital, a store with the main warehouse of railway materials, stone barracks of the Ussuri railway battalion are grouped, and in the group of these buildings, the beautiful architecture of the church built in the name of St. Nicholas attracts special attention. St. Nicholas the Wonderworker". The author notes the officers' meeting for the railway battalion, as well as a two-grade school for children of railway workers. With the development of the road, a whole village grew up along the tracks, later named Zheleznodorozhnaya Slobodka. In the years when I. S. Clark described the Ussuriyskaya road, the population of the city of Nikolsk-Ussuriysky was about 20 thousand people ^{[17, pp. 77-78]}. On the plan of the western and eastern parts of the city of Nikolsk-Ussuriysky, presumably in 1900, the station is indicated within the exclusion territory (Fig. 7). A complex of repair shops and a station building with a forecourt are allocated from all buildings. In the south, the territory borders with a site for warehouses of the military department, in the west – with buildings along the Rakovka River. In the east there are planned plots for stone buildings. The plan also marks the land for the railway settlement located on the south side of Slobodskaya Street, the church mentioned by I. S. Clark, the construction of which was completed in 1899 – on the axis of the station building. Photos of the temple have not yet been found, but there are Cathedrals on the portal.<url> has illustrations of the building with a link to the newspaper Novoye Vremya³.

Fig. 7. A plan of the Western and Eastern parts of the city of Nikolsk-Ussuriysky and an enlarged fragment ⁴

Nikolsk-Ussuriysky station

The third stage begins in 1905, when the Ussuri Railway was leased and became part of the Chinese-Eastern Railway (CER), and ends in 1920 with the termination of the contract. After the defeat in the Russian-Japanese war, the prospects for the construction of the Amur Railway were revised, which meant another strengthening of the Ussuri Railway, consisting in the modernization of the track, the expansion of all stations, to a large extent this concerned the indigenous stations of the II and III classes. At the station in the city of Nikolsk-Ussuriysky, the locomotive depot was enlarged (a new fan-type building was built, the existing depot was lengthened). Behind it, on the outskirts of the station's exclusion zone, there is an expanded hospital area with 30 beds. On the opposite side from the station there are large repair workshops, which were also expanded during the construction of new workshops. On the plan of 1913 (Fig. 8) there is a noticeable increase in the number of buildings, but the railway settlement is marked only by a fragment adjacent to the road line. Among the brick buildings built are the railway school (according to explication No. 46), the boarding school building (No. 69).

Fig. 8. Layout of tracks and buildings at the station on January 1, 1913 ^{[18, p. 13]}

In the area of the passenger depot, the territory for residential development was also expanded from the railway station – six brick houses were built. These buildings can be seen in the above-mentioned photo of an apartment building (Fig. 5). In a modified form, they have survived to the present day: in 1951, each house was built on the second floor, plastered (Fig. 9) (modern Dead-end Street).

Fig. 9. Residential buildings on Tupikova Street in Ussuriysk (photo by the author, 2022)

Wooden houses were also built. The design of the house at Nikolsk-Ussuriysky station for employees of the Material Service was prepared in the 1910s; the authors managed to fit the newly built building into the existing building and preserve the recognizable facade cladding (Fig. 10).

Fig. 10. The project of a residential building at the Nikolsk-Ussuriysky station, head of the track service N. A. Kazy-Giray ⁵

The station buildings also included a railway school, a hospital with an outpatient clinic, a passenger building with passenger platforms, a church with a bell tower and a gatehouse, a parish school, a greenhouse, a shop with boiling water, a school, a depot, baths, workshops, about 60 residential buildings with outbuildings, a boarding school, warehouses.

The Russian State Archive of the Far East contains a detailed plan of the location of tracks and buildings at the Nikolsk-Ussuriysky station, reflecting the changes on January ¹, 19196 Unfortunately, the document is in poor condition and its digitization is problematic. There are many hand-made amendments on the plan concerning the placement of buildings of the food point of the quartermaster department; signed by the head of the 2nd section of the track service, engineer N. Vedensky and the same head of the technical department as the drawing of the apartment building in Fig. 10. Without having a decryption of the signature, it is difficult to determine who exactly approved the document. Let's assume that this is G. I. Bocharov, a railway engineer, who in the 1910s was the head of the section in Bukhedu, and since 1915 worked at the Border station (according to A. A. Lisitsyn). It may well be that at some point he held a position in the Technical Department in Harbin, where documents on the Ussuri Railway were signed, among other things. The plan allows us to identify a number of changes made in the 1910s that were not reflected in the 1913 plan. A mixed-use stone building was formed on the east side of the railway tracks and south of the church. Opposite the material warehouse is a row of 10 residential buildings with a private territory. The plots and houses owned by entrepreneurs are also marked: the plot of merchant Borodin, the houses of Lisberg, Pankin.

