An important position in the architecture, social and cultural life of Altai region in recent decades of the XXth century takes civil engineer Ivan F. Nosovich.
Ivan F. Nosovich was born 14 (27) October, 1862 in the family of a squireen in Rovno (Volynskaya guberniya). 1883 he entered St. Petersburg Imperial Institute of Civil Engineers. 1889 he was graduated from the Institute with qualification of engineer of 10 rank and 1890 he was named to junior architect of building department of governor general in Amur River region. For construction of triumphal arches and decorative elements in Habarovsk before the visit of the Emperor Alexander III he received the position of titular counsellor.
On November 6th, 1893 Nosovich was send to Semipalatinsk region. 1896 he was given a silver medal for employment years. From 1897 he was irrigation head in Semirechensk region, where he carried out preliminary work and calculations for irrigation systems. For these years he hadn´t any opportunity for real engineering, so he tried to take part in architectural competitions. 1897 he received the 3d prize in All-Russian architectural contest "Workmen´s colony of Russian-American rubber manufactory". G. Boronovski y included two projects of I.F. Nosovich into seven-volume architectural encyclopedia of the second half of the XIXth century. The publication in this prestigious edition was a real honor for any architect of that time. Being a skilled engineer I. Nosovich took the offer to work in Barnaul. He got a secondary post of roads´ engineer but he managed to show his true talent in Altai. He watched out for construction of the Public House upon the project of the architect Ropet and led the construction of government buildings. Among his buildings are well-known: the house of Tomsk factory´s chef (1900), the own house of the architect (1907), the building of Roman Catholic Church (1909) in Barnaul and the Public House in Byisk. Unfortunately, the building of Roman Catholic Church loosed its inimitative style after reconstruction in 1936.
In 1913-1916 the mountain laboratory in Barnaul was reconstructed upon the project of Nosovich to Altai State Regional Museum [1]. The two-storeyed wooden house of I. Nosovich with carving and cornice was saved till 1989. It was not only a landmark in eclectic form but also a memorial of architect´s life. In spite of general public protests the house was pulled down because of new construction.
The greatest erection of Nosovich in Altai was the Public House (Drama Theatre now) in Biysk known as Kopylov´s House and built on employer´s money. I. Nosovich projected churches and chapels for towns and villages of Altai. On the order of prioress Parfeniya I. Nosovich constructed a chapel on Sobornaya Square, a stone cathedral of the Kazan icon of the Mother of God and some wooden churches on stone basements.
I. F. Nosovich was an educated public man. From 1908 he was a chairman of grade school board, which established free libraries and schools for common people.
In 1914 the wife of Nosovich died, daughter Tamara and grandson Branik came to a tragic end too. In addition the conflicts with city government made the architects life harder. In summer 1913 a recruit barrack collapsed, so that one man died and eight people sustain injuries. The city government accused I. Nosovich but the citizens went to bat for him.
We know some facts about his life from the memoirs of N.M. Bahareva, whose father was a friend of the architect. She writes about eagerness and a wide range of interests of Ivan Nosovich (photography, woodcarving, making furniture).
In 1902 the futurologist Ebenezer Howard published a book under the title "Garden Cities of Tomorrow". Howard´s idea met with wide recognition of Russian city planning. By the end of 1913 Russian society of Garden Cities was based in St. Petersburg, a department of this fond was represented in Barnaul. I.F. Nosovich was a member of Russian society of Garden Cities; he made a project of garden city in the northern part of the city. The garden city occupied the territory of 9 hectares and had a round square in the middle. But the project wasn´t implemented because of investments´ lack. The last erection projected by Nosovich in Barnaul was a brick building of laundry (Polzunov str.) In 1929 he leaved Altai and moved to Krakow. The exact dates of his final years are unknown, but some of his erections and architectural projects with signature of the author are still kept.
The research work is provided by financial help of Russian Humanitarian Scientific Fond and scientific research project "Russian art tradition of Siberia (the end of the XXth- the beginning of XXIth centuries)", project08-04-60-401 а/т
References
- Stepanskaya T.M. Аrchitecture of Altai XVIII-XXth. - Barnaul: Altai State University, 1995.
The work was submitted to international scientific conference «Present-day problems of science and education», Russia, (Moscow), May 13-15, 2009. Came to the editorial office on 06.07.2009.