In the second half of the 1960s, Leninsky prospekt got its full length. The builders erected Ordzhonikidze and Krasnoyarskaya streets and Kotulsky proezd.
Ordzhonikidze’s name originally appeared on the Norilsk map in a completely different place. That was the name of the main highway section from Octyabrskaya Square to Gvardeiskaya one. But in 1961, the entire main street was named after Lenin, and Sergo Ordzhonikidze was left without a street at all. But the People’s Commissar of Heavy Industry (Sergo Ordzhonikidze) personally supervised Norilskstroy, and it was he who “promoted” Avraamy Zavenyagin.
To fill this gap in the Norilsk toponymy, in April 1962 the Norilsk city executive committee, meeting the wishes of the workers, decided to name a new city line running perpendicular to Leninsky prospekt after the People’s Commissar Sergo Ordzhonikidze. And the junction of Ordzhonikidze and Krasnoyarskaya streets was called Ordzhonikidze square.
Chief architect Larisa Nazarova was instructed to design the architectural ensemble of the new square, taking into account the installation of the Sergo Ordzhonikidze monument there.
Read other materials of our photo project in the History spot section.
Text: Svetlana Samokhina, Photo: Nornickel Polar Branch archive
