Petropavlovsk today and 100 years ago — two absolutely different pictures. Nowadays, walking through the streets, we can see the beauty of parks and squares, flowerbed and avenues, also admire the architecture left us in heritage the merchants living here. It is known that merchants left a huge trace in the history of Petropavlovsk, having been not only «thorough» merchants in different goods, but also patrons and new openers.

In December, 1985 the fine arts — art gallery in local museum of the North Kazakhstan area was opened. In 1989, the department got independent and became the museum of the fine arts which was located in the ancient mansion in the street of 314th shooting division belonged before revolution to the merchant and the lumberman Georgy Yuzefovvich. The building is an architectural monument of wooden architecture. The collection of the museum has a large number of cloths of famous artist from Baltic, Armenia also cities such as St. Petersburg, Moscow, Almaty, Minsk, Penza, Vladivostok and many others. In the museum are shown products of national crafts which gained a huge popularity.

The carved tower of the merchant Yuzefovich is among unique objects of wooden architecture which was constructed in 1909. Up to now this «carved log hut» decorated with numerous wooden laces is peculiar «face» of our city. Despite of the fact that the building is more than 100 years old, this «tower» looks excellent. From outside it looks very beautiful and looks like small house from fairy tale, and inside we can get warmed by heat and light.

In decoration of the façade there are elements of classical modernist style «modern». The composition of the building consists of two-stored felling and adjoining one-stored. According to the plan it has T-shaped form. The main facade goes outside. Over the platform of the main façade there is the tent calotte which is ended by spike. The walls of the building are timbered.

The foundation and plinth are made of burned bricks, and the inter-floor overlaps are wooden. Different institutions occupied this building in the twenties of 20th century. The children’s home No. 1 had been located here in the first years of the Soviet power. Later there was the colony for juvenile criminals. In the 1930s — medical and other institutions. In the 50s there was a pedagogical college. In the 60-70s — schools of young workers No. 2. In 1985, the building was restored and transferred to museum union. Now it has the North Kazakhstan regional museum of the fine arts.

The building is a sample of a historical design of the country merchant town, appropriate for the beginning of the 20th century, expressed in plan complex building of residential buildings and it is architectural heritage of the city.

According to the local historian Nadezhda Kirillova in the article «Architects of the Old City», «the study of the local history in our city is rather young — fitted in the human life time — 60–70. Based on known historical conditions, architecture monuments at first were classified by political signs: the building where the city committee of Bolsheviks, governing the establishment of the Soviet power (an angle of streets of Stalin and Dzerzhinsky) was collected; the house of where there was a staff of Red guards (an angle of streets Communistic and K.Sutyushev); the building on Lenin St. where in 1917–1918 the Peter and Paul Council of workers and soldier’s deputies was located.

On the following round of the contemporary history we began to recall that these houses were belonged — to merchants, contractors and businessmen. Very famous surnames began to sound: Yuzefovich, Pirogov, Arkel and others. However, many houses already disappeared from a face of the city, as well as names of their owners from memory». Unfortunately, about many merchants living in our city did not remain any information.
Little could be told about the owner of this wonderful wooden house. Besides that this merchant was also a lumberman and loved music, about it there is practically no information. According to stories of local historians, thanks to the love to musical art, this merchant also built such house reminding itself the stiffened tune.

According to some data, Andrey Zenkov, the descendant of the well-known merchants that own leather and fat-melting plants which built Vasilyevsky church by his own financial source was the architect-designer of the house of Yuzefovich (an editor’s note around Chermushek, did not remain up to now). He worked in the city Verny (nowadays Almaty) and became the creator of set not only beautiful, but also earthquake resistant buildings.

Meanwhile, one category of local historians of our city assure that Andrey Zenkov could be the creator of this wooden house in our city, the second ones against this invention, referring to that it was never here… To prove both versions it is almost impossible therefore each of them takes place to be…

Materials provided by North Kazakhstan regional newspaper

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