The Ghostly Garden City
Will the 100-year-old Krasny Prosvechenets neighborhood in Nizhny Novgorod survive the massive high-rise development?
These buildings preserve a 100-year-old baby stroller and equally centuries-old family friendships. They remember who, in the 1920s, was careless enough to plant maple trees that have now grown to an unseemly degree. What was likely the city's first garage was built here—for a captured German Hanomag automobile. They still mourn the crow painted on a wooden wall by street artist Andrei Olenev, which was destroyed three years ago along with the sheds. The sheds, erected for the convenience of residents back in 1924, destroyed by the municipality were only the beginning. Part of the "Krasny Prosveshchenets" neighborhood has been condemned to demolition and subsequent development under the Integrated Territorial Development Project (ITD). For the third time, they are planning to demolish not just unique low-rise apartment buildings with private gardens to make way for modern "candle-shaped" developments—they are destroying a piece of history, a piece of the city's history, the aura of the intelligentsia of the early 20th century.
NeMoskva investigated whether Nizhny Novgorod's material and intangible wealth can be saved.
Houses
Quarter "Krasny Prosveshchenets" (Red Enlightenment) is a collection of 14 wooden and two brick buildings, designed within the boundaries of Ashkhabadskaya, Belinsky, Genkina, and Tverskaya Streets. In 1921, the Central Executive Committee of the USSR authorized housing cooperatives, and three years later, the first housing cooperative, "Obyedinenie," was established. It later became known as "Red Enlightener"The houses were built by representatives of the Soviet intelligentsia.
Each building contains four three-room apartments on the first and second floors, and each building has a small garden adjacent to it. This residential complex is described as one of the first Soviet attempts to build a garden city.
The quarter was built according to the design of the young architect Boris Grinev. He won the all-Union architectural competition for the creation of a workers' settlement in 1925.
The first buildings—Nos. 12 and 14 on Tverskaya Street—appeared fairly quickly, by 1927. There had been plans to build houses on the vacant lot back in the late 19th century, but the project never materialized.
In the photo: 1. The block today, 2. House No. 25 on Nevzorovykh Street, 1950s, website "Krasny Ensvechenets"
People
The Krasny Enlightenment was home to prominent and respected citizens: the Agafonov family of architects (Leonid Agafonov oversaw the housing cooperative), Gorky's chief surgeon, David Zavelgelsky, actor Leonid Kulagin, the chief designer of the Lenin Plant, Boris Uvyatkin, the director of the Kashirin House, Alexander Sigorsky, and, according to legend, even Prince Golitsyn, under an assumed name, after the Revolution. Every house in the small neighborhood on Nevzorov Street housed doctors of science and professors.
In the photo: The Agafonov family (photo muzeiagafonova.ru)
The first to move into the houses were teachers from the agricultural and pedagogical institutes (hence the “Red Enlightener”).
The neighborhood is now home to distant relatives of one of the cooperative's original members, accountant Mikhail Artemyev; Alexander Lushin, a Nizhny Novgorod Prize laureate, Honored Veteran of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, PhD in Law, and honorary member of the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Studies Society; psychiatrist Alexander Pershin; and Natalya Glebova, Leonid Kulagin's former neighbor. She found childhood photographs of the actor, and the authors of a research project about "Krasny Enlightenment" sent them to Kulagin. He responded:
"I was simply stunned! This was over 50 years ago! Thanks again! I didn't expect this! Just think: Belinsky 37, apartment 2. Crazy!!!"
Museum workers, doctors, engineers, local historians, and teachers continue to live in the apartments of the two-story buildings. Descendants of the architect Agafonov also remain in their native neighborhood.
In the photo: David Zavelgelsky, Leonid Kulagin (photo from open sources), Alexander Sigorsky (photo from fanariot.medium.com)
Value
"The architectural highlight of the neighborhood is wooden constructivism. This architectural style emerged in the 1920s, but stone buildings were built in it. 'Krasny Prosveshchenets' is a unique bridge between pre-revolutionary architecture and Soviet constructivism. Wooden buildings had already ceased to be built by then." — explained the urban researcher and co-author research project about the neighborhood, organizer of the Nizhny Novgorod excursion project "City Expeditions" Ira Maslova.
The buildings' value lies not in the number of decorations on the buildings or in their architectural forms, but in their design—coziness, convenience, yet spacious apartments and landscaped grounds. A true "garden city" in a single location.
