Структурная эволюция органов управления строительством Придворного ведомства в Санкт-Петербурге XVIII в.

Abstract

The article addresses an important, although little-studied, issue concerning the history of the Court Department in the 18th century. Drawing on documents from the Russian State Historical Archive, the author examines the procedure of formation and restructuring of the institutions in charge of construction works carried out in St. Petersburg for the Imperial family. He insists that creation of the special bureau should be dated 1732, when Anna Ioannovna put Hofintendant Kormedon in charge of the Imperial residences repair works. The article follows the decline of the Hofintendant’s office (Gof-Intendatskaya kontora) in the hierarchy of the Court Department structures. Its first step downwards was its subordination to Oberhofmeister, baron Christian Wilhelm von M?nnich. Its subordination was later changed several more times, while continuing as a separate subdivision, until its abolishment in 1765. The article puts it into the contest of global reforms of the system of construction and repair works of the Imperial family residences. It was preceded by an inspection of the Collegium of Accounting. The reform resulted in replacement of independent Chancellery for construction of houses and gardens (Kantselyariya ot stroenii domov i sadov), Hofintendant’s Office, Office of the ‘Winter House’ (Kontora ‘Zimnemu Domu’), and Peterhof Office (Peterhofskaya kontora) by a single Office for Construction of HM Houses and Gardens (Kontora ot stroenii EV domov i sadov). The next phase did not start until after Paul I’s accession to the throne. The Emperor demanded that all administration of construction and repair works at the palaces and its outbuildings, all planning of court gardens and parks be carried out by Hofintendant’s service and eventually ordered to rename the Office for Construction of HM Houses and Gardens into the Hofintendant’s. The article notes the conformity of names from the Hofintendant’s Office of 1730s to the Hof-Intendant’s of 1797, indicating a basic continuity.