The ancient Russian house-terem in Pogorelovo is original in its eclecticism - a building with a complex volumetric layout, echoing the best examples country dachas in the Russian style, with incredibly rich interiors of state rooms, at the same time completely practical from a village point of view - everything here is done wisely and everything is adapted for running a peasant farm.
For more than 100 years, the house has never been restored, preserving the original decor and original painting of the interiors.
540 km from Moscow, between Sudai and Chukhloma, lies a picturesque region stretching along the banks of the Vigi River. Just 25 years ago, the village of Pogorelovo was located here, the first written mention of which dates back to the beginning of the 17th century. Today, all that remains of the village is just the name and the skeletons of wooden log houses.
But, nothing less than a miracle, on a small hill there is still a single surviving and living house.
This house was built in 1902-1903. local peasant otkhodnik I.I. Polyashov.
Residents of the village of Pogorelovo were state (state-owned) peasants who could go to work (as opposed to appanages) or carry out crafts in their native land.
One of these otkhodniks was Ivan Ivanovich Polyashov, popularly nicknamed Polyash.
Ivan Ivanovich had artels of carpenters and carvers - he was engaged in construction country houses and small architectural forms in St. Petersburg and its environs, i.e. was a contractor.
The tower is a 2-story building, made of logs, on a brick plinth and sheathed on the outside with heat-treated planks.
The large volume is complicated on the facades by risalits, a bay window and a low turret; The roof is completed by a skylight and a mezzanine. The roof overhangs are decorated with sawn ornamental valances, the openwork pattern of which resembles embroidery. The facades are decorated with exquisite saw-cut patterns and several types of platbands of various shapes.
On one side, a 2-story utility part of the house was originally attached to the house (dismantled in 1973, now it looks like a veranda), which is typical peasant houses northern edge.
According to one version, the construction of this house was carried out by a German architect who helped Polyashov with a mill and sawmill on the Vige River.
According to another, the design of the house was made by Polyashov himself, who in his lifetime built many dachas near St. Petersburg. This version seems more plausible.
The Pogorelovsky tower echoes the best examples of country dachas in the Russian style, with incredibly rich interiors of state rooms.
Along the main staircase you can immediately ascend to the 2nd floor, where the living rooms and bedrooms of the owners were located. But perhaps the most beautiful place in the whole house is the front hall.
So richly decorated, both with carvings and paintings, that if not pastel colors, it would be dazzling in my eyes.
It’s just amazing that, a century later, all this has come to us in its original form. And not anywhere in big city, but in a real wilderness.
Although, after 1917, all the agricultural equipment and livestock were taken away from the Polyashovs, they left the house for the family. Before collectivization, the family lived in their own house, after which Ivan Ivanovich and his family were left only a small part of the house on the 1st floor, and the remaining premises were occupied by various offices.
Polyashov died in his home, but his wife had to leave the village immediately after her husband’s funeral.
While there was life in the village, the house housed a kindergarten, a forestry office, and a school.
But by the end of the 1960s the village became unpromising. In 1972, the village council closed and moved out of the Polyashovsky house.
The house would undoubtedly have disappeared if not for pure chance. A couple of Moscow avant-garde artists - Anatoly Zhigalov and Natalya Abalakova - were on a kayak trip along the Vige River that same summer and, quite by chance, spotted this house and bought it.
House NLK-house construction in Russia from Ilya Nasonov.
For the house the owners dreamed of, they searched long and meticulously appropriate place. As a result, we chose a site located on the edge of one of the villages near Moscow: beautiful view, church on the hill. In addition, the site had a fairly strong foundation, which significantly reduced construction time.
Interestingly, the foundation was cruciform in plan, and this was the starting point when choosing an architectural and planning solution. The sketches proposed by specialists from the companies that the owners contacted did not correspond to their idea of the family nest: they turned out to be some kind of hangars. Time passed, but the required solution was not found. And then the owner came up with the idea to ask her son-in-law, an interior designer, to draw the main facade of the house. Yes, he is not an architect, but so what? But he knows well how the family lives and what kind of house they want. Ilya Nasonov, the author of this project, drew the main facade, and behind it the other three.
In plan, the house, like the foundation, turned out to be cruciform. The “related” approach turned out to be successful, and in one week, based on the sketches design department wall kit manufacturer companies have prepared necessary documentation. The question of what to build a house from did not arise: only .
