Neo-gotic direction in the architecture of residential buildings in the south capital at the end of the XIX - the beginning of the XX centuries

The article analyzes the poorly studied features of the neo-Gothic trend manifestation in the architecture of Rostov-on-Don using the example of little-known residential buildings, touches on the specifics of the residential buildings’ style manifestation built by orders of the representatives of different nationalities and diasporas, and also considers the principles of changing stylistic features over time.

The Don capital was occupied for a long time by Armenian, Jewish, Greek and other colonists. It formed the settlement of people of different faiths (Nakhichevan, the Greek settlement, the Jewish community). According to the statistics from 1904, the number of residents in Rostov-on-Don is: 63,508 males and 59,279 females. Of these: 23,120 Russians, 5,697 Armenians, 1,024 Germans, 2,857 Poles, 16,155 Jews, 3,086 Tatars, 80 Circassians, 800 Georgians and 28 Karaites (4).
All these communities, united by one territory and one faith, built their civilian and residential facilities, along with other nationalities, arriving in the south of the Don. The manifestation of neo-Gothic tendencies in the architecture of these peoples has special features peculiar only to them.
Buildings of a neo-Gothic stylistic orientation in residential architecture of peoples of various nationalities are found in Rostov both single-storey and several floors.
On the 1st Maiskaya Street in Nakhichevan, the house of the priest Pogos Bedelyants is located. Judging by the date of the priest's death (1937), the house was built at the end of the XIX century. The manifestation of the neo-Gothic style in the architectural appearance of this small mansion, at that time not so small (the front on Mayskaya St. is 7 windows!), is expressed in the light lancet of the window openings, their small elongation, in slightly protruding corner risalits with multi-level triangular forceps completions ( Figure 1). Small windows at the end of the riveting, a high tiered cornice, the shape of the attics indicate the elements of a renaissance manifestation of eclecticism. In the mansion of O.Ya. Solovyova, on the Grecheskogo goroda Volos street (Figure 2), we see a neo-Gothic symmetrical completion of the facade with a lancet multi-level pediment located above the entrance, a multi-level cornice around the entire perimeter of the building, decorated with crackers, pshaped pediments of the window openings. The flank entrance to the half-column building on the pedestals with ionic currency endings, in which the influence of the neo-Greek style is traced. The object is a monument of history and culture of the city at the end of the XIX century.
In the house on Semashko Street, 2 ( Figure 3), built already at the beginning of the 20th century and subsequently owned by P.I. Swarm, the elements of the Gothic style are manifested in a symmetrical two-story pediment, decorated with crackers of various sizes and triangularly completed with a pedestal. The facade of the house is plastered and is more ascetic than the previous samples.
The neo-Gothic style was also manifested in the architecture of multi-story residential buildings. A small two-story house on Turgenevskaya Street, 67, dating from 1885, is distinguished by the pshaped curved pediments with pointed triangular endings ( Figure 4). Its facade neo-Renaissance features in the form of double semicircular openings of bifors and neo-Romanesque stylistics, are manifested in a stepped multi-tiered attic. The building on the Suvorova street, 43 ( Figure 5) is listed as a tenement house of the late XIX century. On its facade, between the p-shaped pediments of the window openings, there are the pilasters in the form of thin elongated Gothic half-columns on massive pedestals, a triangular Neo-Roman attic with gable completion and a small false neo-Gothic rose window is asymmetrically located over the passage into the courtyard of the building. On the second level above the passage there are also double semicircular windows. The building is completed by a difficultly profiled cornice with crackers.
A two-story L-shaped building in plan, in the Dolomanovsky lane, 31, the former apartment building P.I. Stepanenko ( Figure 6) was built in the brick style of the neo-Gothic eclecticism in 1893. Neo-Gothic style is manifested in three stripes rhythmically repeating along the facade, flanked by the vertical Gothic pilasters, ending with attics of a complex triangular toothed shape with false semicircular windows. In the central part of the openings at the level of the second floor there are double windows with a circular end, and between the openings a series of windows with p-shaped pediments connects the facade along horizontal belts. A sophisticated profiled cornice with crackers and interfloor cornice belts combine the long facade of the building, in which the classical reception of rhythmically repeating parts is enriched with Gothic elements. This architectural monument is an example of a residential building, on the ground floor of which trade establishments were located, which in turn is a manifestation of a new typology of a residential building, combined with a trading function.
It should be noted that neo-Gothic elements in the considered objects are often not predominant and are adjacent to foreign-style borrowings.
An example of neo-Gothic architecture in a three-story building in Rostov-on-Don is M.L. Guryev (1881), in which was the spiritual government of the Soldier Choral Synagogue, which is also an architectural monument (Figure 7). Its brick facade is distinguished by lancet neo-Gothic windows of the second level, connected by semi-columns, and pointed peaked pediment endings of the first level windows. The third level of the building and the roof have clearly undergone some changes. From the remnants of the brickwork it is evident that there were semicircular windows in the central part of the building and the circular ones in racks. The multi-tiered cornice with crackers is also broken. Almost opposite (Figure 9) is the former apartment building of E.V. Vasilyeva, built in 1894. The house is an architectural monument of the late XIX century. Its originality is revealed by a pseudo-Gothic clipping, in the central part of which at the second level there are two twin lancet windows, united by a lancet pediment. The attic sharp triangular end of the attic is decorated with a coat of arms, and second-level windows have complex p-shaped pediments complicated by the triangular endings.
An interesting manifestation of neo-Gothic style are the two apartment buildings located on the Moscovskaya street, 7 ( Figure 10) and at the intersection of Stanislavskogo street and Voroshilovsky avenue ( Figure 11). Both buildings are made in a brick style, have a symmetrically located center of the facade clasp with a triangular tongue finish, p-shaped pediments of window openings, horizontal breakdown by levels, a difficultly profiled cornice completion.
The building on Moskovskaya street was built in 1889 and it is an apartment building, in the first level of which the trading function was also located.
Residential building at the intersection of Stanislavskogo street and Voroshilovsky avenue was built in 1890. It is an architectural monument, has a rustication of the first level in belts, a cornice with crackers of complex longline configuration, a lancet finish of the central riveting with a triangular attic, and vertical pilaster rods that rhythmically divide the extended facade between the windows and give it a certain vertical aspiration of a complex Gothic relief. The manifestation of neo-Gothic stylistics in this object is most pronounced.  Figure 10. Moscovskaya str., 7 Figure 11. Stanislavskogo str., 120 / Voroshilovsky ave., 10 On the Sozialistyisticheskaya street, 119 is a former apartment building of E.E. Esin (Figure 12), which is an object of the cultural heritage of the city. The building was erected at the end of the XIX century in a brick style, its characteristic feature is the symmetry of the facade with a central clasp and an attic triangular finish framed by a complex cornice with crackers. In the center of the attic is a small round window with a semicircular pediment.
A striking example of the neo-Gothic trends' manifestation are the objects, the author of which was N.M. Sokolov, who introduced the motifs of the Riga neo-Gothic architecture in the Don architecture (5). In the architecture of residential buildings, these objects are the well-known house of the Martin brothers (Figure 13), repeatedly described by the art historians of the Don, as well as the pastor's house preserved after the destruction of the Lutheran church ( Figure 14). The Martin House is an example of pure neo-Gothic. In the little-known three-story pastor's house, pronounced the style elements are visible in the form of powerful enough rhythmically located on the side facades buttresses, on which, apparently, the beam ceiling elements are supported, in the double lancet windows of the side splitting of the second level, in thin elongated half-columns rhythmically located between the windows second level.
Interesting is the building on the Turgenevskaya street 78 (Figure 15), commissioned in 1912, where the spiritual government of the synagogue is located. The building has a sophisticated profiled cornice, semicircular windows at the end of the side racks, elongated windows of the second level, a triangular pediment in the first level of the left railing. There are neo-renaissance elements in the style of this object.
An example of the late manifestation of the considered style in Rostov-on-Don is the house of the Greek diaspora's representative G.I. Rhodopoulos (Figure 16). A large four-story house was built in 1911 by the Greek banker. In its brick decor there is a vertical aspiration of neo-Gothic eclecticism, semicircular windows with a triangular lancet completion, thin three-level pilasters with complex Gothic rustication, multi-level cornice belts with crackers.
The examples of neo-Gothic architecture of a later time, close to northern Art Nouveau, demonstrate the work of architect A.Kh. Zakiev, the representative of the Armenian diaspora in Nakhichevan-on-Don, who introduced the features of northern modernism of Riga into the city's architecture (7). Two very similar mansions on the Zakrutkina street -the former mansion of V. Antonov, 1905-1910. (Fig. 16)   The house of the mayor Ivan Zvorykin, built in 1914 is interesting in terms of the mutual influence of modern and neo-Gothic styles (Fig. 19). The neo-Gothic part is represented by the front entrance in the form of a lancet arch, decorative lancet kokoshniks above the windows of the first floor, attics with lancet niches.
Some elements of the Neo-Gothic, such as lancet windows in the side racks of the fourth level, the triangular spire-shaped form of the racks, the spire-shaped ends of the semicircular small dormers, also appear in a four-story mansion of a later construction (1917) on the Pushkinskaya street, 75 (Fig. 20).

