Wooden buildings of Chita in the work of the first architects of the city

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study conducted by the authors with the support of the Russian Science Foundation grant "Architects and engineers of the eastern outskirts of Russia (second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries)". The features of a significant layer of regional wooden architecture, preserved in the capital of the Trans-Baikal Territory - the city of Chita, are considered. Based on the materials of field surveys and the State Archives of the Trans-Baikal Territory, the preserved objects and original designs of a number of buildings and structures for various purposes were studied. The wooden architecture of the city is viewed through the prism of the activities of the first city architects and engineers, as well as other masters of the building art who received professional education in the leading architectural and engineering schools of central Russia, as well as specialists who did not have a specialized education, but received the right to carry out architectural and construction work after passing exams at the Ministry of Construction Affairs in St. Petersburg. As a result, a complete systematized picture of the historical evolution of the wooden architecture of Chita was compiled, which was formed under the influence of all-Russian architectural traditions, but at the same time had its own distinctive features associated with the specifics of the development of the region and the personal ideas of the masters of architectural and construction art, as well as customers of architecture of this type.