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The two houses located on Simanovsky St., 50 and Kozuyev St., 37 were made in the mid-19th Century and also possess some features of the "model" facade, though their decorative design rather differs from that of House No. 21 on Sverdlov street. House No. 50 attracts one's attention with its carved frieze. Created in an intricate baroque-style relief, it depicts stylized acanthus leaves and clusters of grapes alternating with rosettes. A similar carving can be found on House No. 37 on Kozuyev St., as well as on other houses built afterwards. These carvings are also indicative of being constructed in the latter half of the 19th Century. They are in the iconostasis style, and are typical of the designs, created from the craftsmen from Nekrassovskoye, in the Yaroslavl province. |
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The traditional business of the villagers was manufacturing of carved iconostasis. These craftsmen worked in many cities, including St. Petersburg, Moscow, Yaroslavl and of course Kostroma. Their craftsmanship also included the carving of window casings, and many buildings in Kostroma are graced by these designs. |
 A window casing, the middle of the 19th century (Galich) |
 A window casing, the middle of the 19th century (Parfenyevo district) |
 Avenue Prospekt Textilshikov, 44 |
 A carved window casing (Avenue Prospekt Mira, 40) |
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The frieze on House No. 50 in Simanovskiy St. was made in relief, but the window casings were sawed out in plain fretwork, in the manner quite close to the folk traditions. This discrepancy of fretwork styles on old houses is common and widespread, but the overall appearance is not one of disharmony or discord. Sometimes this difference in style is striking. House No.11 in Lenin street can serve as an example. Being small in size it was built in classical style. Its cornice is decorated with moldings and the window casing is carried out in the form of stylized strawberry, made in sawed-through technique. |
 An autographed casing (Shagov str., 13) |
 A window casing (Smolenskaya str., 27) |
 A window casing (Knyasev str., 3) |
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Quite a number of interesting specimens of wooden carving were lost because of fires and the removal of outdated structures. Thanks to many restorations, we can judge the style of Kostroma fretwork of that time, by the molding on stone structures and big specimens of carving that were preserved in other towns and villages in this province. |
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A molded frieze, under the eaves, that consists of an ornamental pattern resembling that of the branches and leaves of a tree, can be found on stone structures, throughout of the first half of the 19th Century. Several facade boards from peasant houses, decorated with ornamental patterns carrying branches and acanthus leaves, are exhibited at the wooden fretwork museum, located in the former Ipatiy Monastery, in Kostroma. |
 Fig. 1. Window casing from Barinovo village, Chukhloma district. |
We have every reason to believe that there were
plenty of wooden structures in the city that were decorated with this kind
of facade boards. It is not only bas-relief carving that can be found on
window casings, during this time, but other styles of fretwork too, including
the chiseled or hollow carving style, which was used to make semi-rosettes,
so widespread in central Russia, ( Fig. 1). Unfortunately, such window
casings are now quite rare. |
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A peasant's log cabin, of the northern style, differed
from later ones, in the way their roofs were attached. Roofs were fastened
onto samtsy (logs of house foundation) and not onto rafters. The Ershov's
house can serve as an example (Fig. 2). This house is exhibited at the
moment at the Museum of Russian Wooden Architecture in the Ipatiy Monastery. |
 Fig. 3. Window casing of Ershov's house |
The carving decoration of this cabin is traditional and rather modest. The top of the window casing in the form of gorodki ornament is typical of the folk art. It consists of some boards put one upon another in the form of steps (Fig.3). The prichelinas, boards along roof pitches on facade side, are decorated with indented ornamentation, put on plain board. It should be noted that the indented and stepped ornamentation of various configurations and styles, were widely spread in old Russian architecture in throughout the 16 th to 18 th Centuries. This ornamental pattern decorates the posts of the wooden churches of Peter and Paul in the village of Virta, Arkhangelsk Province, and in the village of Puchuga, Vologda Province (18th century). It can also be found in Kostroma houses in various versions and combinations. The house at the intersection of two streets (Deputatskaya and Borby Sts.) built in 1854 and decorated with two rows of stepped boards (Fig.4) can serve as an example. |
 A triple window casing (Avenue Prospect Textilshikov, 35) |
 Lights and darks (Lenin str., 44) |
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Another element called sun or wheel was also widely spread in central and northern Russia. It can be found on window casings on prichelinas of wooden houses and churches of the 18th Century (Fig. 5). An example can be seen in the decoration of a log cabin window, in the village of Kondratyevo, Arkhangelsk Province, dating from the late 18th Century. |
 on Ershov's house from Portyug village of Mezha district |
The Ershov's house from the village of Portyug is
the most perfect specimen of a rich peasant's log cabin. The majority of
peasants houses were poorer. An outstanding Russian writer, on the matters
of everyday life, named Pissemsky, was an eye-witness of those times. He
describes repeatedly in his books, the small homes of the lesser bourgeois,
which contained special smoke exhaust openings. These openings were a kind
of window, but were never decorated. |
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Sawed-through technique - through thread executed by a saw. The prichelinas – boards going along slopes of roofs on the part of a facade. | home | back | next | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Guest book | E-mail | |