At the crossroads there are towering buildings representing the reference buildings of the Soviet era, which surprisingly organically fit into the old city face. At the corner of Lenin and Gorky streets there is the famous Irkutsk “house with a trunk” built in 1950 according to the project of E.F. Yanko. Here lived the main artist of Irkutsk in 1970s and the author of the memorial “Eternal Flame” V.G. Smagin. Opposite on the left the house in which she spent the last years of her life People’s Artist of the RSFSR G.A. Kramova. On the other side of the crossroads there is another magnificent monument of Soviet architecture – a house buit in 1948 according to the project of A.S. Butenko, where lived until his death the famous poet-ethnographer A.S. Olkhon (Pestyukhin).
Poet-ethnographer A.S. Olkhon (Pestyukhin)
Gorky Street
The next thing that attracts our attention is the monument to the five-time nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature M. Gorky, established in 1984 on the left in a small square. Nearby is the “Radiohouse” – one of the most bizarre buildings of the Soviet era in Irkutsk, consisting of parts made at different times in more than half a century, but united into a single complex thanks to the talented architect N.N. Belyakov in 1982.
Radiohouse
On the other side of the road are the buildings of the Baikal State University, which opened in Irkutsk in 1930. They are adjoined by a small park, organized here in 2011 and named after Shigeki Mori – the permanent mayor of the Japanese town of Neagari, Ishikawa province, which has twinning relations with the city Shelekhov – an industrial neighbour of Irkutsk. Also he was this mayor who initiated the twinning relationship between Irkutsk and the Japanese city of Kanazawa in 1967.
Park named after Shigeki Mori
After the park, the first wooden house on the right side of the street belonged to a member of the Irkutsk judicial chamber M.S. Stravinsky and served as the building of the vice-consulate of Belgium in Irkutsk from 1914 to 1920. Moreover, the owner of the mansion himself became the first ambassador.
On the same side of the street, at the crossroads, you can see the estate of the mayor V.V. Zharnikov, who went down in history as the creator of the first water supply system in Irkutsk in 1905. An old sculpture “Boy with a Swan” is hiding in the garden which surrounding the house.
Mayor V.V. Zharnikov
On the opposite side of the street there is a small square with a monument to the first modern governor of Irkutsk Y.A. Nozhikov, which was installed in honour of the 75th anniversary of the Irkutsk region in 2012 to replace the sculpture of a dragon that appeared at this place since 2007. It is interesting that earlier this was the place where the bust of M. Gorky was located, until it was destroyed by vandals in 1963.
Monument to the first modern governor of Irkutsk Y.A. Nozhikov
Continuing along this street, on the left we notice two more buildings in the brutalist style, belonging to the talent of V.A. Pavlov. Opposite to them the building of the gynaecological clinic. Further, on the other side of the road, the walls of the famous “House of the Pilots”, created on this place in 1936, where lived the pilot and Hero of Socialist Labour I.N. Sharov (flew over 17 thousand hours). The headquarters of the Central Air Communications Agency is still located here. At the entrance, a few years ago, it was possible to see columns made from gravestones from the Old Jerusalem cemetery.
Closes the Gorky Street “House of Science and Technology” built in 1955 according to the project of N. А. Sergeev on the site of the former passage of A.F. Vtorov, which since 1897 occupied the corner of the block along this street and was considered one of the largest stores in Irkutsk. This richest merchant was the founder of the first “supermarkets” in Russia. His passages were located in all major cities of Russia from Petersburg to Sretensk. Here lived for many years the youngest of two sons of this merchant – Alexander. Unfortunately, the passage completely burned out in December 1917 during the battles on the streets of Irkutsk.
Passage of A.F. Vtorov
Labour Square
We turn left and run into Labour Square, the main dominant of which is the circus building, built in 1964. Irkutsk became the first city in Siberia and on Far East where such a building appeared. Irkutsk residents are longtime fans of such performances. The first circus troupe of a certain Mikoletto visited the city back in 1795, and a permanent wooden building appeared on Tikhvin Square thanks to the Italian entrepreneur Soulier in 1868.
Earlier, starting from the 1780s, this place was occupied by Ivanovskaya Square with trading rows of Melochny (“Trivial”) Bazaar, where people traded mainly in agricultural goods brought from the villages. Behind the circus building, you can still see the shops of the Old City Public Administration, which have been occupied by a mica factory since 1929 (now Sverdlova Str., 41).
Trading rows of Melochny (“Trivial”) Bazaar
Here from the house of the merchant V.A. Ostapin on June 22, 1879, the Great Fire began, which destroyed the best part of Irkutsk. The flames blazed for three days and swallowed up the entire city center. Burnt out 75 blocks with 105 stone and 3418 wooden buildings. The fire took away practically all public, educational and state institutions, many temples, museum; also destroyed the entire city archive with unique documents.
Map of the Great Fire in Irkutsk
However, one of the oldest buildings in Irkutsk is still preserved on the other side of the square – the building of the hotel “Moscow Courtyard” created in 1821 at the expense of the merchant N.P. Trapeznikov, and donated to the city for free use of the City Court in 1887 by his grand-nephew, which already known to us as V.P. Sukachev. The justice authorities are here to this day.
Moscow Courtyard
At the end of the ensemble of the square, the building of the central telegraph, built in 1932 by the architect N.N. Baikov. It is located on the site of the former house of I. A. Nemchinov, where in November 1903 the main telegraph office of Irkutsk was transferred. Today the representative office of OJSC “Rostelecom” is located here.
Main telegraph office of Irkutsk
There is an illuminated fountain in the center of the square. Earlier in its place was located one of the most picturesque stone chapels of Irkutsk – in the name of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God. It was installed here in 1892 by the architect V.A. Kudelsky at the expense of the Irkutsk industrialist and philanthropist A.M. Sibiryakov.
Chapel in the name of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God
Noteworthy