The publishing house "Northern Pilgrim" published the book "Monuments of industrial architecture of St. Petersburg" - a revised and expanded version of the study, first published in 2003. The new edition was also prepared under the editorship of Doctor of Architecture, Professor Margarita Stieglitz and contains new materials and photographs.
“The book includes essays on 51 enterprises. The choice is motivated, first of all, by the historical and architectural significance of the objects, the degree of their preservation and the real prospects of their use. Also, 174 enterprises are presented in the address index of historical industrial objects of St. Petersburg in the 18th-20th centuries,”the publisher's website says.
The book reveals the value of the heritage that has remained in the shadow of the classical ensembles of St. Petersburg, its active city-forming role, the high technical and aesthetic level of buildings. Maps and rich illustrations allow using the book as an alternative guide to St. Petersburg.
With the kind permission of Margarita Stirlitz, we publish a story about the object that opens the book - the New Admiralty.
The book can still be purchased in the Subscription Editions, Chitai-Gorod and MonitorBox stores.
Admiralty shipyard
JSC "Admiralty Shipyards"
The very name of the enterprise is a reminder of the Admiralty - the first Russian shipyard, the direct and worthy successor of which was this oldest shipbuilding plant. Its two-hundred-year history is associated with the most important stages in the transformation of Russia into a mighty maritime power.
The location of the complex in the lower reaches of the Neva, where it makes a smooth bend, on three small islands: Novo-Admiralteisky, Matisov and Galerny, was very convenient for shipbuilding. Already in the 18th century, the Galerny yard, the pilot's village and numerous warehouses were located here. They merged with the Admiralty, which occupied the entire vast coastal space from the Winter Palace to New Holland and the Galley Shipyard.
But the improvement of the capital required the withdrawal of industry from the Admiralty, which was located in the immediate vicinity of the royal residence and the city center. Therefore, by the decree of Emperor Paul in 1800, on the Novo-Admiralteisky island, then called Kalinkin, on the site of the Galerny yard, a shipyard was founded, called the New Admiralty, where the production of large military ships was gradually transferred. Frigates, clippers and small sailing ships began to be built on the neighboring Galerny Island. At the same time, the Old Admiralty continued to work for several more decades.
The following main stages can be distinguished in the development of both islands. The first stage in the 1825-1838-ies is associated with the development and improvement of the fleet, carried out during the reign of Nicholas I. Architects E. Kh. Anert and I. G. Gomzin, engineers P.-D. Bazin, L. L. Carbonier and V. P. During this period, Lebedev built a whole complex of buildings for various purposes - slipways, workshops, warehouses, drafting rooms, etc. Work was also carried out on the internal and external landscaping of the plant. At the same time, the first stone boathouse in Russia was erected. The author of the original idea - the outstanding engineer Pierre-Dominique Bazin - took a similar building in France as a prototype. The grandiose boathouse is covered with a high tent roof measuring 92x29x26 m. The structural basis of the building is made up of brick pylons connected by longitudinal arcades. The giant arch at the end facing the Neva was completely glazed (this glass screen was dismantled before the ship was launched). The builders cleverly converted the type of timber flooring into a metal combined non-thrust structure. A strong frame with a lower arched belt did not exert pressure on the vertical supports. The construction of this unique structure, which, along with the Salny Buyan, adorned the panorama of the Neva River opposite the Mining Institute, was completed in 1838.
Petersburg architects of the epoch of classicism recognized the significance of the Neva estuary as the "sea gate" of the city. The architectural concept of the New Admiralty, which already at an early stage took into account the important urban planning significance of the complex, was developed according to the principles of classical composition. At the end of Galernaya Street, the main entrance to the factory was visible. A long alley led from it - the main compositional and functional axis of the complex. To the right of it was located the shipbuilding part itself - the slipways and the main workshops. On the foreshore in front of the buildings there is a pier and dams with pavilions for the public, who watched the ceremony of the ceremonial launching of the ships. The landscaped view of the bank and the entire plant from the side of the Neva was largely due to the presence of the reigning persons and their retinue at 26 ceremonies. In the 1830s, wharves, an embankment, cast-iron gates with bars and bridges were built. Drawings, and later photographs of the ceremonial launching of ships on the water, were often reproduced in illustrated magazines. The solemnity and beauty of such spectacles were indisputable, especially the very moment of the descent, when the architecture of the ship is still inseparable from the architecture of the boathouse.
