To the east, the square opened — as it does today — onto a wide avenue leading to the Upper Embankment, or the Volga Otkos. Four streets began from Blagoveschenskaya Square in the southerly direction: Tikhanovskaya (still unrenamed Ulyanova Street), Varvarskaya Street, Alekseevskaya Street, and to the west — Bolshaya Pokrovskaya, Zelensky Congress, and the so-called Zelenskaya Terrace.
Description
In the words of the well-known Nizhny Novgorod local historian of the century before last, Nikolai Khramtsovsky: "It would be rare to encounter in provincial capitals a square like this: all the buildings surrounding it are of stone and very fine, especially the gymnasium and the public house, the first of which faces not only the square but also Tikhanovskaya and Varvarskaya Streets. It has three stories in the center, crowned by a belvedere for meteorological observations; its architecture is simple but elegant. The public house is arranged on the square and along Alekseevskaya Street in three stories, and along Pokrovskaya in two: the first and second floors are occupied by shops, while the upper floor contains residential rooms; the second floor is enclosed by an arcaded gallery; the residential rooms house the Civil Court chamber, the Construction Commission, the District and Zemstvo courts, and the Craft Office. The shops on the Pokrovskaya Street side sell tea, sugar, groceries, harness goods, and porcelain; those on the Alekseevskaya side sell partly grain goods and the same as from the Pokrovka side. On the square side, the shops are almost all occupied with the storage of goods."
But the most remarkable building on Blagoveschenskaya Square — and in the entire city — Khramtsovsky names the Bugrov House (the present-day Palace of Labor): "It has three stories, with two balconies — one facing Pokrovka, the other facing the square, beneath which a carriage entrance has been arranged. Both balconies and the entrance are adorned with bronze railings. The architecture of this house is extraordinarily light and graceful, reminiscent of the manner of Count Rastrelli." The building was constructed to a design by the Nizhny Novgorod architect N. I. Uzhumetsky-Gritsevich.
On Blagoveschenskaya Square, in the house of the merchant Volkov, there was a post station with a hotel and Ostatoshnikov's shop "with ladies' goods and certain accessories of gentlemen's toilette," as well as tobacco and cigars. The house of the commercial councillor's widow Perepletchikova contained the hotel of the merchant Lopashev and a shop "with broadcloth and fashionable goods" belonging to the merchant Bryzgalov. Across from the post office stood light hackney carriages.
On the square stood two churches — the Blagoveschensky Cathedral and the Church of Metropolitan Alexius — which filled the space at its center. Here, in the very heart of the city, life bustled from morning until late at night. As early as 1812, Konstantin Batyushkov described the life of Nizhny Novgorod residents of that time thus: "Instead of strolling along handsome boulevards, they thronged the city square amid travelling carriages and peasant carts; settling wherever Providence allowed, they organized boisterous gatherings, balls, and masquerades."
In the late nineteenth century, on the site of the present-day café in the square's garden stood a bronze monument to Emperor Alexander II. (Its pedestal was in our time converted into a monument to those who died of wounds in hospitals during the Great Patriotic War, now located in the cemetery at Maryin Roshcha.) Next to the monument, also on the territory of the present garden, stood the Church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Mother of God, which gave the main square of Nizhny its name. Old photographs show a small shop attached to the left side of the church, with signs reading "Wallpaper" and "Wallpaper and Crockery Shop." This was apparently typical of a square where large regular markets were held — hence the second name, Verkhnebazarnaya (Upper-Market) Square. On the site of the stone Blagoveschenskaya Church there once stood a wooden church dedicated to the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki, built as early as 1378 by Grand Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich. In 1866, the worn roof and dome tiles were replaced with white sheet iron, and the church looked as though it had just been built.
The building now housing the history faculty of Lobachevsky University once contained the Rossiya Hotel, where, among others, Vladimir Mayakovsky stayed.
The building now occupied by the Pedagogical University housed the provincial gymnasium, where the father of Lenin both taught and lived — and where, it is said, Lenin was conceived. Among the gymnasium's pupils at various times were the noted Nizhny Novgorod public figure and local historian Alexander Gatsiskiy and the revolutionary terrorist Yakov Sverdlov. During the Soviet years the gymnasium building "grew" — two additional floors were added.
On the spot where the fountain now stands, a hundred years ago stood the Alekseevskaya Church, which gave its name to the street radiating from Blagoveschenskaya Square. The church was built in 1641 in memory of the city's deliverance from the plague "by the common vow of all the Nizhny Novgorod town and merchant people." Over time the wooden church fell into disrepair, and a stone one was later erected in its place.
Demolition of the Orthodox Churches on the Square
In 1928, the plenum of the Nizhny Novgorod City Council resolved to demolish both churches on the city's main square. After lengthy disputes and deliberations between Glavnauka (the Main Science Directorate) and the municipal authorities of the time, a decision to demolish them was reached. In 1929 the Alekseevskaya Church was destroyed, and in 1930 the Blagoveschenskaya Church followed.