The story and style of the building

The dwelling house at the present address: Lenina street, 6a (before 2015 the address was Lenina street, 8) is located in the historical center of Sortavala, in the depth of the block, bounded by Lenina, Karelskaya, Gagarin, and Gorky streets. At the end of XIX century about a quarter of the territory of the quarter belonged to a merchant Peter Berg (1813-1893). Two of his houses were built in the middle of XIX century in Ratushnaya Street (now – Lenin, houses number 8 and 12) and preserved to this day. At the back of Berg's plot of land was his garden. It was on the site of the garden and was built in the early twentieth century apartment building (with the current address Lenin str., 6a), which was caused by the development of densification of development in the central quarters of the city.

After the construction of this building, the estate of the heirs of P. Berg became a densely built-up area with almost continuous perimeter development (as seen on the plan of 1932, see diagram 1). By 1930s the analyzed residential house was squeezed from all sides by other buildings; for the owners' access to the northeastern border of the site a covered passage between the residential part of the house and the outbuildings was provided. This through covered passageway through the house – a unique town-planning technique for Sortavala – is shown in the drawings of the technical passport of the house of the Soviet period.

Later, this passage disappeared after the construction of a public building close to the house on the south-east side (see photos 4, 7). Then there was an entrance door on the other side (see photo 6), and the through passage finally turned into a regular internal corridor. In the last decades of the twentieth century, the building was used as an administrative building. In 1994 the building was referred to the newly discovered objects of history and culture during the elaboration of the Security Zones of Historical and Cultural Monuments and the Landscape of Sortavala. During the full-scale inspection of historical buildings in Sortavala in 2013 the specialists of the Ministry of Culture of the RK confirmed the historical and cultural value of the building at 8 Lenina Street.

The owner of the building – S.G.Kondratyev. The planning structure of the residential part of the house at Lenin Street, 6a is quite typical for the town houses of the early twentieth century. The house is one-storey with a living attic and basement, the main living part is rectangular in plan.

The front is the longitudinal facade, from which the main entrance is arranged. Behind the front door is a hallway with a stairwell. On either side of the hall are the living rooms and kitchens, connected by enfilade. Stairs to the cellar and to the attic are occupied by a semi-circular bay window on the opposite facade. The attic consists of three living rooms and a pantry. The right room has a passage to the attic of the annex. The outbuilding was originally a household outbuilding, of rectangular shape and with a double pitch roof. The end facade of the extension has two small windows in the attic level, the end wall has a sloping parapet. The side wall of the extension has a door to the corridor and an auxiliary door to the storeroom. A public building adjoins the other side of the annex.

The architecture of the house has features of Art Nouveau style, which was developed in the early twentieth century in many buildings of Sortavala. Such features include asymmetry of the space-planning composition, expressive silhouette of the building with pointed roofs, window and door openings of different shapes, volumetric architectural elements, stucco details, plastered walls.

In the house on Lenin str.6a on the main south-western facade the entrance is emphasized by the central risalit, slightly (25 cm) protruding from the plane of the wall, which ends with a mezzanine under the hip roof. The asymmetry of the facade is given by the windows of different sizes and the entrance with a porch moved away from the axis of symmetry. The side facades are blank with no windows or doors and the roof is joined to the walls by sloping parapets. The accent of the rear facade is a semi-circular bay window with a low hipped roof.

The main attention in the architecture of the dwelling house is paid to its volumetric characteristics and silhouette. The decor is represented by the crowning cornice with a curved profile on the sides of the facade, the cornices of simple shapes on the rear façade and under the pinch roof of the risalite. The cornices are highlighted in white against the cream-colored walls.
Foundations of rubble, ribbon. Plinth lined blocks rectangular shape of natural stone. Blind area is made of asphalt concrete. Walls are brick, plastered and painted from the outside, plastered and painted inside, finished with wood paneling, ceramic tiles, wallpaper.

The roof is a system of intersecting twin pitched roofs (over the main volume and over the mezzanine) and a low hipped roof over the semi-circular bay window. The roof is new, metal, painted.

Dormer windows on the main facade, firewalls, chimneys and vents are also clad in metal. Roofing and under-roofing – wood; timber rafters; sparse boardwalk. Drainage exterior, organized, gutters new metal.

The porch in front of the main entrance is made of stone blocks and slabs: the one-staircase on both sides is decorated with parapet walls. There is a modern metal canopy over the entrance. In front of the entrance from the courtyard facade there is a concrete platform. In addition there are wooden steps with steps behind the stairs in the annexe and sauna rooms on the first floor. Under the entire building there is a basement with utilities.

Ceilings flat, monolithic, reinforced concrete. Floors covered with linoleum, laminate, ceramic tiles, boardwalk. Doors historic – wooden, panelled, modern – wooden, panelled, paneled, metal. The original door has been preserved - wood panelled, with glass-filled panels and a glazed transom, double-leaf, with swinging leaves and historical door hardware.

Windows are wooden, with two-part glazing (the top is placed transom). The windows in the attic rooms facing the main facade have been replaced with plastic windows. There is a small skylight on the courtyard facade with historic glazing. The staircase is monolithic reinforced concrete with curvilinear flights of steps. The upper and lower decks are lined with modern ceramic tiles. Staircase railings are made in the form of square-section metal rods with a wooden handrail. Ceilings plastered, whitewashed, painted, decorated with ceiling tiles, wallpaper. The ceilings of the two rooms, which faces the main entrance, have a stucco decoration in the form of rosettes under the chandeliers and moldings on the perimeter with floral ornaments. Modern fireplaces are installed on the first floor and in the attic. The surrounding area is not landscaped. The general condition of the apartment building on Lenina Street, 6a is assessed as satisfactory.