House of Specialists (Lesnoy Prospect, Saint Petersburg) explained

House of Specialists
Status:Local cultural heritage object 7800000004[1]
Location:Sampsoniyevskoye Municipal Okrug, Vyborgsky District, Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Address:61 Lesnoy Prospect / 23-25х Kantemirovskaya Street (Saint Petersburg)
Location Town:Saint Petersburg
Location Country:Russia
Start Date:1934
Stop Date:1937
Architect:,,,[2] Tamara Katsenelenbogen
Highest Region:Saint Petersburg
Architectural Style:Postconstructivism
Building Type:Apartment building

House of Specialists (Russian: Дом специалистов[3]) at 61 Lesnoy Prospect avenue in Saint Petersburg, Russia, is a compound of three[4] apartment buildings in the city's northern / northeastern Vyborgskiy district designed and constructed in 1930s under the Soviet government decision to improve living conditions of professionals in a number of cities, building (workmen were given new accommodations too). Among the residents of the house were many notable[5] scientists, engineers and several art workers, and the compound was entered into the cultural heritage list by an act of the city legislative assembly in 1999.

History

In early 1930s the city block on odd-numbered side of Kantemirovskaya street immediately east of Lesnoy Prospect was filled with two sets of apartment buildings differing in the degree of built-in conveniences. In the southern part of the block the 6 residential 5-storeyed buildings of No 59 Lesnoy Prospect avenue constructed for the district textile mills workers did not have what their nextdoor neighbors from the three houses of No. 61 Lesnoy received as members of a higher strata of professionals: flats not shared, running hot water and bathtubs with showers in them, lifts, rubbish chutes etc. These specially designed better conditions were provided for by the national government decision of 1932 to build apartment houses for specialists - several in each of a number of big cities.[6]

Famous residents of the House of Specialists

No 61 by Lesnoy Prospect / 21 by Kantemirovskaya Street House of Specialists accommodated dozens of significant engineers, factory managers, scientists in various fields, and several cultural figures. As such, it was entered by an act of the city legislative assembly of 1999 on the list of local monuments of culture and history, being a Monument of Russia's cultural heritage No. 7800000004. The list of monuments includes this house as the one where lived the following notable people:

Memorial plaques have been mounted on the building in honour of Khlopin, Altman, Bonch-Bruevich, and in memory of the Siege of Leningrad a wall sign warning that this side of Lesnoy Prospect was the more dangerous one during the enemy artillery fire.

Plaques in memory of victims of repression

Installing memorial plaques

In the 2nd half of 2010s less noticeable smaller memorial plaques were also mounted on the building to commemorate its residents who fell victim of Stalin's time purges. Their names were established by the city's civil activity organisations dedicated to legal rehabilitation and commemoration of innocent people who were oppressed from the 1930s to the 1950s and Vozvraschionniye imena (Returned Names) history research center[11] set up to find names, compile biographies and keep the memory of Russia's victims of XX century's wars and purges working at the National Library of Russia in Saint Petersburg. The research center's website also hosts online searchable copies of the city's Memory Books with names of victims and survivors of the Siege of Leningrad[12] and repressions that include the names of the house residents, and offers links to other federal and city archive databases websites.[13] Modest memorial plaques of the same kind have been placed on the city's old buildings in accordance with the Last Address civic initiative.

Dismantling memorial plaques

34 “Last address” plates with the names of the residents of the house, who became victims of repressions during the Soviet era, disappeared from the House of Specialists in 2023.[14] .

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Act of Saint Petersburg No 174-27 of July 23, 1999, On declaring as protected monuments of history and culture of local significance . ru . Об объявлении охраняемыми памятниками истории и культуры местного значения, Закон Санкт-Петербурга от 23 июля 1999 года №174-27. 2020-07-16. docs.cntd.ru.
  2. В. Г. Лисовский, С. Г. Федоров, Г. П.Игнатьева. Северные и восточные районы. //Ленинград. Путеводитель. Лениздат, 1986. 1905040100 - 268_153-86. Составители: В. А. Витязева, Б. М. Кириков. Рецензенты: В. В. Мавродин, доктор исторических наук; Т. П. Бондаревская, кандидат исторических наук; В. М. Ходачек, кандидат географических наук; В. Ю. Черняев, кандидат исторических наук; Р. Н. Яковченко, сотрудникГородского бюро экскурсий
  3. Web site: Дома специалистов (Houses for specialists; in Russian). 2020-07-16. Энциклопедия Санкт-Петербурга. Encyclopedia of Saint Petersburg (in Russian).
  4. Web site: Жилой комплекс . Дом специалистов, Сталинский неоклассицизм, Архитектор Каценеленбоген Т. Д., Симонов Г. А., Рубаненко Б. Р., Лесной пр., 61, Кантемировская ул., 23-25х, Парголовская ул., 4. 2020-07-17. www.citywalls.ru.
  5. Web site: Лесной пр., дом 61, Санкт-Петербург. Портал GradPetra. 2020-07-17. history.gradpetra.net.
  6. Web site: О постройке домов для специалистов. Постановление Совета Народных Комиссаров СССР. (Утверждено Политбюро ЦК ВКП(б) 23.III.1932 г.). Приложение № 1 к п. 3 пр. ПБ № 93. Проект «Исторические Материалы». 2020-07-15. istmat.info.
  7. Web site: Альтман Натан Исаевич - Забытые имена Пермской губернии. 2020-07-17. www.fnperm.ru.
  8. Book: Astashenkov, Pyotr. Kurchatov. Molodaya gvardiya. 1968. Moscow. ru. ru:Курчатов.
  9. Web site: Об объявлении охраняемыми памятниками истории и культуры местного значения от 23 июля 1999 - docs.cntd.ru . 2023-11-29 . docs.cntd.ru.
  10. Gazhev. Boris. 2003. Lesnoy, 61. ru:Лесной, 61. 61 Lesnoy. Neva. ru. 11. 2020-07-17. Zhurnalniy zal (Journals Room) magazines.gorky.media.
  11. Web site: Возвращенные имена. Как провёл День России. Как погибли жильцы Дома специалистов в Ленинграде. 2020-07-16. visz.nlr.ru.
  12. Web site: Возвращенные имена. Блокада. Поиск.. 2020-07-18. visz.nlr.ru.
  13. Web site: Возвращенные имена. Войны XX века. 2020-07-18. visz.nlr.ru.
  14. Web site: In St. Petersburg, 34 “Last Address” signs were removed from homes . 16 September 2023 . News in France.