What type of wood to choose was dictated by chance. Not far from the village in cottage village the company "NLK-DOMOSTROENIE" built cottages from laminated veneer lumber. This material has a lot of functional and aesthetic advantages. Color solution was chosen very thoughtfully - this is an example of respect for the environment. Since the main object among the nearby buildings was a red brick church with details white, then, in order not to contrast with it, but to be a single rustic ensemble, the main colors of the house became white and red. The building turned out to be quite large in area. Ground floor occupy a workshop and Technical buildings. On the first there is a representative zone, on the second – a private one. Interior design was completely different from what is usually understood by this phrase. According to Ilya Nasonov, on his part it was rather consulting, since the main ideas came from the owner of the house.
Judging strictly, from a professional point of view there is no interior here: there are many zones flowing into one another, each of which has developed well, but together they would look quite diverse if they were not united by a certain common principle - whitewashed furniture in the style French Provence. The owners chose it because they saw the house not just as a country house, but as a village one. Interestingly, almost all the furnishings, with the exception of the kitchen, were purchased at furniture exhibition in China, and in addition to the “Provençal” furniture, the hostess purchased authentic items, unable to resist their oriental charm.
Development of village architecture
Rural construction became widespread in Russia in the middle of the 20th century. It is noteworthy that the capital of rural structures and their technical equipment have increased, the level of mechanization of production in villages has increased, and reinforced concrete structures have been actively introduced into rural construction.
Note 1
In the 60s, the design system for rural buildings was rebuilt and improved, in better side The technology of work has also changed.
The Ministry of Rural Construction of the USSR was formed, which covered a wide network of special trusts and organized inter-collective farm construction organizations. At the same time, a system of main institutes was formed to combine standard design and research activities.
In this regard, a transition from individual standard projects to the creation of special series that made it possible to organize the complex development of villages. The work carried out on the territorial planning of the villages had a positive effect on the overall appearance rural areas and individual settlements.
Simultaneously with the new construction, reconstruction work was carried out affecting a number of old villages and villages. They were aimed at creating a rational system of serving the population and organizing the further rise of rural culture in Russia.
In the middle of the 20th century, the greatest attention was paid to the construction of settlements on the virgin and fallow lands of Kazakhstan. It is noteworthy that the construction of the main estates and farms was carried out according to standard schemes. Typical projects were linked to local conditions by the country's design institutes. It is known that mistakes were made during the construction of the first state farms. For example, in the state farms of the Akmola and Kustanai regions, a rigid layout prevailed; development was carried out in small rectangular blocks with the location of structures along the contour of the block. Such villages were built mainly one-story houses with large garden plots. Cut the ranks small houses a dense network of wide streets, creating the impression of deserted settlements and their monotony. Insufficient attention to in this case paid attention to determining the prevailing wind directions, so an unfavorable orientation of houses was allowed. It turned out that the formal use of standard planning schemes led to the depersonalization of their architectural appearance.
Historical features of national Russian development
Due to the availability of wood as building material, stone and brick were much less popular in village buildings. Only the upper strata of the population, such as merchants or wealthy peasants, could afford to use stone as the main building material. A number of other structures of this type were subject to regulation at the state level. For example, structures such as:
- churches;
- locks;
- public buildings.
The architectural diversity of individual housing construction developed mainly within the framework of wooden buildings. This fact leaves a mark not only on the early architecture of Rus', but also on the modern one.
Note 2
When building new houses or reconstructing them, architects sought to use decorative elements. One of the main elements, of course, was artistic wood carving.
At its core, Russian people were more inclined towards functionality than decoration, but it cannot be said that the architecture in the rural buildings of Russia was absolutely devoid of elements of facade decoration. The bulk of architectural delights developed within the framework of temple buildings, in this area the architects spared neither effort nor inspiration. It is also worth noting the features of roofs in rural buildings in Russia. This trait cannot be called strictly national, since it is found in many other countries. The fact is that in many southern countries it was common flat design roofs of buildings. In Russian villages, the type of precipitation, as a rule, did not allow such a roofing option. In this regard, even the earliest buildings are determined by this particular everyday feature.
Styles of Russian village buildings
It is generally accepted that castles and temples had the greatest influence on the formation of architectural traditions in Russia; individual buildings always remained in the shadows. Such trends were observed until the 18th century, until active construction began noble estates, as well as houses of wealthy representatives of other classes. It is noteworthy that for this period there are a number of interesting types of individual houses, which are still reflected in modern architecture.
