Architecture

(Brief historical overview of the city planning development)

In the beginning of the XVIII century Russia was expanding Siberian territories in the southern direction, for this purpose military defensive fortifications were constructed. On 12 August of 1720 the military detachment of the Russian army came to the confluence of the Ulba and Irtysh Rivers, where the construcyion of the fortress was started. This day is considered to be the foundation day of the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk.

This Fortress had a rectangular form, it was built out of wooden palisade, the territory made up about 1 hectare, with a population of 363 persons, with ditch carried around and earth mound, it was reinforced with bastions with wooden towers on the its tops. There was a wooden church, barracks and administrative buildings inside. In the course of time military and “ordinary” buildings (forstadt) appeared outside the Fortress, which were considered to be included in the Fortress according to the development plan in 1759. The most part of the Fortress was fired in 1765 and that very fact precipitated that process. According to the development plan of 1766 the Fortress developed in three directions (accept eastern) and it had the area - 7 hectares. For some time the Fortress carried out not only military functions but also was the heart of the residential area formation and its public center.

The town born in the Epoch of Peter I, had peculiar features of town-planning for that time – clear functional zonation, regular street planning and relatively consequence (planning) development.

In 1845 the building draft of the former Fortress was approved, that draft was the first general city planning scheme. According to the plan the territory of the city developed to the north. There was an inbuilt territory in the center, the former cemetery. The church, stores, work-places, manage were built in the center so that the first urban core was formed. Markets were ordinary located at the places of the former cemeteries. There was a square for hay and firewood sales on the crossroad of Ordzhonikidze and Ushanov Streets, the place of the local cemetery (now it is The Main Square of the city). Now the central market is situated at the place of the former Moslem cemetery. It might have been for the reason that the rapidly growing building first of all occupied free spaces leaving abandoned territories which couldn’t be used on the purpose. The main long-distance roads played a great role in the formation of the city structure. Getting free of the streets’ nets outside the city boundaries, they smoothly showed all the peculiarities of the natural landscape, running away in different directions forming afterwards principal city highways. Fragments of the present Bazhov, Voroshilov Streets, Lenin Avenue represented earlier the road leading to Semipalatinsk. The road leading to the Buhtarma Fortress had practically been destroyed, but in this very direction the whole system of parks and squares was formed. In accordance with the relief the road leading to Buhtorma had a strong curve to the east rounding, existing at that time, drying channel and the forest tract. Due to the presence of this very curve and the forest tract the Dzhambul Park was later on sprung up.

At the end of the XIX century and at the beginning of the XX century the city had its first economical upturn. From 1861 till 1913 the population of the city increased in 5 times due to a mass migration (3334 to 17980 persons respectively). The north-eastern territory of interfluves was the principle direction of the city development as before. That time river beds and channels had more developed system and along with the relief appeared to be landscape limited factor. From 1868 on the right bank of the Ulba River, along the roads leading to Semipalatinsk and along Buhtarma highroad to Sogra the new living space – “Zarechny Khutor” was formed that later became the large residential area. From 1859 till 1917 the territory of the city spread onto 319 hectares, the area of all developed lands for building made up 376 hectares. By the 20th years of the past century the city centre had completely been formed - there were the Cathedral and Trade Squares where a number of public, administrative and trade buildings were located (now the Kirov Park).

There was the connection with the left bank of the Irtysh River by the help of the ferry crossing.
In the 20th -30th years of the XX century the first industrial zone appeared over the river in the north-west as there was the crossing point of the Rubzovsk-Ridder railroad and the branch railway that connected it with over the river wharf.

Among the prominent objects of that time were the Airport organization and the beginning of the Lead Plant building. However, there were inverse processes in that period. In 1934 the Cathedral and Trade Squares – the main places of the trade and communication – were transformed into the Park. So that, the trade rows and some public buildings had lost their functionality. In 1936 the Pokrovsky Cathedral (1888) was destroyed from ideological considerations. Thus, the city lost its main element – the center that would appear again only in two decades.

World War II had a great influence on the development of the city. Echelons of evacuated plants and refugees were arriving in the city. So, in the north of the upper-river, along the railroad the first industrial complex and barrack village of workers – “Stroyploshadka” (the building site) was developed. However, in some time the historic residential area, not far from the evacuated industrial plants, faced the difficult ecological problems.

Times passed by, the War finished, the population during the war and post-war years increased in seven times (from 20 thousand in 1939 to 150 thousand in 1959), so that there was the need in regulation of the chaotic building of the upper-river and the whole development of the city.

