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The Boys’ Gymnasium (1, Sovetskaya Street).
The history of the building's construction spans seven years. It took four years, starting in 1909, to decide on the project design, to solve financial problems and to find an appropriate construction site. The administrative board of the town bought a piece of land from the heirs of Chechelevs within the borders of the “old town” opposite the northern gate of the earthen rampart, where a house of a factory owner, Ustinov, used to be. In 1913 the construction of the building, designed by architect M. E. Turin, finally commenced. For this purpose the Ministry of Public Education included 50,000 rubles in the budget estimate for 1915, which was submitted for the approval of the Pereslavl Town Hall. The money was allocated, but due to increased prices the amount turned out to be insufficient. The citizens of Pereslavl then made their own contribution by collecting a considerable amount of money. An impressive Art Nouveau building was erected in three years. Of particular interest is the court-yard facade of the building with its little towers and mock fortifications. The central red brick frontons originally bore the words “Boys’ gymnasium “ laid in white brick in the centre, with “Junior pupils” and “Secondary pupils” to the right and to the left of it. After the October Revolution of 1917, the white bricks were chipped off, but the remaining bits of the inlaid words are still discernible. For many years now this remarkable pre-revolution edifice has been housing the General Education School #1. |
The Land of Pereslavl
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