- Hut or log house. This type buildings appeared one of the first in Rus'. He is small house from chopped trees, which usually has gable roof. Huts and log cabins had a minimum decorative ornaments facades;
- Tent style. This type of building got its name in connection with the completion of the church building not with a dome, but with a multifaceted tent. Initially, the style became widespread in temple buildings, but later entered the architecture of manor houses, and by the time of the reign of Ivan the Terrible it was completely implemented in stone structures. The pseudo-Gothic outlines of some modern buildings owe their appearance to this style of village buildings;
- Estate. Estates replaced other buildings in the village - mansions in the 17th century. Often this term refers not only to residential premises, but also to a complex of structures located on an individual plot. Such buildings can house servants' quarters, stables, and additional buildings. This period is characterized by the loss of national features in architecture individual buildings. Russian estates predominantly adhered to the classical style.
The main thing that houses in northern villages have is rationality and expediency. Nothing superfluous in architecture and decor. The northern Russian house is a rectangle on the plan, which consists of a hut, a vestibule and a courtyard. The center of the hut was the oven. It was made of both brick and adobe. The stove was placed on a cage or pillars.
The structure of the hut, entryway and courtyard varied depending on the location. They could be called differently, but the essence did not change. The hut and canopy were laid on moss, and the yard was laid dry. The roofs were covered with shingles or shingles. Wood was the most accessible. The floor and ceiling of the hut were made from blocks. Clay was used as thermal insulation, and the backfill was made from leaves and dry soil. For construction, the forest was selected in advance. The methods of transportation and procurement were different. To build the log house, they gathered helpers and put him behind. The rest was completed by the owner in his free time from agricultural work. The thickness of the logs depended on the choice of the owner. A wealthy person could afford thick timber because he had the means to deliver it to the construction site. But thick logs require more effort. It's one thing to cut out a cup and a groove in a pole, and quite another thing to cut out a half-meter log. And it’s much harder to roll it up. The groove on such a log can be made much wider, without noticeable damage to the height of the log house. If the groove is made with an adze, then it is not necessary to caulk it on such logs. A hut made of thick logs retains heat better and wide grooves do not freeze. Blocks were used for the staking, and all the quarters and grooves were selected with an axe. They didn’t do this by accident, because they knew that less firewood was needed to heat such a hut. That's why the huts were made with low ceilings and low doors, and the threshold, on the contrary, was made high to reduce the flow of cold air.
Time does not stand still and houses have changed their appearance since then. The price of boards became cheaper - cornices, piers, platbands, verandas, and attics appeared. The roof has changed. But the rest of the village house remained the same. A hut, a canopy, a yard are a must, and the rest is possible. Of course, people have brought a lot of new things to the appearance of the house, to the interior and exterior design. The yard was no longer needed, which means the entryway began to be called differently. The basement was also no longer needed. And there are few glaciers left anywhere. So what should a log house be like so that it is warm in winter, cool in summer and you can live in it? all year round? Modern designers make thermal calculations and, based on its results, choose the design and heating. Everything is taken into account here: the thickness of the external walls and the thermal conductivity of the material; number of windows, their sizes and design; number of external doors, material and design; thickness of floors and their material; underground and attic installation and much more. Based on this, the thermal conductivity coefficient is calculated and the heating system is selected, its thermal power to maintain an average room temperature of 20°C.
Our ancestors had a different approach. They built two houses, one was warm and comfortable, and in the other the stove had to be heated continuously. This means that others are copying the first house. But since the principle of similarity in practice is difficult to maintain 100%, the master makes his own every time. Either the floors will be made differently, or the logs will be of a different thickness, or the stove will be different, or placed in a different place. And so over the centuries it has changed, accumulated, been comprehended, and appropriate conclusions have been drawn.
“High-quality log houses and baths made of dead northern Karelian pine.”
No matter what new building materials humanity invents, wooden houses will always be relevant, they carry special energy, especially houses made of northern Karelian pine (Kelo).
Its exceptional properties have been acquired naturally and the wood practically does not require additional processing; its strength can be compared to stone. Dead pine...
“Kelo dead pine (KELO).”
