Architectural Planning Features of Class II Stations of the Ussuri Railway: Vladivostok and Khabarovsk

Abstract

The subject of the study is the architectural and urban planning features of Class II stations on the section of the Trans–Siberian Railway - the Ussuriyskaya Railway (the historical name of the line), the most remote from Moscow and St. Petersburg. The article discusses the final stations of the route – Vladivostok and Khabarovsk during the years of construction and in the first years of operation (the time frame can be conditionally considered from 1891 – the laying of the road, until the early 1910s - the preparation of projects for the reconstruction and expansion of stations). The author pays special attention to the study of village layouts, the mutual location of the main objects – passenger buildings, squares, streets; the current state of railway development is analyzed. The paper presents the materials obtained during the field surveys and research studies of the author in 2021-2022. It is emphasized that railway stations and their simple, at first glance, architectural design are part of the grandiose ensemble of the Great Siberian Way, original monuments of the era, and as such are of considerable research interest. Architectural and town-planning features of the first railway stations of Vladivostok and Khabarovsk are analyzed for the first time. The necessity of further comprehensive study of the railway development of cities and towns in the south of the Far East, including for the development of measures for its preservation and popularization of industrial architectural heritage, was noted.