The role of boarding houses in the urban housing system funds of Moscow at the turn of the XIX–XX centuries

Orchakova Larisa Gennadievna ORCID: 0000-0001-9559-9930 Doctor of History Professor; Department of History; Moscow City University 129226, Russia, Moscow, Agricultural ave., 4, 3413 OrchakovaLG@mgpu.ru

Ilmiev Roman Imranovich ORCID: 0009-0007-8714-7580 Postgraduate student; Department of History of the Institute of Humanities; Moscow City Pedagogical University 129347, Russia, Moscow, Prokhodchikov str., 1, sq. 84 ilmievri@mgpu.ru

The nineteenth century in Russian history was marked by several important processes, such as the industrial revolution, high rates of industrialization, associated urbanization and social transformation. The number of cities has steadily grown, as has the population in them. The Statistical Department established under the Ministry of Internal Affairs began to collect systematic statistics on cities, towns and their populations. By the end of the reign of Alexander I, it is indicated that there are 533 full–time cities in the Russian Empire, 102 minor cities (Full-time cities are operating administrative centers. Small towns and settlements that were formerly official cities, then lost this status, but retained urban privileges for their urban inhabitants) ^{[3, pp. 35-44]} and 51 towns and villages with a population of 3,564,457 "male and female" people ^[33]. The population of Moscow by this period was 246,494 people of both sexes ^[33]. By the middle of the century, namely in 1856, there were 678 cities (of which: 28 cities – large, 295 – medium and 355 – small) (We believe that in Russia it is possible to recognize, relative to the population, large cities – those in which the number of inhabitants is above 25 thousand souls of both sexes; medium - sized cities with a population of 5 to 25 thousand souls; small – cities with less than 5 thousand inhabitants) ^{[31, p. 298]}, 48 townships, 1312 towns ^{[31, p. 250]}. In total, 5,683,999 urban residents lived in them ^{[31, p. 262]}. There were already 368,765 people living in Moscow, an increase of 50% in the second quarter of the 19th century. By the end of the century, these figures had become even more impressive. The 1897 census recorded 16,604,086 people ^{[24, p. 38]} living in 876 cities ^{[9, p. 2]}. Moscow crossed the line of one million inhabitants (1,035,664 people), and by 1907 more than 1.3 million people lived in the city ^{[32, pp. 9-10]}.

By the beginning of the 20th century, not only the quantitative characteristics of cities had changed. The city, while remaining an administrative, commercial and cultural center, becomes the center of industrial development. Moscow is also becoming a major railway transport hub. If we take into account the traditional architecture of the second capital (these are low-rise buildings, and in the XVIII century urban estates became the face of the city), then of course overpopulation and lack of housing becomes an age-old problem in Moscow. Apartment buildings, which have been massively built in Moscow since the 1890s, become one of the solutions to this issue and at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries determine the appearance of the city.

In Russian historiography, the problems of urban development and their functioning have been studied primarily by Medievalists. Among them are M. M. Kovalevsky ^{[15; 16]}, A. K. Dzhivelegov ^[12], D. M. Petrushevsky ^[25], Ya. A. Levitsky ^{[18; 19]}, A. L. Yastrebitskaya ^[36] and many others.

Studies of the urbanization of Russia in modern times attracted the attention of researchers both before the revolution and in the Soviet period, such as M. G. Dikanskaya ^[13], I. H. Ozerov ^[23], V. V. Svyatlovsky ^[29], V. V. Vanchugov ^[5]. A special emphasis on the study of urban architecture in this period was made by G. V. Baranovsky ^[2], E. I. Kirichenko ^[28] and M. V. Nashchokina ^{[20; 21; 22]}. D. M. Demidovich ^[11], E. K. Yukhneva ^[35], as well as a number of other researchers focused on the study of apartment buildings directly. However, their research concerns apartment buildings in St. Petersburg, while the history of the development of apartment buildings in Moscow and other Russian cities has not been given substantive attention. Often in generalizing works we find only a mention.

In this article, the authors, analyzing documents, statistical reports, periodical publications and other sources, aim to study apartment buildings in Moscow at the turn of the XIX–XX centuries as a landmark phenomenon of the industrialization process in Russia, as well as to identify the main trends in the development of the urban housing stock in Moscow during this historical period through an analysis of the structure and functions apartment buildings, as well as their impact on the socio-economic development of the city.

The research is based on diachronic, statistical and chronological methods.