On the left side of the main alley there were various workshops - boat, foundry, copper boiler. They were dominated by a two-story stone building stretched along the road, crowned with a clock tower. Here were the office, drawing room and plazas for breaking ships. So already in the first half of the 19th century, the foundations of the layout of the old, most ceremonial part of the plant were laid. A new stone boathouse, built next to the old one according to the project of military engineers S. N. Budzynsky, N. P. Dutkin and N. D. Kutorgi in 1893, complemented the panorama of the coast. Finally, it was completed by a temple-monument to Russian sailors who died in the Tsushima battle, Savior on the Waters, built in 1911 according to the project of M. M. Peretyatkovich (destroyed in the 1930s).
Two stone slipways on Galerny Island have also not survived. Here, at the confluence of the Fontanka and Neva rivers, at the beginning of the 20th century, under the leadership of engineer N. I. Dmitriev and architect A. I. Dmitriev, a power station and a new shipbuilding workshop were built, and the Fontanka arm was converted into a pool for completing ships. The last factory buildings of the pre-revolutionary period - the plaza and the administrative building - were erected under the direction of the architect N. P. Kozlov.
During the Soviet period, the plant added many valuable pages to the history of domestic shipbuilding, but nothing of any significant architectural significance was built on the territory of the enterprise. Rather, on the contrary: with the demolition of the church-monument to the Savior on the Waters, the panorama of the coastal part of the plant was destroyed. Stone slipways were built up from the ends with unattractive buildings made of silicate bricks. Gone are the powerful urban planning accents at the entrance to the sea capital.
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zooming 1/5 Large stone boathouse and workshop on Matisov Island © Monuments of industrial architecture of St. Petersburg. Stieglitz M. S., Lelina V. I., Gordeeva M. A., Kirikov B. M.
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zooming 2/5 Buildings on Galerny Island © Monuments of industrial architecture of St. Petersburg. Stieglitz M. S., Lelina V. I., Gordeeva M. A., Kirikov B. M.
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zooming 3/5 Development of the Galerny Island © Monuments of industrial architecture of St. Petersburg. Stieglitz M. S., Lelina V. I., Gordeeva M. A., Kirikov B. M.
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zooming 4/5 Smithy © Monuments of industrial architecture of St. Petersburg. Stieglitz M. S., Lelina V. I., Gordeeva M. A., Kirikov B. M.
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zooming 5/5 Shipbuilding workshop © Monuments of industrial architecture of St. Petersburg. Stieglitz M. S., Lelina V. I., Gordeeva M. A., Kirikov B. M.
Fortunately, the buildings themselves are still preserved, but they can only be seen from the territory of the plant. The modern state enterprise "Admiralteyskie Verfi" occupies both islands - Novo-Admiralteisky and Galerny, as well as part of Matisov Island, where the famous mechanical and foundry plant of Ch. Byrd was located since 1792 (where, in particular, the first Russian steamer was built). A lot of metal structures and decor for buildings in St. Petersburg and other cities were also manufactured here. The most valuable of the surviving buildings of this plant are the service building (Byrd's house) and the production building with a water tower. Since 1881, the Byrd plant became the property of the joint stock company of Franco-Russian factories.
All the buildings and structures listed above are protected by the state and are magnificent examples of industrial architecture and monuments of the history of domestic shipbuilding.
The attractiveness of this area for the city is obvious. Ideas for its reconstruction were put forward by the chief technologist of the plant N. I. Dmitriev, who proposed to withdraw production and give the islands for residential development. Nowadays, the topic of transferring shipbuilding to other territories is also sometimes raised. Such proposals have not yet been implemented, since the basic economic prerequisites are not ripe for this. One thing can be said with certainty: the oldest and most valuable in historical and architectural terms part of the factory building - the first stone boathouse, a workshop and a guard house can be taken out of the factory territory without much damage to production and, together with the restored memorial church, form a museum and exhibition and a business center.
