#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. Almost all of these points, however, were built into the first floors of residential buildings. There is still a legend going around: they say, they did it on purpose so that the Norilsk people in winter could go shopping all over Leninsky through the stores and not get cold. In fact, the authorities got out of the situation this way, because the money was given only for the construction of residential buildings.
Here is how the chief architect of Norilsk, Larisa Nazarova, spoke about this:
“It was necessary to take care of the development of culture and a variety of leisure activities, and these are sports, and theatrical and entertainment facilities, restaurants, cafes, a network of house kitchens with culinary close to residential buildings inside microdistricts. It was very difficult to implement these plans, since the money was allocated only for housing.
As a way out, they began to design them built into residential buildings, but the builders did not complete the first floors by the deadline, leaving them “until better times”, reporting on the number of housing commissioned.
Through various tricks, with the support of the Norilsk combine authorities, it was necessary to seek additional funds. But the built-in shops along Leninsky prospect remained unfinished for a long time.
These difficulties, which arose through the fault of the planning authorities, were experienced in all cities until the order of the State Construction Committee was issued, which did not allow the commissioning of houses without a built-in first floor and landscaping”.
The first restaurant in Norilsk was opened when the city was still a forced labor camp. The first stand-alone building for public catering – first a dining room, and then the Krasnoyarsk Pillars restaurant – was built in 1963, at the end of Leninsky prospect. And again, the city leadership had to look for the way out: they allegedly built a club for neighboring hostels, and not a canteen for the city.
In the History Spot’s previous publication, we told how the Norilsk people learned to collect and take out waste in the conditions of the Far North and when two-story brick garbage houses appeared in Norilsk.
Follow us on Telegram, VKontakte.
Text: Svetlana Ferapontova, Photo: Nornickel Polar Branch archive