"Just imagine: it's 1928, people are crammed into small rooms. The opportunity to build a house like this arises—and suddenly you're the owner of a 50-square-meter apartment with a veranda and your own five-acre garden!" celebratingem another feature of the quarter, co-author of the project Ksenia Zobnina.
A modern city dweller, surrounded by endless construction sites, might wonder what's so unique about this. In the 1920s, virtually nothing was built in the country—there was no time for it. And if initiatives to build anything did arise, it was exclusively for the working class, not the intelligentsia.
In the photo: 1. The quarter today, 2. The location of the houses of the "Red Enlightenment" ("Reporter-NN")
Past
According to statistics,After the revolution, there were 5 square meters of housing per capita. The goal was to provide every city dweller with at least 9 square meters. In this context, the "Red Enlightenment" apartments, with 55 square meters for a family of, say, parents and three children, and with 500 square meters of land, were considered a luxury.
Construction proceeded with difficulty: materials were in short supply, and they had to be bought from speculators at inflated prices. In 1926, a flood damaged the building materials warehouses. The first buildings were finally completed in 1927.
The local press wrote about it like this: "On the outskirts of the city, not far from the abandoned Petropavlovsk Cemetery, the housing association "Obyedinenie" has completed construction of two buildings. This is the first step. Now, four more buildings are under construction next to the occupied new buildings. The buildings are of the same type: each building is designed to house four apartments, each with three rooms."
In December 1928, eight more buildings were completed. All had running water, sewerage systems, and sheds and cellars in the courtyards. In addition to the "private" square meters (areas) each apartment had, there was also a shared courtyard area where people spent evenings, played soccer and volleyball, and even had a skating rink in the winter.
Over time, housing cooperatives began to be criticized: allegedly, they “have an unhealthy bias.”
"The main drawback is that cooperatives try their best to obtain as many loans as possible, but do not care about the possibility of their repayment, collect share contributions poorly, and strive to involve members more, promising cheap apartments despite the fact that construction is still expensive.", — stated the newspaper Nizhegorodskaya Kommuna.
In 1937, by a special decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, all housing cooperatives were liquidated "as a manifestation of bourgeois private property, incompatible with the high status of Soviet citizen and communist morality."
"Krasny Ensveshchenets" ceased to be a cooperative and was transferred to the housing stock of local councils of deputies and workers.
In the 1960s, the buildings underwent their first and only major renovation: stove heating was replaced with gas, bathrooms were added, and a kindergarten was built on part of the property.
In the photo: 1. Cleaning the territory, 1959, 2. Public space, 3. On the street near the "Red Enlightenment" (archive of N.G. Glebova)
Real
The issue of demolishing the neighborhood was raised back in 1983, and residents defended it. In the 2000s, the neighborhood was again slated for demolition and subsequent development. With the help of publicity and the courts, the buildings were once again saved.
In 2010, the block underwent a land survey—red lines cut off not only green courtyards, but also, for some reason, some rooms in apartments, making the land and some of the real estate municipal property.
In 2021, Krasny Ensveshchenets was declared a pilot site for the program. MCT — this includes demolition, relocation of residents to other apartments, and construction of new buildings. Residents' votes for and against were split roughly evenly. The majority ultimately favored those who defend the block from demolition.
Pictured: The Krasny Enlightenment development project (Institute for the Development of Agglomerations of the Nizhny Novgorod Region)
The unknown
To protect their historic neighborhood from demolition, residents requested that it be included in the register of cultural heritage sites, as it is an example of atypical early Soviet development and has been preserved almost in its original form. The neighborhood has already been recognized as a designated cultural heritage site.
To confirm this status, the regional State Protection Service of Cultural Heritage ordered a historical and cultural examination. Expert Anna Malysheva did not reveal The neighborhood's values were examined and a negative response was given. Among the surprising arguments cited were the following: the buildings were constructed according to a standard design, some of the green spaces were in poor condition, and unauthorized fences had appeared within the neighborhood for nearly 100 years.
Residents ordered another, independent examination. Specialists Mikhail Milchik, Irina Golubeva и Elena Zubova concluded that the quarter clearly has historical and cultural value.
"The complex, which has survived to this day, is a genuine source of information on the socio-economic trends, dynamics, and methods of urban transformation in Nizhny Novgorod in the first half of the 20th century. The complex's urban structure is valuable in terms of history, architecture, urban planning, aesthetics, and social culture. The complex bears witness to the continuous development of culture and is intended to influence the development of adjacent neighborhoods in terms of scale and proportions, as well as stylistic techniques for shaping a modern urban environment within the local area of Nizhny Novgorod." — among other things, it was noted in the expert opinion.