The diachronic method allows us to look at the changes and development of apartment buildings over time, tracing their historical evolution and influence on the appearance of Moscow. The statistical method is used to analyze the collected data on apartment buildings, including their number, number of floors, etc. The chronological method helps to organize information about the construction and development of apartment buildings, which in turn allows you to see their role in the urbanization of Moscow and identify key stages in their development.

Thus, the use of these methods allows us to obtain a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the phenomenon under study.

By 1917, there were over 800 apartment buildings in Moscow ^[6]. There were several reasons for their construction, but two of the most significant ones can be named:

1. An increase in the urban population. At the beginning of the XX century, Moscow was one of the largest cities of the Russian Empire and its population continued to grow actively, which caused the problem of housing shortage. In this context, the construction of apartment buildings has become one of the options for its solution;

2. The economic and social state of Moscow at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. In the late XIX – early XX centuries. Moscow is becoming a major industrial and commercial center. During this period, there were more than 750 factories and plants within its borders, the total number of commercial and industrial establishments was more than 33.5 thousand units. 18 railway lines were moving away from Moscow, and the overall productivity of the city was increasing.

In this regard, the issue of investing in urban infrastructure, including the construction of apartment buildings, is becoming one of the most interesting for the growth of merchant capital, one of the priorities of Russian industrialists and entrepreneurs ^{[17, pp. 129-221]}. A contemporary of the era, Russian economist and historian Vladimir Svyatlovsky wrote about this period: "Soon the urban population turned out to be inadequate to the number of available premises, and despite periods of construction fever, our cities, which already did not satisfy the natural population growth, completely failed to accommodate the new masses of the alien population. Furnished rooms and hotels that appeared in many places did not help either." ^{[29, p. 2]}.

The shortage of places to live in Moscow persisted even after the revolution and the civil war. So, Mikhail Bulgakov noted: "Let's agree once and for all: housing is the main stone of human life. Let's take it as an axiom: a person cannot exist without a home. Now, in addition to this, I inform everyone living in Berlin, Paris, London and other places – there are no apartments in Moscow" (Bulgakov M. A. Moscow of the 20s). Historians studying antiquity identified the lack of housing as one of the cornerstone problems already in Ancient Rome. Within the boundaries of the ancient metropolis, an attempt was made to rethink the expansion of cities not in breadth, but upwards – a new type of real estate came to replace small private houses (households) – apartment buildings – insula (from the Latin "island") ^{[27, pp. 57-58]}. These can be called prototypes of future apartment buildings. The fall of the Western Roman Empire and the Great Migration of Peoples in the early Middle Ages led to a halt in the construction and improvement of cities, deterioration of sanitary and hygienic standards and cultural decline. Residential development now depended on both the legacy of a bygone era and the geographical component. A new wave of urban regeneration was already taking place during the High Middle Ages, when cities became primarily commercial and craft centers. These are mostly low-rise buildings.

In the article "A house in a medieval city through the eyes of a Parisian artisan of the XIII century," Doctor of Historical Sciences E. N. Kirillov notes that craft and trade regulations allow you to see the life of a medieval city through the eyes of their inhabitants. He also mentions that from the point of view of the concepts "house" and "workshop" are synonymous: they were small single-storey houses ^{[14, pp. 408-415]}. Over time, cities again faced a shortage of space, but it is still too early to talk about the mass construction of public housing in this period ^{[8, p. 158]}. But even in this state, renting out rooms and apartments was a common phenomenon of the European medieval city.

There was a different historical experience in Russia. One of the characteristic urban phenomena was Gostiny Dvor, which was a two-story building with galleries and an inner courtyard. Shops, offices and warehouses were located on the ground floors, and the upper floors were rented out for housing or used as hotels for visiting merchants. The courtyard served as a place for unloading goods. To date, a number of gostiny dvors have been preserved in Moscow, among them the courtyard erected in the 1790s-1830s. located on Ilyinka Street, house 4 (Fig. 1), as well as the Krasheninnikov house, built in the 1810s-1830s and located at 17 Pokrovka Street. The profitable houses that appeared in the XVIII century, primarily in St. Petersburg, were borrowed from the West.

At the same time, as England, France and Germany become the locomotives of the development of the capitalist mode of production, cities become industrial centers and hired labor rushes there, the rapid growth of multi-storey construction for rent, i.e. apartment buildings, begins. The boom in such construction can be attributed to the middle of the XVIII century. It is also important to note that the construction itself is becoming the subject of business development.

Fig. 1. View from the Exchange to Gostiny Dvor and the apartment building of the Troitskiy farmstead. 1887. The author of the photo: Nikolay Naydenov (1834-1905).