1.
The neo-Gothic direction of eclecticism was used both in single-story and multi-storey buildings of the city, mainly in brick construction in order to create the complex plastic facades of residential buildings.
2. The peculiarities of the style manifestation in the residential development of the city were influenced by the national characteristics of customers, their belonging to the many diasporas that inhabited the southern capital, the tastes and preferences of residents. As the analysis shows, Gothic motifs are present in the residential architecture of Rostov, built on the orders of the most diverse nationalities and religions of the owners. But in its purest form, the neo-Gothic trends were reflected in architectural structures, which customers were Lutherans. An example is the house of Martin, a British citizen in Russia.
3. The choice of neo-Gothic style was dictated both by the tastes of customers and by the preferences of architects who received a certain stylistic tuning fork in their professional worldview (the neo-Gothic Baltic reminiscences of N. M. Sokolov and the late Neo-Gothic of the northern Riga modernism A. Kh. Zakiev).
4. The development of the central part of the city was carried out in a fairly widespread neo-Gothic style. The Neo-Gothic elements were used both in a "pure" form, wholly determining the facade style, and in combination with foreign-style borrowings -primarily from the Romanesque and Neo-Renaissance styles, less often classicism. Moreover, Neo-Gothic style could at the same time both preserve the role of the figurative tuning fork and put it on the back burner in the front poly-stylistics. Especially often Gothic motifs were used to form an expressive silhouette of a building.
5. The architecture of the neo-Gothic direction changed with the transition from eclecticism to modernity in connection with the principles of new shaping, which manifested itself in a departure from strict symmetry, greater plastic flexibility of facades and plans, in the purity and restraint of architectural forms.