The master plan of Ust-Kamenogorsk of 1949 solved these objects. One of the first realized drafts was the housing estate (Block “B”), it was worked out complex, in accordance with city-planning norms of that time. Its building spread in southern direction at the joining with the central part of the city. Leningrad planners were engaged in the main design works. One more specific feature in the sight of the city is the style of the Leningrad Architecture School. The architecture of the 40th-50th years - block (microrayon) building, ansamblevost, impressive streets and squares, on the buildings’ facades and plenty of greens (parks, squares, curdoners) - had the spirit of the old Petersburg.

The principle of block (microrayon) structure typical for 50th years remained in the design and building till the present time. In its basis there is a successful principle of functional zonation of the primary living formation. The heart of the microrayon, as a rule, is a school and several kindergartens. Thus, foot traffics between housing and child institutions had been freed of highway. Housing represents the apartment buildings with a medium number of storeys. Along the perimeter there are public buildings or houses with a high number of storeyes with the objects of cultural and welfare facilities building in the first floors.

In 60th-80th years the city had its second economical upturn along with the building “boom” (the population increased from 150 thousand in 1959 to 280 thousand in 1980). Building industrialization reached such a level that the whole blocks of houses were putting into operation, several industrial zones appeared. At the same time in excess of the centralization and industrial methods adversely affected the comfort level and esthetic of the architecture in the civil engineering having been subjected to criticism.

Due to the intensive development of the Zaulbinski residential area (Ulbinski district) there was the necessity in the communication of two districts. Thus, the building of one of the main street began – the Tolstoy Street (the draft of the building up was worked out in 1957), now Lenin Avenue. The powerful highway became the main thoroughfare and it determined the perspectives for the city development.

As in the 30th years the main trade square of the city was transformed into the park there was the necessity in the formation of the new city centres. One of the first centers of the city was the square around the Metallurgist Palace - the heart of the Block “B”. The new city centre turned out to be too far from the historic building up so that several “intermediate” centres on Lenin Avenue were built.

If Metallurgist Square was one of the elements of all residential area (block), the building of the Tolstoy (Ushanov) square had various drafts. According to one of the drafts the square had a form of a circle and would have been original one. But the authors of the draft were accused of formalism and non-industrial approach. It was also impossible when it was decided to organize the main city centre at the place of the former cemetery in the old part of the city. Lenin Square and building-up around it had a lot of numbers of drafts, the discussions went on, even then, when the main composition accent was determined and highlighted – Lenin monument, and planned works began. A good planned decision was found but there were some problems, for instance, the deficiency of the pedestrian and transport traffics.

In the 40th-60th years the city developed at the expense of the inner reserve, the global reconstruction of the historic building were carried out. By the 60th years territorial resources were exhausted – the city was “blocked” on the right bank of the Irtysh River, between rocky hills in the east, industrial zone in the north and ecologically polluted territory in the west. The master plan of 1967 defined the new southern direction – the left part of the Irtysh. It was planned to build a living space consisting of 12 residential areas (250 thousand inhabitants), as well as the existing city at that time (13 residential areas, 207 inhabitants), and the new public centre and ecologically clean plants should be located in the same place. There were several reasons due to which the building of the left bank was conducted not in the water-meadow of the river, the main reason was that it was the flooding zone in the case of the emerge situation. Nowadays there were built only 15% to a planned volume of habitation on the left bank.

The motor bridge was constructed to connect the right bank of the city with the left bank. Primarily the construction of the bridge was planned along Krasnooktyabrskay Street (Auezov Avenue), but having calculated the costs the specialists decided that the construction of it up-stream would be cheaper. In practice it turned out to be quite the contrary – having economized on the construction it had to be spent more means to decide the transport problem. There was urgent necessity to connect the two bridges (Irtysh and Ulba), so that the new highway of the city –Victory Avenue – was built. The situation became complicated by the fact that the several public, production and residential buildings were to be demolished. There were also fragments of historic building in the reconstruction zone. At present public and residential buildings forming the Avenue had been constructed, but there is no transport connection.

The bridges play a great role in communication of three parts of the city divided by the natural water barriers – the Irtysh and the Ulba Rivers. The local authorities express constant concern over the plenty of bridges, its construction peculiarities and failures. The most remarkable achievement of the Soviet architecture and building in the city is considered to be the housing estate along the Irtysh embankment and the place of the confluence of the Irtysh and the Ulba Rivers (so called “Strelka”). This estate is built up with dwelling apartment houses of medium and high storeys. Comfortable apartments, pedestrian and transport services, cosy grin yards and squares - all these make it look one of the most attractive district of the city.