The first conditional apartment building in Moscow was designed by the famous architect Matvey Kazakov for the merchant of the 1st guild Ivan Khryashchev in the last third of the XVIII century. Now the address of this house is 10-12 Ilyinka Street. It saw a domestic tradition, an updated version of Gostiny dvor (Fig. 2). The house was intended for small and medium-sized merchants: there were shops on the ground floors, and apartments on the upper floors.

Fig. 2. Khryashchev's house on Ilyinka. The facade and the section. Source: Albums of M. F. Kazakov's particular structures.

Khryashchev's house was designed in the classical style, consisted of two- and three-storey blocks located around the perimeter of the site, thus creating an inner courtyard. The main facade of the building was symmetrical and austere, divided into three levels, with each level decorated in a single style. On the first level of the facade there were large arched windows, which were "supported" by massive pilasters. The second and third levels of the facade had rectangular windows. The roof of the building had no additional decorative elements, which corresponds to the strict style of classicism. Due to the clear symmetry, simplicity and rigor of the lines, as well as the absence of excessive decorativeness, the house looked majestic and monumental ^[1]. In the late 1880s, under the guidance of architect Roman Klein, the building was rebuilt ^{[4, p. 36]}.

Until the second half of the 19th century, many land plots in Moscow were not full-fledged possessions. This is due to the fact that a significant part of these sites were actually empty. The reason was that people who had funds preferred to invest them in land and expected to receive income from its subsequent sale or lease. This practice was widespread because land was considered a reliable and promising asset that could grow significantly in value over time. However, in the late XIX – early XX centuries. Moscow was gripped by a real construction fever. During this period, the city rapidly developed and modernized, which led to the active construction of residential and public buildings, as well as industrial infrastructure.

These words are confirmed by data on the increase in the number of apartments in Moscow in the period from 1871 to 1902 (Table 1.).

Table 1. Increase in the number of apartments in Moscow ^{[30, p. 3; 7, p. 14]}

Construction was especially intensive in the 1880s and 1900s, when Moscow was experiencing significant economic growth and population growth. The role of apartment buildings during this period became very significant.

Apartment buildings were multi-family apartment buildings built to generate income from renting apartments. Most often in Moscow, such houses were 4-6-storey buildings. It should be noted that by 1902 the Moscow possessions, especially in the central part of the city, were built up quite densely, and therefore higher and higher apartment buildings began to appear, while outside the Kamer-Collegiate Shaft they still grew in breadth and did not exceed 3-4 floors ^{[7, p. 19]}.

The differences began with the very type of apartment building. Elite apartment buildings, or manor-type houses, were built in Moscow for wealthy tenants, as a rule they were large officials, entrepreneurs and other prominent figures. These houses had spacious apartments with high ceilings, expensive finishes and modern amenities at that time, such as an elevator, running water, heating and a telephone. As an example, we can mention the Apartment Building of the insurance company "Russia" (Sretensky Boulevard, 6/1) and the House of Pertsova (Kursovoy Lane, 1).

Apartment buildings for the "middle class" were built for privileged officials, merchants, small entrepreneurs and intellectuals. The apartments in such houses were less luxurious, but still comfortable and with certain amenities. Examples of such houses can be found on Arbat and Prechistenka: the Bocharov apartment building (Gogolevsky Boulevard, 21, p. 1) and Zavarsky's house (Potapovsky lane, 10).

The last on the list are houses with furnished and bed-and-breakfast apartments. These options were the most popular types of housing at that time, as evidenced by data on empty apartments in Moscow in 1902 ^{[7, p. 45]}, artisans, domestic servants, students and workers usually settled in them. As an example, let's give the house of cheap apartments named after G. G. Solodovnikov (Gilyarovsky Street, 57, 65c1), as well as the Nirnsee house (Bolshoy Gnezdnikovsky Lane, 10).

It is worth noting that at first apartment buildings were built for representatives of the same class, but over time this also changed – nobles, civil servants, bankers and the working class could live side by side in one house. Thus, there was a practice in Moscow when the first floors of apartment buildings were usually occupied by shops, shops, salons and offices. Apartments for employees of banks, insurance companies and creative intelligentsia were located on the second floors. At the beginning of the century, these apartments were already equipped with some amenities such as running water and sewerage. They included from 3 to 4 rooms, and the rent ranged from 50 to 100 rubles per month. The most expensive and prestigious were the third floors, where there were "lordly apartments" consisting of 5-15 rooms. The rent of such apartments exceeded 120-140 rubles/month. In addition to the usual amenities, these apartments could be equipped with artesian wells, fireplaces, ventilation, private bathrooms and good furniture. Above the third floors there were cheap 1-2 room apartments, furnished rooms and bunk apartments. The cost of renting the first was about 10 rubles/month, and bed-and-bunk apartments were rented for 5 rubles / month.

