Ilyinskaya Gora is an elevated section of the historic center of Nizhny Novgorod, situated on the upper bank in the Zapochaine district of the city. The name derives from the Church of the Prophet Elijah (Ilya-Prorok), which stood in this area. The hill forms a steep slope descending toward the Nizhniy Posad marketplace and the Nizhne-Volzhskaya Embankment.
Location and Topography
Along the edge of Ilyinskaya Gora, an Upper Embankment was proposed on multiple occasions in the nineteenth century, to feature an arched stone bridge across the ravine and descents at either end; these plans were never realized. Nagornaya Street climbs from the Nizhne-Volzhskaya Embankment up into Ilyinskaya Gora and merges with Bolshaya Ilyinskaya Street; in earlier times it served as the boundary of the Nizhniy Posad marketplace, forming its Zaryadye quarter. Uspensky Lane was vital for the internal connections of Ilyinskaya Gora's residents and was therefore preserved through all urban-planning transformations of the city in the eighteenth century.
Development of the Hillside
On the slope of Ilyinskaya Gora, along the descent toward the Nizhniy Posad gostiny dvor (trading arcade), a dense stone streetscape took shape in the first third of the nineteenth century. On 1 June 1822, peasant contractor and baked-bread merchant Ivan Savelyevich Nesterov purchased a plot of land here. To a design by architect I. Ye. Yefimov (approved 26 August 1823), he erected a three-story stone income-producing building with five windows across the main façade; the house was valued at 10,000 rubles — an enormous sum for the time. On 9 May 1832, Yefimov designed for the same owner an annex — a two-story structure on vaulted cellars with a similar architectural treatment of the façade — as well as, based on a standard pattern design, a gateway into the courtyard.
Urban-Planning Projects of the Nineteenth Century
The construction of transport descents from Ilyinskaya Gora was discussed by city authorities on numerous occasions. The plans of 1799 and 1804 envisaged cutting back the ravine's slope and laying a descent along its floor, but landslides prevented this from being carried out. The idea was revisited in 1823–1824 by A. A. Betancourt and V. I. Heste; architect I. Ye. Yefimov proposed to frame the exit of the Uspensky Descent onto Rozhdestvenskaya Street as a triumphal arch with columned porticos, but the project was rejected on grounds of cost.
Sources
Based on materials from articles (4)
The Ilyinsky Congress, Nagornaya Street, Uspensky Descent, Uspensky Lane