Photo: Kvartal "Krasny Ensvechenets" group on VK
Experts recommended preserving Krasny Prosveshchenets's landmark status. This designation allows for renovations and reconstruction of buildings while maintaining their basic features.
The Regional State Protection Service of Cultural Heritage did not accept this assessment and organized another one. According to it conclusionsThe buildings are typical, the block is not unique, and "no valuable historical, cultural, artistic, urban planning, architectural, or other features of the settlement environment have been identified." The block also cannot be considered a landmark, according to the findings of the same expert review. It was conducted by specialists from Kazan: a historian and lawyer. Albert Salyakhov and an architect Naila Khafizova.
Researchers from Krasny Enlightenment called the third examination “an outright hoax” and I emphasizewhether: "The authors of this negative assessment—Khafizova and Salyakhov—are significantly less qualified than the authors of the previous positive assessment—Milchik, Golubeva, and Zubova. The former are officials with 15 years of experience, while the latter are art historians with 50 years of experience."
Opinions
Regarding the fate of the neighborhood and their future lives, residents were divided into three groups: those in favor of demolishing the neighborhood and relocating "anywhere"; those against demolition—those in favor of preserving the neighborhood in its historical form; and those in favor of relocation under decent conditions—to housing in the same area, or decent compensation that would allow them to buy an apartment of similar size near Krasny Ensveshchenets.
For example, the Roman Stroganov expressed for a complete "cleansing" of the block:
"I grew up here, and I've been waiting for this resettlement my whole life. Housing preservation activists approached me. They asked my opinion, and I said yes, I can't wait for the resettlement. I don't want to live here, and I'm sure many people who live in these buildings would feel the same way. My principled position is to tear down all these wooden buildings and build high-quality, low-rise housing here that will fit harmoniously into the center of a modern city."
The same opinion is held Svetlana Shchepanova, a resident of a house located outside the historic district:
"The houses are burnt out, boarded up, half uninhabitable. And the people who live there want to leave as soon as possible. There are many such people. We collected signatures, 116 people signed, but that's not all; many simply don't live in these houses because the conditions are terrible. We couldn't find them; they would definitely have signed for integrated development of the area, for demolition. Because under the terms of the KRT, we all get housing, not the paltry handouts in the form of compensation that are currently being offered for resettlement. So we are for the KRT."
KRT supporters collected 116 signatures in favor of developing the area and submitted them to the Ministry of Urban Development and the designers.
In the photo: 1. Landscaping after a housewarming, 1928, 2. Sheds, 1950s
The owner of an apartment in Krasny Ensveshchenets Natalia agree move, but not to the middle of nowhere:
"Some were ready to move quickly and anywhere, while others wanted to stay here forever. Our family falls into neither category. It would be fine for us to stay and leave, but under decent conditions. The law stipulates that in such cases, housing conditions must be improved. Of course, we don't want to move to the middle of nowhere. We'd like to stay in the city center. I walk everywhere from here."
Pensioner Veronica Mikhailovna I don't agree to move:
"I was born in this house. I've lived here for over 80 years. My parents lived here too. We had chickens, cows, and a goat. Everything is still the same. Even the gardens are still the same. And next to them were potato fields. Now this is the last corner of happiness. Only here can residents rushing past to work get a breath of fresh air. Everything is always blooming here."
Her neighbor agrees with her. Alexander Andreevich:
"If they demolish us, and even if Putin personally tries to help us do something, he won't be able to. We live in such a place! Look! We live in the city center, like in a dacha. In the summer, we have a real park here. There won't be a better place than this. It's impossible. Any place will be worse."
Opponents of the demolition—residents of 12 buildings—voted to exclude the neighborhood from the KRT program. "Krasny Prosveshchenets" will not be demolished to make way for development. For now.
Last Chance
If the block is not given protected status now, it may still be demolished in the future, — Ira Maslova is sure. — We still have a chance to have the neighborhood recognized as a cultural heritage site. If this is denied now, a second attempt will be impossible.
Residents have sent over 250 letters to the Nizhny Novgorod Region State Heritage Protection Department requesting that Krasny Prosveshchenets be granted protected status. A decision has not yet been made.
The Tom Sawyer Fest activists are planning to fence off the block, and already put things in order within the area, especially in the gardens.
Six buildings on Genkina Street, adjacent to the historic quarter, will be demolished. An equal number of 14-story buildings will be built in their place.
In the photo: Leonid Kulagin as a child (from the archive of N.G. Glebova), in the title photo: Members of a housing cooperative, housewarming, 1928