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Wooden houses built from hardwood logs and coniferous species. The logs must be dry, without rot, cracks, and not infected with fungus or pests. In the cut, the diameter should be from 18 to 40 cm. In the log house, the logs are stacked one on top of the other. In the corners they are connected into a bowl, with protruding ends of the logs, or into a paw, without a protrusion...
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T A typical northern house is a house and a yard under one roof. Such that in winter time There was no need to go outside at all, except to get water.
The house of Ekaterina Evtyukova is typical for Unezhma.
On the left is the residential part, on the right is the barn (utility yard). Photo 2010
.
The residential part was located on the front side of the building (facing the street), further away there was a vestibule, and a barn adjoined the vestibule (it is also called a utility yard or a story). All these rooms were arranged in one line, one after the other, as a result of which the house turned out to be long, forming in plan a very elongated rectangle 6-8 m wide and up to 25 m long. The barn (usually the same width as the living part) was two-story - the barn itself is at the top, and below it is a yard (or basement) for livestock.
In rare exceptions, the barn was wider than the living part (then the plan looked like the letter “L”). There were several such houses in Unezhma, for example, the house of the volost clerk Epifanov.
√ In the understanding of a city dweller, the word “shed” usually means a small free-standing plank building for storing various rubbish. When applied to a northern house, this word has a completely different meaning. Here the barn is an equal part of the building, with an area equal to the residential half, and sometimes more. More details about the barn will be discussed below.
√ The basements of Unezhem houses, unlike other northern villages, are low, just as the houses themselves are not high due to this. Perhaps this is explained by the fact that there are no floods on the river, and in winter there are frequent strong winds that blow away the snow cover, so the need for a high basement is small.
The houses were mostly one-story - most families were of average income. Two-story houses there were no more than ten.
Only wealthy shipowners, of whom there were few, could afford them. The priest's house (built with donations) and the postal station were also two-story.
The roofs were gable, often hipped on the front façade side (i.e., with an additional front slope). The hip was often decorated with an attic, which was purely decorative - its windows looked out onto the ceiling (attic).
E. Evtyukova’s house with an attic. Photo 1987 Typical examples of Unezhem houses with different types
 roofs: House with hip roof |
 (clerk Epifanov). |
 On the right is a gable roof with a front gable (the house of I.L. Evtyukov, the utility yard is lost), on the left is a hip roof with an attic (the house of the Tyurdeevs, later O.G. Kukoleva and V.P. Evtyukov). |
The vast majority of houses were “single-facade”, i.e. with one front façade (it was considered the end façade facing the street). There were usually four (in smaller houses three) windows. Two-facade houses were less common, i.e. the residential part of such a house was not rectangular, but “L”-shaped, and then the side projection was designed similarly to the front facade with a triangular pediment above it. For example, the house of the shipbuilder I.F. had two facades. Varzugin (originally two-story). The layout of his barn was also atypical - it, apparently, was located not lengthwise, but across.
Two-facade house I.F. Varzugin (during the collective farm period it was reduced to one floor).
On the left (not visible in the photo) is the front facade facing the street, in the center is the second, side facade.
There was only one house in Unezhma with three facades (“T”-shaped in plan) - M.V. Bazanov, shipwright. It stood in the very center of Zapolye, near the Middle Varaka.
The main façade faced the highway, the other two were on the sides. The house had a kitchen, a tea room, a hallway, and a bedroom.
√ Village names for residential premises (“front”, “kitchen”, etc.) are very different from urban ones, for example, “kitchen” in the understanding of a rural resident is not at all the same as a kitchen in a city apartment. The names and purposes of the rooms will be discussed in more detail below. The log houses were placed either on flat stones or on racks dug vertically into the ground, laying them underneath as waterproofing. lower crowns birch bark Log walls They were usually cut “in the clear” - with releases, and were not sheathed on the outside.(Later, at the beginning of the 20th century, rich houses began to be sheathed with boards; such sheathing was preserved, for example, on the house of the clerk Epifanov). The roofs were covered with planks, each plank had two longitudinal hollows for
best stock water. Unezhem houses have almost no external decorative decoration - carved platbands, pedestals, towels, etc., so characteristic of most Russian villages. Most likely, there were few of them initially. The architecture of the coastal villages of the White Sea is generally harsh and laconic, partly due to climatic conditions, partly due to
They built houses as a family team, inviting relatives to help - fathers, sons, uncles, brothers, as well as fellow villagers. This is what Ivan Matveevich Ulyanov says about the expansion of his native home (“About Time and About Myself”).
