THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE KIROV DEPARTMENT STORE AND FACTORY-KITCHEN IN MEMOIRS AND DOCUMENTS

Abstract

The article presents the history of the Narva Factory-Kitchen construction in the late 1920s - early 1930s. A decision was made on the general construction of factory-kitchens, which were to become the basis of the USSR’s state public catering system in the 1920s-1930s. In Leningrad, it was decided to build four factory-kitchens, including the Narva one, which was supposed to share a building with a department store (later the Kirov Department Store). A competition was announced to design the factory-kitchen building. The article describes the factory-kitchen project that won the competition. Four architects were the authors of the project developed in the constructivism style. Over time, the idea of factory-kitchens turned out to be inconsistent, and the Narva Factory-Kitchen was closed. The Kirov Department Store had also stopped working for a long time. In the early 2000s, a decision was made to reconstruct it. During the preparation of the project for the reconstruction of the Kirov Department Store, research work was carried out to identify design materials and documents on the history of the Narva Factory-Kitchen and Department Store building. In addition to many graphic images, the authors of the article discovered interesting facts about the construction progress and the first years of the factory-kitchen. The found documents: protocols, reports, critical notes, and memoirs of a participant in the events, illuminate the construction and operation of the factory-kitchen from different points of view - from official materials (texts of explanatory notes to project documentation, publications in the official press, minutes of meetings, construction inspection reports) and from personal assessments of various facts related to the Nevsky Factory-Kitchen (memoirs of contemporaries, workers who took part in the construction work and further operation of the enterprise). The documents also made it possible to reproduce the realities of the production process of the 1920s-1930s, for example, socialist competition, high-powered work practices, and shturmovshchina. The fact that construction work was carried out in the absence of actual plans was revealed. Besides, the coordination of work was systematically disrupted. The created picture shows a low work organization level, which caused numerous imperfections and low construction quality. In turn, this was one of the reasons for the problems in the operation of the factory-kitchen. Based on the found documents and the actual violations of an operational nature, the article also notes: non-observance of the sanitary and hygienic regime, the monotonous menu of the dining room, low quality of dishes. The documents also report on economic violations. Later, for several reasons, the very idea of ​​a factory-kitchen discredited itself. At present, the building of the Kirov Department Store has been reconstructed and is in operation.