Every year the cost of restoring a monument of wooden architecture in the suburbs of St. Petersburg is growing. Evgenia Petrashen, an architect-artist, author of the project Benois Dacha in Peterhof – the art residence of St Petersburg University, announced this at a round table in the media center “On the Field of Mars”.
“In 2019, the project to restore the historic dacha of a licensed design organization cost 9 million rubles – now it’s already 17 million. So far, the process has been “cheaper” only through grants and students’ work as part of graduation projects,” Petrashen emphasized.
As noted by an independent researcher of wooden architecture, public figure Natalia Kotlobay, now the list of cultural heritage sites that relate to wooden architecture includes about 296 objects – most of them are concentrated in Kurortny, Petrodvorets, Petrogradsky and Pushkinsky districts of the city. Most of them are in disrepair.
Kanegisser’s dacha
Architect, Associate Professor of SPbGASU Svetlana Levoshko also drew attention to the fact that dacha heritage, for example, in neighboring Finland is preserved with the help of the Museum Administration. If the owner wants to restore the building, he submits an estimate for the project, and 20-40% of the restoration funds can be returned to him. Thus, restoration does not turn out to be an incredibly costly process.
At the same time, there is control over the actions of the owner: only an architect of the highest category can be engaged in restoration. Thanks to such a state program, the southernmost Finnish city of Honka boasts a large number of wooden architectural monuments that attract tourists.
“There are also various Funds for the Protection of Country Architecture in Finland, which are private-state organizations – there are none in Russia,” said Levoshko.
Read more about the current state of the dacha heritage of the Silver Age suburbs of St. Petersburg in the Rosbalt article.
Source: Rosbalt
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