√ It's about not about building a new house, but about rebuilding (expanding) an old one. This was often done when the family grew (say, adult sons got married) and there was an urgent need for additional rooms. In this case, the existing kitchen, entryway and utility yard were left, and new rooms were added to the kitchen. Because of this, the house often protruded forward and went beyond the line of the facades, blocking the view of the neighbors.
Another example of such reconstruction is the house of the clerk Epifanov. TO old kitchen two new rooms were added, the house greatly increased in length and almost “climbed out” onto the hill in front of it, so that it was barely possible to walk between it and the hill.
“In the fall, axes clattered and saws screeched near our house. First, they sawed off the front and tea rooms and dismantled them. Only the kitchen remained for living. We lived and slept mainly with Uncle Alexander, and went home to feed. Father and mother and little Ulyana stayed in the kitchen, and sometimes I fell asleep on the stove early in the evening.
The conversation about home came up often. His mother spoke of him as if he were a living being. Sometimes she really cursed and came to the point of crying. It also seemed to me that we were unfairly offending him. But there was no going back to the old ways. New house appeared like in a fairy tale. I don’t know if there was any plan or drawing, I didn’t see it, but the house was being built. Some sawed boards, others hewed logs, cut corners. They worked from morning to evening. Uncles Dmitry, Mikhail, Ivan helped, all the older guys worked. The kids were warned not to move around at the construction site, lest they get hurt. Nearby, near the house, there were large tall goats; logs were rolled up there and sawed rip saw. One sawyer stood at the top, the second at the bottom. This saw made boards for floors, ceilings, and roofs. When they placed the first crowns on flat stones, it turned out that our future home it will block those standing behind it, it will go out of line, because the new one was attached to the old kitchen, but the new one will have a kitchen. Neighbors started talking about this, and my father was summoned to the village council. But it was impossible to do anything else; how could one live without a kitchen?
The house grew by leaps and bounds. By the end of the year, the log house was ready, the floors in the kitchen and tea room, ceilings and roof were installed. All that remained was to make the ovens. They usually don’t do this in winter – it’s cold. But my father decided to do it and agreed with stove maker Nikolai Frolov to make stoves in the kitchen and tea room. I was always in the kitchen hot water and warm clay so that the hands of the stove maker and helpers do not freeze. Laying pipes in the attic and roof was much more difficult than stoves in closed rooms. Here the water and clay froze before our eyes, and our hands froze. Soon they began to light the Russian stove and wash the floors. They heated it little by little for several days to prevent cracks from appearing. Then, when it warmed up enough and dried out, they began to gradually move on.
The new house was different from the old one - cool and unusual. The kitchen is several times larger: with three windows, and behind the stove there is a small room - a bedroom with two windows, the tea room is also large. There Fyodor and Avdotya set up a bed and rocking chair for the child. This room has two windows on both sides.
It was cool in the house. We walked around in felt boots and put something on our shoulders. They often sat on the stove and warmed themselves, and the mother climbed there after finishing her morning chores.
The stove saved us. You could stand on the stove and sleep stretched out. It was long and wide. But it needed a lot of wood to heat, bake and cook. At night they lay down on the floor on skins; in the morning it was cold even on the skins. The cold blew from the walls and from the floor, because the forest was damp, and the floors were single, without black ones. To make the bedroom warmer, the following year my father himself built a gallanka stove.
| It was usually heated in the evening so that it would be warm to sleep at night.” | Let's walk through the northern house and look at each part of it separately. |
The house of Ekaterina Evtyukova (1910-1920s) is typical of Unezhma. |
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The house of the volost clerk A. Epifanov (late 19th – early 20th centuries) is one of the oldest in Unezhma.
House of Elizaveta Evtyukova (late 19th – early 20th centuries)
√ From the point of view of a city dweller, an integral part of every rural house (as well as a suburban dacha) is a porch - with a canopy roof, carved pillars, railings and several steps, which are so pleasant to sit on on a warm summer evening. Northern houses, incl.
