Constructed: 1825- 28
Location: Susaninskaya Square
Fire Observation Watchtower is a former fire protection watch tower located on North- West corner of Susaninskaya Square between Ulitsa (Street) Susaninskaya Ploschad and Ulitsa Tekstilschikov. It was built in 1825- 28 to keep an eye on most of Kostroma. Fire fighting teams would watch for any sight of fire in the city and rush in case they saw a sight of trouble.
The tower was built on the initiative of the governor
Karl Baumgarten (1768−1831), who issued the order:
“A decent
watchtower does not interfere here, which together would serve as an
ornament to the city and protect every inhabitant with safety during
fire cases. For this, I have chosen a convenient place in the local
city, located on the face of Yekaterinoslavskaya Square in definition
with the house of the city police, it was in private hands, and besides
it there are no others capable of this, then in this need I am forced to
buy it from Captain Sumarokov.
— Kudryashov E.V. The architectural
ensemble of the center of Kostroma. - Kostroma, 1993
In November
1823, the provincial architect P. I. Fursov compiled design drawings of
the building, an estimate for construction; in April 1824 they were
reviewed and approved in St. Petersburg; On May 3, 1824, a contract was
concluded for the construction of the tower. The construction of the
tower was carried out in 1824-1825 by the contractor A. Stepanov;
finishing work was carried out according to Fursov's sketches by a team
of plasterers under the supervision of A.P. Temnov and Yaroslavl
sculptors S.S. Povyrznev and S.F. Babakin "with comrades" in 1825-1827.
In 1834, the tower aroused admiration from Emperor Nicholas I, who
visited Kostroma (“I don’t have one like this in St. Petersburg!”),
after which the glory of the best fire tower in the Russian province was
fixed to it.
In the second half of the 19th century, the tower
was rebuilt several times. In the 1860s, extensive side wings were added
to the building to house the fire station. In the 1880s, the "lantern"
on the guard tower lost its former appearance - in old photographs you
can see that it was greatly simplified. However, in the 1950s, restorers
returned it to its original appearance.
The fire tower of
Kostroma was used almost all the time of its existence only for its
intended purpose, and even until recently, the regional fire department
continued to be located here. In 2005, the tower was transferred to the
Kostroma Museum-Reserve. The lantern of the tower is used to house
cellular antennas.
The building was built in the style of late classicism
on the model of an ancient temple with a portico consisting of a high
pediment and six tall columns with Ionic capitals. The facade behind the
columns is decorated with round rose windows, and a double-headed eagle
is placed in the center of the pediment triangle. The building itself is
two-story, very spacious, it freely accommodated all the premises
necessary for the fire department of the provincial city: residential
and guard rooms for workers and the fire brigade, stables, sheds for
barrels of water. The entire structure is crowned by a magnificent and
very high observation tower with a gazebo-lantern. The tower can be
considered a separate work of art, its details are so carefully thought
out and worked out. The octahedron of the tower itself is completely
covered with fine rust, which is why it looks not massive, but light and
even openwork. The tower, as it were, "grows" from the base-octagon,
surrounded by small Tuscan porticos on four sides. And the whole
building is crowned with a beautiful lantern with a bypass balcony.
After the destruction in 1930 of the bell tower of the Assumption
Cathedral of the Kostroma Kremlin, the tower became the highest dominant
of the city center.
Location
Susaninskaya Square, the official
address of the building is 156000, Simanovsky Street, 1/2, tel. +7
(4942) 31-68-37