Genesis of Wooden Architecture in Yeniseisk in the Context of the Catastrophic Town Fire in 1869

Abstract

The article is about the consequences of the fire in 1869 in Yeniseisk (Krasnoyarsk Territory) basis on a comprehensive study of wooden buildings (70 monuments of wooden architecture) via historical, historicalarchitectural and dendrochronological methods. A paired analysis of various sources showed that: officially dates in passports and electronic databases are scattered and inaccurate; the dendrochronology method allowed us to date buildings before and after fire planning of Yeniseisk. As a result, four construction periods of wooden architecture were found: 1) “pre-fire” - I quarter. XIX century. (8 % of buildings) – five-wall small houses and six-walls on a high glazed basement under the hip roof with elements of folk architecture and classicism; 2) "post-fire" 70-80 years of XIX century. (54 % of buildings) - high eclectic houses often on a stone basement with a glazed loggia, a truss hip roof with a gable pediment on the edge of the house, large windows with brightly decorated platbands; 3) the end of XIX (22 % of buildings) - generally administrative buildings and fairly democratic two-story houses with glazed edges, the decor is less bright; 4) the first quarter of the XXth century (16 % of the buildings) – single-storeyed mansions with elegant sawn decoration of the cornice and trims. Thus, the obtained unique information allowed us to understand the nature of planning before and after the fire of Yeniseisk. The results of the article will be useful to historians, cultural scientists, architects, archaeologists, as well as anyone interested in the history of Siberia and the city of Yeniseisk.