The Bugrov Night Shelter is a charitable institution built in 1880–1885 on Rozhdestvenskaya, 2, at the foot of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, on People's Unity Square). The three-storey building was erected to the design of architect Fyodor Falin with funds from the merchant Bugrov; his son Bugrov ceremonially opened the shelter and later transferred it into city ownership, maintaining it at his own expense in memory of his father.[1][4] The building is a regionally listed cultural heritage site.[2]

History and layout

The construction was initiated by Alexander Petrovich Bugrov, a major industrialist personally familiar with the life of the city's poorest residents. He bought the plot, and the building was erected in just a few months under his supervision, though Alexander Bugrov himself did not live to see it open.[1] The shelter was designed to accommodate 700 people; every lodger was given a pound of bread and boiling water free of charge.[1][4] An inscription was placed on the building's façade: "No drinking vodka! No singing songs! Behave quietly!"[3] The Bugrovs belonged to an Old Believer merchant dynasty known in Nizhny Novgorod and beyond for three generations of entrepreneurs and philanthropists who lived modestly despite a fortune worth millions.[4]

Connection to the play "The Lower Depths"

The Bugrov Night Shelter served as the prototype for the shelter in Maxim Gorky's play "The Lower Depths"; one of its real lodgers became the prototype for a character in the play.[1][4] In 2021, during the "Mesto" ("Place") festival, the historical inscription from the façade was reproduced on the fence by the building.[3]

The building's fate after the revolution

After the 1920s the shelter was shut down, and the building was divided into communal apartments. In the 1990s it housed the Visa and Registration Department, and later the Directorate of the Federal Migration Service for Nizhny Novgorod Region.[2] In 2013 the building was bought by one of Nizhny Novgorod's patrons. The new owner began a major renovation intending to open an elite fitness club; as of late 2019 the renovation was 85 percent complete, and by 2022, 75 percent according to other reports.[2][3] In December 2019 the property was put up for sale for 378 million rubles; the premises cover 1,901 square meters, and the complex includes a guarded grounds and parking.[2][3] The building is also home to the "Bugrovsky Dom" café-bakery, whose interior is decorated in the spirit of "The Lower Depths": it features theater posters, a replica of Nemirovich-Danchenko's armchair, a model of the set from the play's first production at the Moscow Art Theatre, and other exhibits.[4]

Sources

  1. KP — Nizhny Novgorod — Ghosts, a salt scam, and the shelter from Gorky's play: what secrets of the past does Rozhdestvenskaya Street in Nizhny Novgorod hold (archive)
  2. bugrovsky-dom.cafe — Bugrovsky Dom Nizhny Novgorod — Home page — Bakery Café, Nizhny…
  3. Kommersant (Privolzhye) — Bugrov Night Shelter put up for sale (archive)
  4. Newsroom24 — Bugrov Night Shelter in Nizhny Novgorod put up for sale for 378 million rubles (archive)