Buildings of Iron-Stone Structure in St. Petersburg at the Turn of the XIX–XX Centuries

Buildings of iron-stone design are an important stage in the development of the construction business. They are the first multi-storey buildings with the use of a metal frame and fire-resistant brick facing of columns. The modern history of skyscrapers begins with them. Currently, the features of their design solutions are pretty much forgotten, since iron-stone structures were soon replaced by reinforced concrete. The article provides brief historical data about the origin of this specific type of buildings in America, about the reasons that prompted architects and engineers to invent new designs. The article presents data on the results of the study of this American innovation by leading Russian civil engineers who were sent to the United States and left valuable descriptions of the design solution and construction technology based on the results of the trip. The article focuses on two classic examples of iron-brick buildings built in St. Petersburg in the first decade of the XX century, which indicate the high speed of the spread of progressive ideas in the field of construction around the world. This is the Singer House on Nevsky Prospekt, known to everyone as the “House of the Book” and the Belgian-Dutch Trading House “Esders and Scheifals” on the corner of Moika and Gorokhovaya St. The results of a modern survey of these buildings, introducing the features of the historical iron-stone structure, are presented, The American predecessors and contemporaries of these buildings, for the most part, have not reached our time, were dismantled and replaced with new very lapidary high-rise buildings. St. Petersburg analogues – bright representatives of the Art Nouveau style, despite the criticism of contemporaries, deservedly received the status of architectural monuments, and, consequently, a chance to remain as an example in the history of the development of the art of construction (of course, with proper operation).

D.A. LOBOVIKOV, Candidate of Sciences (Engineering),
A.G. SHASHKIN, Doctor of Sciences (Geology and Mineralogy) (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.),
V.A. SHASHKIN, Candidate of Sciences (Engineering) (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

PI “Georeconstruction” (4, Izmailovsky prospect, Saint Petersburg, 190005, Russian Federation)

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