FIELD STUDIES OF THE SECOND FLOOR OF THE FORMER GRAND HOTEL BUILDING, 5 F. SKORINA AVENUE, POLOTSK

Abstract

The article provides the results of a full-scale study of the second floor of the former Grand Hotel Building. The probing of the walls revealed a number of reconstructions of the building at different times and made it possible to clarify its original layout. The most extensive reconstructions of the building took place in 1874, 1912 and 1971, which led to the complete loss of all elements of its original interiors.
 
 During the study of the masonry of the existing building, a fragment of the wall of an XVIIIth century building was found as part of the studied floor, about which there is no information. The outlines of the brick building in the western part of the object we are studying are known only from the plans of Polotsk at the end of the XVIIIth century, but its purpose and type of architecture are not indicated. During the work, a number of architectural elements of the eastern facade of this building were cleared – the remnants of windows and cornices. It was found that in the middle of the XIXth century during the construction process in the eastern part of the "Grand Hotel" at the level of the second floor, it was connected with the building of the XVIIIth century that we have identified. By that time, it had already been rebuilt through two arched openings. This indicated that both buildings had the same owner for some time, but soon they were divided and completely isolated from each other.
 
 The buildings were connected again only after 1912 by arranging a new passage and using vaults on rails as ceilings for the entrance and toilets.