The Nazaryevsky Refuge was a charitable institution for homeless children that operated in Nizhny Novgorod from 1907 to 1918. It was housed in a purpose-built three-story building on Verkhne-Zhivosnosnaya Street (now Kozhevennaya Street) beside the Church of the Life-Giving Spring in Nizhny Novgorod. The institution served children from the city's poorest quarter — the Nizhny Bazar district, known popularly as "Millyonka," whose inhabitants lived on seasonal wages and alms.[1]
History of establishment
In late 1901, Nizhny Novgorod bishop Nazary initiated the creation of a parish welfare board attached to the Church of the Life-Giving Spring, located below the The Kremlin. The board's purpose was to assist the needy poor, above all children. Its members included merchants of the Nizhny Bazar — A. A. Akhapkin, the brothers N. O. and I. O. Okulov, and others.[1]
In the spring of 1902, Baron O. O. Buksgevden, a member of the Committee of the Chief Board of Children's Asylums under the Department of Institutions of Empress Maria, arrived from Saint Petersburg. After acquainting himself with the situation of the homeless children of "Millyonka," he recommended at a meeting held at the bishop's residence that a dedicated children's refuge be established, with instruction in trades. Representatives of the Zhivosnosnaya parish welfare board undertook to carry out this idea.[1]
In September 1902, the Nizhny Novgorod City Council Executive Board granted the welfare board a plot of land on Verkhne-Zhivosnosnaya Street for the construction of the refuge building and a parish school. On 29 September of that same year, a ceremonial foundation-laying took place. The design was prepared by diocesan architect A. K. Nikitin. Construction was funded exclusively through charitable donations from Nizhny Novgorod merchants and parishioners of the Zhivosnosnaya Church. The Russo-Japanese War reduced the flow of donations and slowed construction: the shell of the building was completed by 1904, but it was not fully finished until early 1906. More than a year was then spent equipping the institution. The total construction cost amounted to approximately 18,000 rubles.[1]
The formal opening of the refuge and parish school took place on 26 August 1907; the consecration of the building was performed by Bishop Nazary. Although the refuge had 30 beds, only 12 young children were initially admitted, supported by funds from benefactors including the bishop himself.[1]
Activities and fate
After Bishop Nazary was transferred in 1910 to the Poltava diocese, the Zhivosnosnaya parish welfare board petitioned for the refuge to be named after him in recognition of the bishop's contribution — and so the institution received the name "Nazaryevsky."[1]
By May 1917, the number of residents had grown to 60, the majority being children of soldiers called up for military service. As early as February 1914, the Nizhny Novgorod City Board had approved design drawings for an extension to the building, but the First World War prevented it from being carried out. In 1918, all immovable property of the Zhivosnosnaya Church — including the clergy house and the Nazaryevsky Refuge building — was nationalized.[1]
Architectural description
The three-story building of the former refuge was constructed in the "brick style" — a rationalist tendency in Russian architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, characteristic of industrial, warehouse, and government buildings. The façade is asymmetrical: a gabled pediment — the sole architectural accent — is shifted to the left of the building's axis. The sparse decoration is achieved entirely through cut red brick. To the right of the three-story section, single-story red-brick outbuildings adjoin the main structure. The 1914 extension project called for raising the single-story section to three stories and giving the building a symmetrical appearance by adding a second gabled pediment; the axis of symmetry was to be emphasized by an Art Nouveau–style attic. The Church of the Life-Giving Spring, to which the refuge was attached, was demolished during the Soviet period.[1]
Current condition
The building at Kozhevennaya Street, 4 has survived to the present day. In October 2023, six bronze sculptures of late-19th-century figures were installed on Kozhevennaya Street: a merchant at a samovar, a yard-keeper, a wanderer named Luka, a knife-grinder, a fishwife, and street children from the Nazaryevsky Refuge. The sculptures were created by Nizhny Novgorod sculptor Aleksey Shchitov.[2]
Sources
- opentextnn.ru — Davydov A. I. The Nazaryevsky Refuge (Nizhny Novgorod, Kozhevennaya Street, 4) — OPEN TEXT
- Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Photos of the new bronze 19th-century residents of Kozhevennaya Street in Nizhny Novgorod published