Chernigovskaya Street is the lower embankment of the Oka; old names: Annunciation Sloboda, Nizhne-Okskaya Embankment.

History of the street

It was created as part of the overall urban-planning transformation of Nizhny Novgorod in 1834-1839, to designs by the architects Efimov and Gotman. The construction of the embankment coincided with the severe fire of 1836, in which the old, predominantly Wooden Buildings of Nizhny Novgorod burned down. After that, only stone buildings were to be erected along the Oka. Thus by the end of the 19th century a coherent architectural and industrial complex had taken shape on Chernigovskaya Street, consisting of apartment houses, hotels, and the buildings of large industrial enterprises. At that time life bustled along the Oka embankment: it held one of the city's largest cab stands, numerous vessels crowded the shore, and their number multiplied several times over during the All-Russian Fair.

Today the appearance of Chernigovskaya Street survives largely as it took shape by the end of the 19th century, although the look of some historical buildings has been somewhat distorted by numerous alterations, facade additions, destruction, and the loss of decorative elements. Improvement works along roughly 3 km of the Oka embankment bordering Chernigovskaya Street, including bank reinforcement of the slope, were planned for completion by 2025; the embankment is to include a skate park, a city beach, a restaurant complex, and commercial space.[1] The project envisages building two high-rise landmarks: one of them, 100 meters tall, is meant to become the tallest building in Nizhny Novgorod; the new construction is on the site of a demolished Soviet-era grain elevator.[1] The project also plans the full reconstruction of the Bashkirov mill complex — a cultural-heritage site — repurposing its industrial functions into residential and public use; the building is to have eight floors, with the top two given over to penthouse apartments.[1] In the 2020s the developer GloraX began implementing a comprehensive redevelopment project for Chernigovskaya Street with total investment of 30 billion rubles; the project envisages the restoration of cultural-heritage sites covering about 20,000 square meters, along with new construction exceeding 127,000 square meters.[1] The Nizhny Novgorod architectural community has been discussing options for developing Chernigovskaya Street since 2013; the design for the area's new appearance was produced by the Moscow architectural bureau Ostozhenka, which compared the historical setting of Chernigovskaya to the Ostozhenka district of Moscow near the Kremlin.[1][2] Chernigovskaya Street contains around 24 cultural-heritage sites, nine of which are apartment buildings; a significant portion of these heritage sites are in poor condition.[1] The Nizhny Novgorod Region government announced the launch of work to revive the street in March 2023: the development of Chernigovskaya was described as a stage in the comprehensive redevelopment of the historic center of Nizhny Novgorod, which envisages bringing more than 300 hectares of territory within walking distance of the kremlin back into city life. The project as a whole aims to create about 20,000 jobs and to continue shaping the city's river frontage, roughly 10 kilometers long.[2]

Architectural landmarks on Chernigovskaya Street

  • House of A. L. Barysheva (no. 4a), architect G. I. Kizevetter (1837-1839);
  • House of P. Kubareva (no. 4b), architect G. I. Kizevetter (1838-1847);
  • House of A. S. Gushchin (no. 7), architects G. I. Kizevetter and D. V. Eshevsky (1837-1862);
  • House of E. Grebenshchikova (no. 8), architect N. I. Uzhumedsky-Gritsevich (1853-1852);
  • Estate of N. G. Shchepetova (no. 12), architect G. I. Kizevetter (1838-1849);
  • House of P. E. Goryachev (no. 15), architect A. L. Leer (1832-1833);
  • Estate of the Shchukins and A. Nenyukov (no. 16), architects I. E. Efimov and A. E. Turmyshev (1822-1848);
  • House of M. Kuznetsov (no. 17), architect I. E. Efimov (1820s).

See also

Sources

  1. Vzglyad-NN — GloraX to invest 30 billion rubles in the redevelopment of Chernigovskaya Street in Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
  2. nobl.ru — Revival and development of Chernigovskaya Street begins in Nizhny Novgorod