#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. When Talnah was built, housing was, of course, in the foreground. Indeed, in the 1960s and even 1970s, Talnah residents, while waiting their turn for a comfortable apartment, lived in tiny mobile houses, barracks and even tents.

Therefore, in Talnah, as well as in Norilsk, they tried to kill two birds with one stone: they erected residential buildings, and on their first floors they placed household amenities necessary for the population. On Taimyrskaya street, in house No. 4, for example, there was Pelmennaya (they coocked dumplings there); on Taimyrskaya, 28, there was a home cookery Talnashka; in house No. 16 there was the famous dining room No. 2 – everything for residents of the surrounding houses and hostels to eat well without need to cook at home. For the little residents of Taimyrskaya street there was a dairy kitchen in house No. 30. House No. 32, successively, housed a library, a bookstore, and then an atelier. At Taimyrskaya, 22, there was first a children’s clinic, and then a pharmacy. In house No. 26, which we can see in the old photograph, there was a savings bank, a post office and a telephone exchange. In the neighboring house No. 32, first there was Goods for Children – everything was sold there, from clothes to toys – and then the Taimyrsky department store.

In 1972, when first Talnah streets were named, this square was called Sovetskaya. But the name did not stick, and since 2002 they called it Miners’ square. Initially, the architects wanted this place to be a park, or rather a piece of forest. But in the city center there was a greater need for building space – and the park turned into a square. City fairs were held there, a New Year tree was erected there in winter, in the 1980s there was an industrial-looking stele with the slogan “Workers of all countries, unite!” And in the 2000s, fountains appeared one after another.
But the main objects of Miners’ square are sports facilities. In December 1980, a standard BOKMO building (service block for Komsomol and youth hostels), better known to Talnah residents as the House of Sports, was put into operation. And in December 1982, the Volna swimming pool building with two baths was put into operation nearby. At first these were separate sports facilities aimed at recreation for miners and therefore set under the mining department’s jurisdiction. Since 2003, they have united into the Talnah sports complex.

This very interesting photograph documents the construction process of 2A microdistrict in Talnah. The photo shows the summer of 1974. This is easy to determine: in the foreground, instead of four hostels on Gornyakov street, there are only three. All of them were built in 1974, but the last one – Gornyakov, 4 – was just laid and would be completed by the end of the year. The standard building on Gornyakov street, 12, was not built yet. It would be commissioned in 1976, and first it would be the Red Stones restaurant, and later, in the early 1980s, the House of Clothes. You can also see the construction process of the fire department building and the outpatient hospital complex on Maslov street: a hospital with 200 beds and a clinic with 500 visits per shift would also be completed in 1976. The picture still does not include two high-rise buildings on Maslov street and a whole row of improved-plan houses on Fedorovsky street. The latter would be built only in 1989–1991.

Another photo documenting the construction process. This is the Talnah public bathhouse being built on Stroiteley street, 14. The building for 100 seats was designed back in 1977. But the construction was completed and put into operation only in November 1982.

And another building well known to Talnah residents: the now famous cafe, and originally the Tavern beer hall, on Stroiteley street, 17a. The building was decorated in a nautical style, even on the street, at the entrance there was a huge ship’s anchor. In the mid-1980s, the beer pavilion was closed for reconstruction; the building was completely rotten. But they could not determine its future fate, what new function it should perform. They wanted to turn it into an ice cream parlor. Then there was the intention to place a youth center for miners in the pavilion. While they were deciding, repair shops were located there for some time.
In the previous History Spot’s publication, we talked about the Talnah first boiler house, first school, first restaurant and the bus station.
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Text: Svetlana Ferapontova, Photo: archives of Norilsk residents, the Nornickel’s Polar Branch’s archive, Alexander Haritonov