Investing in apartment buildings became popular among merchants, who saw them as a new source of income. Such houses, also called "speculative", brought merchants maximum profit from renting out housing, often to the detriment of the comfort of residents and sanitary conditions ^{[29, pp. 11-17]}. However, despite this, the rental housing market has flourished. At that time, investing money in real estate was one of the most profitable and relatively safe ways to increase capital; in addition, it also met the social demand for housing for the population. An absolutely common way to save and even increase capital for wealthy citizens was to buy up land plots for subsequent construction on them to build new houses for rent. It should be noted at once that such an investment was beneficial to the city, with the help of which the city budget was replenished. Among them were not only representatives of the merchant class, but also the nobility. Industrialists, the church, architects and engineers, priests and even peasants became investors and owners of apartment buildings.

The first true apartment house in terms of functionality and purpose in Moscow was the Golitsyna — Batyushkova apartment house (24 Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street), built in the early 40s of the XIX century and preserved to the present day. The four-storey house was built by architect and founder of the Moscow Architectural Society Mikhail Dorimedontovich Bykovsky (1801-1885) by order of Princess A. P. Golitsyna. Golitsyna's apartment building was similar to Gostiny Dvor in that shops and offices were located on the ground floors. It was a 4-storey building in height, made in the Art Nouveau style.

In 1873, the ownership of Golitsyna was bought by the historian, ethnographer and speaker of the Moscow City Duma Pompey Nikolaevich Batyushkov (1811-1892).

Among the first apartment buildings should be mentioned the apartment houses of the merchant of the 1st guild, honorary citizen of Moscow Vasily Medyntsev (Pokrovsky Boulevard, house 6/20 – Khokhlovsky Lane, house 20/6), Ivan Ivanovich Karzinkin (Stoleshnikov Lane, house 11) and the apartment complex of Konon Nikonovich Golofteev (Bolshaya Dmitrovka, house 10/2 — Dmitrovsky Lane, house 2/10). All of them were built according to the project of Karneev (Korneev) Vasily Nikolaevich (1831-1895). The last two were for merchants of the first guild Konon Nikonovich Golofteev (1822-1896) and Ivan Ivanovich Karzinkin (1822-1889).

Since the 80s of the XIX century, the construction of apartment buildings in Moscow has become widespread ^[26].

In 1912, the famous Moscow architect Ernst Karlovich Niernsee (1873-1934) built the Babanin apartment house (Klimentovsky Lane, house 6) by order of merchant Mikhail Ivanovich Babanin. The uniqueness of the house lies in the fact that at that time it was one of the tallest buildings in Moscow. Its height is 8 floors.

In 1913, according to the project of the no less famous Moscow architect Valentin Evgenyevich Dubovsky (1877-1931), the Filatov apartment building (3/14c1 Ostozhenka Street) was built for Anna Timofeevna Filatova, the wife of Yakov Mikhailovich Filatov, a merchant and trustee of the Moscow Old Believer community of the Rogozhsky Cemetery. Due to its architectural feature – a bell-shaped tent, the house was nicknamed "The House under the glass".

The fact that apartment buildings were built on the capital of the merchants and the nobility is quite logical. But the Russian Orthodox Church was also engaged in the construction of this type of housing. On the territory of Moscow, monasteries, farmsteads, and parishes of the Moscow Diocese owned a significant part of the land holdings. According to the Synod (1890), only the monasteries of Moscow owned 1,393 tithes of land (about 15.2 square kilometers) (Balashova T.V. On the question of the economy of Moscow monasteries in the second half of the XIX – early XX century (on the example of the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery) // IX International Conference – Lomonosov-2002). For understanding, the area of Moscow during this period was 71.4 square kilometers. Having no funds of their own for construction, the churchmen leased land for the construction of profitable houses on them. Thus, indirectly, they became co-investors in their construction. In 1874, by order of the Holy Synod, the first Moscow skyscraper was erected on monastic land – the apartment building of the Trinity courtyard (5/2 Ilyinka Street). The architect was Peter Petrovich Skomoroshenko (1825-1888). The house had an unprecedented height for that time – 5 floors ^{[35, p. 93]}.

