A History in Wood

As an art student, I used to walk the old streets of Tomsk – Krasnoarmeyskaya, Gogol, Shishkin, Krylov … Charmed by the beauty of the wooden buildings, I barely noticed the trucks rambling and clanging by, the mud and trash underfoot, the gloomy residents. The disorder and inconvenience could not outshine the fairy-tale, gingerbread carvings on the buildings. I saw the figures of birds and strange animals, secret signs which silently narrated a story of hope and belief through the ages …

Most of the Tomsk region is inaccessible, blanketed with thick, taiga woodlands. This taiga – sometimes called an “ocean of forest” – comprises 20% of West Siberian forest resources and has long been revered as a source of life by the area’s residents. It provided everything they needed – berries and mushrooms for food, animals whose skins could serve as clothing, and wood with which to build homes. But Tomsk carpenters did not simply take wood from the forest; they gave it a new life, a new character.

The wooden architecture of Tomsk is a lively, all-encompassing encyclopedia of what Tomskians appreciated as beautiful and useful. Unfortunately, almost nothing is preserved from the earliest days (fire being a particularly ruthless enemy). But there are traces, remnants of the many architectural styles through which the town has passed during the past two centuries, from Neoclassical mansions to Art Nouveau and Modern buildings.

It is a history of Russian architecture in wood.

St. Petersburg imposed the first governmental building codes on Tomsk in 1773. Later, in the 1830’s, the codes were updated by St. Petersburg architect Vasily Geste. For this reason, many visitors find architectural similarities here with the Northern Capital. The functional side of these codes required, among other things, that wooden houses be built on stone foundations, to cope with the severe climate. Swamps and underground rivers were (and are) common problems, such that today it is not uncommon to see single-story homes that were once two-stories, the first floor now sunk to the level of a basement.

But aesthetics were not forgotten. Russian Classicism combined very naturally with existing folk styles. Numerous houses in Tomsk are embellished with the most beautiful carved ornamentation, the wooden “lacework” asserting a variety of motifs. The earliest carvings date from the mid-19th century, and are Neoclassical in style. In the late 19th century, the décor became more refined and sumptuous. Then, in the early 20th century, Art Nouveau made its mark, hearkening back once again to early folk traditions. The work of this period is the best developed, as woodworking skills reached their pinnacle in the first decades of the last century. Over the course of the 20th century, as Tomsk became an important, vibrant center for education and the arts, the Modern architectural style impacted wooden architecture: instead of the decorative fretwork, utilitarian aspects of woodworking were emphasized.

Although many wooden buildings have been destroyed by time, fire and negligence, many shimmering jewels remain. Perhaps sometime soon a new generation of architects and woodworkers will take offerings from the taiga and make their own contribution to Tomsk’s living history.

– Yelena Wedekind