Unezhemskys differ from this stereotype - they did not have a porch, and, as mentioned above, the staircase was located inside, which is apparently explained by the harsh climatic conditions. In “The Tale of the White Sea” by Ksenia Gemp, in connection with Unezhma, however, a “porch under a canopy on carved pillars” in the house of the folk storyteller Praskovia Paramonovna Ampilova is mentioned. Perhaps this porch was an exception, but, most likely, the description of this house by Ksenia Gemp, as well as the personality of the storyteller, does not refer to Unezhma, but to another village, and was “attributed” to Unezhma by mistake, which is discussed in detail in collection “And it’s all about her... Fragments from printed publications
"(p. 59).
On the sides of the entryway there are two doors, one opposite the other. These doors are always solid, made of thick boards, because... their main task (especially in the residential part) is to store heat.
At the end of the entryway there is usually a storage room (cage).
√ Sometimes there is an unconventional arrangement of the canopy - not perpendicular to the log house, along its entire width, but on the side, along the log house, as, for example, in the house of Elizaveta Evtyukova. This arrangement has its advantages - at least one of the rooms is completely isolated, with a separate entrance directly from the entryway.
Residential part
To the side of the Russian stove (between the stove and the wall) is a narrow nook, usually covered with a curtain. This is a “woman’s kut”, or “bakery” - there were jars and kettles on wooden shelves along the wall. Babiy Kut is so narrow that you can only enter it sideways. There is usually a hatch in the floor here - a hole into the basement, where pickles, canned food and other preparations for the winter were stored. Not far from the woman's kut, on the wall adjacent to the upper room, there hung a saucer (observer) - wooden shelf
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for plates. In the kitchen (as, in fact, in every room) there was always a “red corner” - a corner shelf on which an icon stood and a lamp burned in front of it. |
Kitchen with Russian stove. Photo 2007 |
Russian stove, side facade. To the right (not visible in the photograph) there is a door in the side (narrow). |
Bokovusha (narrow). Photo 2007 The kitchen furnishings were simple: large dinner table , such that the whole family (often 10-15 people) could fit behind it, long wooden benches, a washbasin (usually front door
) – that’s all, actually. “A kitchen, in the middle there is a Russian stove, a table and a bench for a seat - that’s all the furniture,” is how I.M. describes it. Ulyanov furnished the kitchen in the poor house of the widow V.E.
Kukoleva (“Marmansk-Unezhma-Petrozavodsk”).
In richer houses at the end of the 19th century, other furniture began to appear in the kitchen - something like sofas, hard or upholstered, with carved backs and handles. They were traditionally placed at the entrance, against the wall adjacent to the entryway.
A typical Unezhem sofa.
This one, or something similar, was in almost every kitchen. In the kitchen, as in the most spacious and warmest room, the most active daily life of the family took place; here they cooked and ate, crafted, knitted and spun, and here, on a long stick-ochepe attached to the ceiling, a shaky thing was suspended. In winter, especially at the end of the village, when young people left for the cities, in order to save firewood, the remaining rooms were not used at all by the old owners, and the doors to them were kept closed.√ If we draw an analogy with a city apartment, then the “kitchen” in village house will be more of a living room than a kitchen, or rather, a living room with
open plan , i.e. with built-in kitchen furniture. where outerwear is hung. In the village it is rather the opposite. The front here is the most beautiful and the most Light room in the house, at the very end, in front (hence the name). It faces the front facade, its windows are the “eyes of the house”, with which it looks out onto the street and at the neighbors opposite. In addition to the windows along the front facade (of which there were usually four, rarely three), the front always had two more side windows, so that on sunny days it was all flooded with sun.
Front room in an abandoned house. Photo 2007
Usually the front room occupied the entire width of the log house, but sometimes the front part of the house was divided into two rooms, with two windows each (plus a third side one).
√ This partition in Unezhma was usually made of planks, so this layout should not be confused with a “five-walled” house, where the longitudinal wall at the end was a load-bearing log wall. There were either no five-walled houses in Unezhma, or there were only a few, in any case, none of them have survived.
To heat the hallway, a rectangular brick Dutch oven (local pronunciation “galanka” or “golanka”) was installed.
If from time immemorial the kitchen in village houses looked approximately the same, then the decoration of the front room was given great importance. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, wealthy families tried to furnish the hallway in a city style. There were tables with turned legs, covered with a patterned tablecloth, carved chests of drawers, glazed sideboards and piles of formal dishes, carved wooden (and sometimes metal) beds with lace bedspreads, valances and a mountain of pillows. On the floor are chests with clothes and dowries, woven rugs and runners. The walls were decorated large mirrors in intricate frames, as well as napkins embroidered with a cross or satin stitch, and often entire decorative panels on popular subjects.