Often, architects and engineers acted not only as authors of the project and technical equipment of buildings (elevators, sewerage, electrification, etc. technical innovations), but as investors, erecting their own apartment buildings, in which they themselves settled. In 1900, the Moscow architect Boris Nikolaevich Shnaubert (1852-1917), famous for the construction of the "Confectionery Mansion" of the Apricots (this house is depicted on the logo of the confectionery concern "Babaevsky"), as well as the Tsvetkov mansion, begins the construction of his own four-storey apartment building (Architect B. N. Shnaubert's own apartment building, Khokhlovsky Lane, house 3c1) on a personal project. After his death, in 1917, the house was inherited by his children, but it was not in their management for long, because after the revolution, the new government turned the house into a hostel.

In 1912, the already mentioned Ernst Niernsee buys a plot of land from a certain A. I. Bystrova, on which he builds an even taller house than the one that was erected for the merchant Mikhail Babanin. The height of the new building is 9 floors. A second, so-called "Cloudcutter" appeared in Moscow, known as the "Nirnsee House" (Bolshoy Gnezdnikovsky Lane, 10). It was in one of the apartments of this house that the architect himself settled. The rest of the apartments began to be rented out. Their area was small – about 40 square meters. meters. The house was aimed at the middle class, who did not have the means to pay for housing in more elite houses.

In this row, it is worth noting the apartment buildings of Ivan Timofeevich Baryutin (1868-1928) (located on Meshchanskaya Street, has not been preserved) and Vasily Ivanovich Myasnikov (1861-1929) (4 Bolshoy Kozikhinsky Lane).

Without a doubt, industrial entrepreneurs were the leaders in the construction of commercial housing. For them, this became a separate direction in their "business". And following the general trends, monopolization is taking place in this business. By the beginning of the 20th century, joint-stock companies were becoming important players in the housing market, for which the construction and operation of apartment buildings was already the main activity.

In 1898, Savva Ivanovich Mamontov (1841-1918), a Russian entrepreneur, a representative of the Mamontov merchant dynasty, formed the "Northern House-Building Society", which directed its efforts to erect mansions for wealthy citizens.

A year later, the Russian banker Yakov Andreevich Rekk founded the Moscow Trade and Construction Joint Stock Company. Obviously, Reck saw the potential of the idea and even developed it – the society began to build not only mansions, but also apartment buildings. In addition, after some time, Reck even bought out Mamontov's company. The same joint-stock company built a number of its own apartment buildings (13 Milyutinsky Lane, Architect: S. V. Sherwood; 4/3 Myasnitsky Proezd. Architects: V. F. Valkot, I. G., Kondratenko), Isakov's apartment building (28 L. N. Kekushev, Prechistenka Street, Moscow) and a number of other buildings.

Insurance companies also acted as builders of apartment buildings, which thus sought to increase their income. Among such companies, one can single out the oldest pre–revolutionary company founded by decree of Alexander III in 1881 - the Insurance Company Rossiya. The most famous project of the company was the complex of buildings (apartment buildings) of the insurance company "Russia", erected in 1899-1902 by three architects – Otto Wilhelmovich von Dessin (1863-1918), Nikolai Mikhailovich Proskurnin (1863-1942) and Viktor Andreevich Velichkin (1863-1921).

The rapid growth of apartment buildings in Moscow at the turn of the XIX–XX centuries was closely related to the development of industry. Industrialization contributed to a rapid increase in the number of jobs, which, in turn, caused an influx of people to the city. People arriving in Moscow in search of work needed a roof over their heads, and apartment buildings became the solution to this problem. Such houses, which were multi-storey buildings with apartments for rent, became an integral part of urban life and a vivid sign of the development of capitalism in Russia. Their appearance and spread testified to the significant social and economic changes taking place in the society of that time.

The apartment buildings reflected the cultural and architectural trends of their time, making a significant contribution to shaping the image of Moscow. The architecture of the apartment buildings was very diverse: from eclecticism to modernity, which made it possible to diversify the urban landscape and give it a unique character. In addition, they have become not only an important element in shaping the architectural appearance of Moscow, but also a historical phenomenon, a marker of urbanization. Under the influence of these changes, Moscow was turning into a major industrial and cultural center of the country.

Apartment buildings played a dual role in the urban life of Moscow. On the one hand, their important social component was that they provided housing for various segments of the population, making it accessible to the wider masses and solving the problem of housing shortage. It was normal to rent a bed or an apartment. On the other hand, apartment buildings have become not only a social but also an economic phenomenon. They represented an attractive object for investing capital, contributing to their multiplication. The financial success of the construction of such houses led to the emergence of joint-stock companies, the main activity of which was the construction of apartment buildings. These companies invested in construction, expecting to make a significant profit from renting apartments. Thus, the very fact of the emergence of such societies indicates that the sphere of residential commercial real estate was a profitable business.