#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. When the first phase of Norilsk’s construction was planned, the city was divided into small blocks. Before the official street names and house numbers were assigned, the addresses of the first residents were something like: “Gorstroy, block 9, house 10”. In 1947, the executive committee of the Norilsk settlement council approved the names of the first five streets in the modern part of Norilsk: Sevastopolskaya, Monchegorskaya, Pionerskaya, as well as Youzhnaya (Southern) and Vostochnaya (Eastern) lines. Even after this, some courtyards retained their block numbers.
For instance, the section of Monchegorskaya street (future Kirov street) shown in this 1960s photograph was referred to as blocks 17, 22, and 28, with those houses having their own separate numbering. These blocks stretched over a large area from the fire station (now there is the Cathedral of All Who Sorrow) along the stadium up to Pavlov street. These two-story houses were designed and built in the late 1940s by Norilsk architect Fyodor Usov. Interestingly, similar buildings were constructed in other areas, particularly in the Medvezhka settlement and in block 70 – the 4th Gorlag camp’s division at that time. The order clearly stated: “Approve the design of a residential building with options for camp needs adaptation”. In other words, both free and unfree Norilsk residents lived in houses of this type.
A distinctive feature of blocks 17, 22, and 28 was the arches between the houses, which served both an architectural purpose and as part of the infrastructure. These were surface water conduits, which have been replaced by underground collectors. Experts were struggling for years to properly equip collectors in the Arctic. The issue was that there was no prior experience in laying communications in permafrost conditions. The conventional method – laying pipes in underground channels – led to building subsidence, and the pipes sank into thawed sludge so deeply that they were hard to locate. One of the early solutions to warm the houses without thawing the frozen ground was to lay pipes literally in the air. Heating lines were attempted to be laid on rooftops, with arches and overpasses spanning the driveways.
The results of this engineering effort can be seen in old photographs of Kirov and Pushkin streets. However, the surface conduits significantly narrowed the driveways and hindered snow removal, and importantly, they were unsuitable for high-rise buildings. Eventually, the solution was found in well-insulated underground collectors, which are now installed beneath the dividing lawns of Norilsk’s streets.
The improvement of these two-story houses continued until the mid-1950s. Although the block plans included water supply, sewage, and indoor toilets, the houses were initially occupied without these amenities. For several years, residents complained that the toilet was in the yard and that they had to fetch water from collection points, which, due to subsidence, often ended up in pits. Over time, the houses acquired all the necessary conveniences, and Norilsk residents lived in these blocks until the area was reconstructed.
In 1979, city and plant authorities decided to reconstruct the old buildings in blocks 4, 10, 17, 22, and 28, which meant the entire even side of Kirov street up to its intersection with Pavlov street. A large nine-story neighborhood rose in place of the two-story houses. However, some of the old buildings remained until the early 1990s.
In the History Spot’s previous publication, we talked about the Stalin-era buildings in Norilsk.
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Text: Svetlana Ferapontova, Photo: Nornickel Polar Branch and Norilsk residents’ archives