Front. Photo by M. Kotsova, 1980s.
This is how I.M. describes the front (or rather, part of it). Ulyanov (“About time and about myself”).
“The newlyweds were blocked off in the front room by building a wooden partition. They were not told to go into their room. But we chose a time when Fyodor and Avdotya were not at home, and quietly crept into their corner. Everything was interesting there: on the shelves there were bottles, bottles, boxes, starfish, stingray fish and many other curiosities. And the bed is so lush, high, and there is a mountain of white pillows on it.” √ Continuing the analogy with city apartment
In richer houses, in addition to the front hall, there was a “tea room” (it was also called the “small hut”). It was located between the front room and the kitchen; the area was usually equal to the front room (or slightly smaller), but sometimes it could reach the size of the kitchen (as, for example, in the house of the clerk Epifanov). Its name speaks for itself - they obviously drank tea here. Perhaps that is why the teahouse windows were special - wide, three-leaf. Such windows were called “talian” - not from the word “Italian”, but from the word “talianka” - harmonica. Traditionally placed near the window tea table
and chairs (not benches, as in the kitchen). In the Talyan window, the samovar probably looked advantageous from the street, and the tea party participants, in turn, had a clear view of the street and the neighbors passing by.
A teahouse with a Talian window in an abandoned house. Photo 2007
The table in the tea room was relatively small, because... tea, due to its high cost, was drunk only by the adult (and in pre-July times only male) population of the house. In addition to the table, here, as in the hallway, there could be chests of drawers, beds, chests and other furniture. √ In city apartments of the Soviet period, perhaps, no analogy to a village teahouse can be found. The only thing that comes to mind is the dining room in foreign houses - a room with a formal dining table, used only on holidays, and on usual time
empty, because A dining table for everyday use is usually found in the living room.. There was usually no room in the cities, called a bedroom, in the village (only the “three-facade” house of M.V. Bazanov could afford one). The beds could be located in the side room (narrow), and in the hallway, and in the tea room, in a word, everywhere except the kitchen. The families were large, several generations lived in one house - parents, children (often already adults and married, with their own children, since sons traditionally brought their wives to the parental home), grandparents, and there were not enough beds for everyone. Therefore, teenagers often slept in the hallway on the floor, on elk and reindeer skins, and old men and women - in the kitchen, on the Russian stove and even on benches. There was practically no place where one could retire in a village house, firstly due to overcrowding and lack of premises, and secondly due to the communal patriarchal tradition. All rooms (except, perhaps, the front room) were walk-through; the plank partitions (if there were any) often did not reach the ceiling, so audibility was, if not 100 percent, then certainly 90 percent. Young families in the hallway or tea room were sometimes fenced off with nooks (you can’t call them rooms), which created only the illusion of isolation (see the plan of the clerk Epifanov’s house). IN summer time The refuge of the young was the basement and the hayloft, those who loved solitude were the sea and the barracks. A native city dweller may not feel very comfortable in a village house, not so much due to the lack of running water and warm toilet
, how much due to the lack of a room where you can “go away and close the door behind you.” Finishing the conversation about the residential part of the house, I would like to say a few words about the quality construction work
. The walls were never sheathed not only on the outside, but also on the inside, just as they were never covered with wallpaper (the current wallpaper dates back to the Soviet period). In living quarters, logs were cut with an ax so efficiently that the surface became perfectly flat (only the corners remained rounded so as not to freeze). Now, when the wallpaper in abandoned houses peels off due to dampness, you can see how carefully the logs were processed, leaving no splinters or rough spots, and how tightly they fit together, so that it is often impossible to insert even a needle into the cracks. The fine carpentry work – doors and window frames – is amazing. All the doors in the living part of the house were paneled (except for the plank doors in the entryway). Panel trim and door frames were decorated with elegant profiles, were often made of brass. These details, which in our time are available only to wealthy segments of society, are ubiquitous in Unezhma - we see them in almost every home!
The window frames were double: an outer, non-removable one, and an inner, removable one, which was inserted during the cold season. Most of the frames were solid, and only one - in the kitchen - could be opened, it was attached to hinges.
The internal removable frames had something like a bath at the bottom to drain condensation from the windows that fog up in winter.