To the achievements of that period might have been referred the large work in the sphere of planting of trees and gardens in the city. The generalized scheme of the planting of trees and gardens is the following. There are city parks and squares in the center of historic building – so called the green heart with the main residential area around it and there is the recreation space all around it - water-meadows of the Irtysh and Ulba Rivers. One more “green circuit” surrounds the whole city with its suburbs in the form of wild greens, forest belts, country and garden-plots.

Suburbs and blocks are the most important city-planning components in the city structure. Old Sogra was built by 1745 as a link in the chain Kolivano-Kuznezkay line of fortification. The Menovnoe village (Menovoe) by 1765 – appeared as customs and trade centre on the right bank of the Irtysh. In 1725 the Cossack settlement “Zashita-Hlebopahotnay” was formed several versts downstream of the Irtysh in water-meadow of the Ulba channel. After the fire of the Stanitsa in 1745 the Cossacks resettled in the south-eastern part of the city, and in 150 moved from the city to the khutor “Zashita” and to the left bank of the Irtysh River having laid the settlement “Novo-Ustkamenogorskaya”. In 1901 the river line was opened on the Irtysh River. The wharf is the place of the crossing of river and railway transports – became the basis of the city-planning of the industrial community, nowadays it is the component part of the city. At the end of the 40th years of the XX century in the suburbs several one-storey settlements appeared (Oktyabrsky, Krasina, Mirny, Novaya Gavan (New Harbor), Shmelev Log).

Ablaketka settlement (40-50 years) was built during the period of the construction of Ust-Kamenogorsk Hydro Power Station. There were draft suggestions to transform the settlement into one of the largest districts of the city but the suggestions were not realized. In the north-east direction of the city in the 50-60th years the new industrial area was developing, then the modern residential area for workers was built – New Sogra. In the 60th years the relationships between USSR and Chinese People's Republic became strained so that the military unit was formed not far from Ahmirov village and attached to it the military camp Novoahmirovo. In the 70th due to the difficult international economic situation the USSR authority was decided to construct the reinforce plant (Armaturny Plant) in Ust-Kamenogorsk. The construction of the dormitory attached to it nowadays considered to be wrong on account of it remoteness from the city. In the 80th the local authorities made a decision to allot the large land territories under the construction of the individual habitation on the left bank of the Irtysh River (Metallurgist Settlement). Unbelievable scale and industrialization in the individual building that time was innovation on a state scale.

Annually, at the end of 80th years of the last century about 150-180 tsm of habitation was put into operation in the city, in 1990 the city population was 330,5 thousand (Table 1,2). The development of the north-eastern industrial area and opening up of the left bank was at its height when in the 90th economic crises broke out. At present the extensive building is not conducted in the city, there is only the reconstruction of the existing building in the city centre by means of the small business. The absence of a big potential customer leads to “cluttering up” of the important interurban territories by the objects of secondary importance, recreation zones are vanished. Due to decrease of the total city population (approximately in 3,2% for the last 10 years) the demand for habitation doesn’t exceed the supply, that in its turn can’t stimulate the market of the habitation construction.

In 1997 the contest “Conception of long-term development of the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk” among developers of Ust-Kamenogorsk, Petersburg, Almaty, Novosibirsk was conducted by the city authorities, the result of it was the determination of the new priority of the general plan. It was offered to develop the main city as before on the Left bank, but by that time it was approaching the waterline of the Irtysh. Administrative, business and cultural centres would be situated mainly in the historic part of the city. The transport scheme was complicated – construction of additional highways and bridges, it was offered to use water and railway transports within the precincts of the city.

At the conclusion it should be added that the linear, impulsive development under social, economic and political factors, the change of the development directions of the residential area and public centres is the specific character of the city formation during 280 years. Fortunately, it hasn’t prevented from saving the local traditions of the city environment and public culture.

Megid D.A.
Architect of “Ust-Kamenogorsk Arch Funds”
E-mail:megid@mail.kz

The materials used in the article:
General Plan of 1949
General Plan of 1967
General Plan of 1991 (corrections)
Historico-architectural plan and protection zones of Ust-Kamenogorsk 1987
The works of the Kazakh branch of the Construction and Architecture Academy of USSR 1960
Monograph Chernih S. “From the Irtysh Banks” 19??
Photography “Strelka” – Semenkova V.I.

Thanks for help to:
Moskalzeva G.A. - acting chief architect of Ust-Kamenogorsk
Megid A.I. – director of “Ust-Kamenogorsk Arch Funds”
Reutov N.F. chief architect “Ust-Kamenogorsk Arch Funds”
Belov A.
Nazarko S.