About the location of the station building

The first station building, a one–story brick building with a dedicated central part, was built in 1890. In 1903, the building was rebuilt according to the design of architect V. Planson. A second floor is built in the central part. In the 1930s, the station was once again expanded and stylistically rethought. Some sources claim that another station building has been preserved, which is located at 5a Blucher Avenue. This widespread opinion among local residents was reflected in the journalistic publication ⁷. In the list of monuments of cultural heritage of regional significance of Primorsky Krai, there is indeed a building at the specified address, called "The building of the Ketritsevo railway station associated with the construction of the Ussuri Railway." However, a "building" can be understood as any station building. And the division of windows and the presence of two independent sections rather indicates its unsocial purpose, but residential. The preserved building is wooden, two-storied, the facades are lined with wooden boards and have no decorative elements (Fig. 11). Externally, it looks like buildings along the Amur Railway line, some sections of which were designed in the period from 1901 to 1915. The building was probably built in the early 20th century and was intended for the settlement of workers' families. The fact is that on the station plans of different years discussed above, the forecourt retains its location and configuration, which indicates the inconsistency of the version about the preserved building of the first station.

Fig. 11. The building at 5a Blucher Ave. (photo by A. D. Lakhtikova, 2024)

Conclusions

The railway architecture of the modern city of Ussuriysk, built at the turn of the XIX–XX centuries, is considered. Three stages of the construction of the railway station, called Nikolskoye, Ketritsevo, Nikolsk-Ussuriysky station in different years, have been identified; station plans characterizing the construction at each stage have been analyzed. Special attention is paid to the analysis of residential buildings created in the early years of operation of the railway. It is established that there are discrepancies in the projects and buildings, expressed in the complication of the decor of residential buildings. The specified decor – a carved frieze depicting the logo of the Ministry of Railways – distinguishes many typical buildings along the Ussuri railway and distinguishes them, on the one hand, among other buildings in the settlement where the station is located, on the other – distinguishes the design of quite typical buildings of the Ussuri Railway among buildings on other roads along the Trans-Siberian railway. Previously, as implemented, this decor was found only at stations along the North-Ussuriysky section, from the station Muravyov-Amursky to Khabarovsk; its use on the facades of residential buildings at the station near the city of Nikolsk-Ussuriysk was described for the first time. The available information on the use of decor in other buildings indicates various versions of its execution, expressed in the size and nature of the floral ornament. The variability of the application and uniqueness of the decor allows us to consider it as a separate object for research in the future.

Despite the fact that most of the buildings considered have been lost, individual buildings of the railway station area are still important and recognizable elements of the urban environment: depot buildings, workshops, residential buildings and public buildings preserved on both the east and west sides of the railway tracks represent great potential for study. Due to the limited tasks set at the beginning of the work on the article, the author sees the prospect of a more detailed study of the architectural and urban planning features of these structures in further research.

Notes

1. RGIA DV. F. 702. Op. 2. D. 590. L. 16 (link to ^{[19, p. 34]}).

2. welder_history. An interesting album, part 2... (F-89) [Electronic resource]. URL: https://welder-history.livejournal.com/261520.html (date of application: 07/24/2024).

3. The Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker at the Nikolsk-Ussuriysky railway station, Ussuriysk (Ussuriysk, city), photo. archival photo of Fig. from the illustrated appendix to the newspaper Novoye Vremya [Electronic resource]. URL: https://sobory.ru/photo/257661 (date of application: 07/24/2024).

4. RGIA. F. 350. Op. 19. D. 289. L. 2.

5. RGIA. F. 350. Op. 19. D. 612. L. 1.

6. RGIA DV. F. 31. Op. 1. D. 120. L. 42.

7. UssurMedia.ru . The Ussuriysk railway: following in the footsteps of old photos - UssurMedia.ru [Electronic resource]. URL: https://ussurmedia.ru/news/611639 / (date of access: 07/20/2024).