#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. Pionerskaya and Sevastopolskaya streets shared the title of the first streets of the new Norilsk, along with the first real “city” house. This three-story building was built on the corner of these streets, and each one took one wing for itself. According to legend, two brigades built it, competing in speed. Those who built the “pioneer” part won: in July 1942, new settlers moved in. This is how one of them, Vladimir Lebedinsky, recalled that house.
“Nowadays, not a single builder would think of presenting such apartments to the commission. This house was called The House with All Inconveniences. Unpainted floors, no plumbing, no sewerage, no heating, no electrical wiring, no radio, no telephones, no bathtubs, no toilets, no sinks, no bells, no locks – bare walls and nothing else! But no one expressed displeasure. There was not enough housing, many lived in barracks, and the inconveniences, by the way, were not the main ones. The city was built far from production, and residents had to walk to work. It was especially difficult for miners. They had to travel six or seven kilometers uphill in the morning and evening, in any weather. Imagine frosts below 50 and a snowstorm with a wind of 40 meters per second, in the polar night, and you will understand that the lack of hot water and sewerage in the apartment, lighting with a kerosene lamp is not the worst evil!”
This first corner house has not survived, now in its place there are two nine-story buildings: Bogdan Hmelnitsky street, 5, and Sevastopolskaya street, 5. But to this day, the second oldest building is considered one of the most beautiful buildings in the city – Bogdan Hmelnitsky, 1. From Norilsk residential houses it is the oldest one today. The newspaper For Metal wrote on January 1, 1947: “In December, the construction of the first five-story building in Norilsk with 240 residential rooms was completed. New streets have appeared – Monchegorskaya and Pionerskaya.” House No. 1 has a complex configuration and architecture: one part has five floors, the other has four. But when the house was built, there were only two- and three-story buildings around it, and against their background it seemed like a real giant palace. And it was this house that gave the street its first name – Pionerskaya. In the basement where the Polar Art Residence is now located, the House of Pioneers was originally based. In 1952, a new building was built for it at Komsomolskaya street, 10. After the House of Pioneers moved, the old name lost its original meaning, and the authorities decided to rename the street. Old Norilsk residents came to the defense of the old name, saying that pioneers are also pioneers of the Arctic, not only members of ideological organization. But this did not help, and in 1953 the street got the name of Bohdan Hmelnytsky.
Another interesting building that has been preserved on Bogdan Hmelnitsky street since the 1950s and is familiar to all Norilsk residents since childhood is the Priroda (eng.: Nature) pet shop. But at first it was a commission, then furniture shop. True, it was so small that large-sized goods had to be stored in a tent in the yard. There were several such small one-story shops built according to a similar design in the area. One twin of Priroda – Bread and Milk – stood on Kirov street, the other – the Dudinsky shop – in the 17th quarter, and in the third – the city film library was stored. Most of these buildings were demolished back in the 1980s during the reconstruction of the area, but Priroda was lucky to survive to this day.
The inhabitants of those first Norilsk houses had a difficult life at first: there was no water or sewerage, electricity or heating. The kitchens had stoves that were heated with coal. At first, water had to be brought from standpipes, and sometimes even carried from lake Dolgoye. It is not surprising that, soon after construction, the sanitary department ordered utility workers to increase the lighting of the entrances, clear the stairs of ice and cement, tidy up the street restrooms, clean the area and “attach a janitor to the house.”
The surviving Stalinist era houses of Bogdan Hmelnitsky street, although not considered architectural monuments, are part of the historical, “author’s” part of Norilsk. Their first and basement floors, as was often the case in Norilsk, carried a public load. Initially, these houses had designed as bomb shelters, about which city stories were told – either about underground passages connecting the houses, or about cells for prisoners behind heavy metal doors. Over time, public organizations found shelter in the former bomb shelters: the city DOSAAF committee, a radio school and a driving school, a society for the deaf, and a service dog breeding club. Bogdan Hmelnytsky street also had its own “delicious” attractions – for example, the Shokoladnitsa cafe, which later became the Golden Cockerel grill bar, or the Sausage store, also known as Impulse.
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Text: Svetlana Ferapontova, Photo: Nornickel Polar Branch archive
