ARCHITECTURE
wooden architecture — research, maintenance and restoration

The house of Vasilyevs is a wooden double-level house with an attic (marked by a balcony). It belongs to the so-called ‘glagol’ type (or an L-type) of traditional wooden houses. Living rooms and non-residential (household) area are placed on rectangular foundation and have one central axis. However, the household area extends to the north forming something like an L-structure. The gable symmetrical roof has one ridge located above the central line of the living area with an attic. The roof above the living rooms on the main facade has the shape of a square (tetrahedral) pyramid. The door to the two-level household area opens from the antechamber (‘seni’). On the lower floor, there is a storage area with the gates on the northern and southern facades. Along the eastern wall, there are four separate cattle-sheds located in a row and not connected with the main framework.

The framework is made up of pine round logs fixed according to the traditional method with the logs' ends protruding from the edges of the walls in the corners (‘v oblo’). The walls of the house are not covered with planks. The nailless roof is of a mixed type: its part covering the household area rests on a system of horizontal and vertical beams, and its part covering the living rooms is framed. The roof is covered with two layers of boards with straight-cut eaves attached with the help of nails. The entrance door on the southern facade has a double-level porch supported by two carved posts and covered with a single-sloping roof. The first level is an open platform made of square logs and placed on the ground, the second level is a pillared balcony. The living area is a six-wall framework with inner cross-walls.

‘Izba’ (the living room itself) and ‘gornitsa’ (a traditional guest-room) both have three windows on the main facade. On the side walls both rooms also have three windows, except for the ground-floor 'gornitsa'’, which has two windows. The cross-wall divides the inner space into two parts: the antechamber ('seni') and a special winter living room ('izba-bokovuha'). Along the eastern wall of the antechamber there are single-flight stairways leading to the upper floor and the attic. All three windows of winter living room (‘izba-bokovuha’) are located on the northern facade – one on the ground floor and two on the first floor. Along the western wall, there is a stairway leading to the upper floor, where a spacious household area is located. Its walls are supported by massive wooden posts and its floor rests on four inner posts going through two floors (levels). There is a sloping ramp leading to the extended part of the household area from the main façade side. It is made of alternating round logs and planks supported by two parallel poles, which rest on wooden posts. The top part of the household area gate is trapezoidal in shape and its double door is fixed with wooden wedges. The western wall is the main facade. The attic made up of pine logs fixed according to the traditional method with the logs' ends protruding from the edges of the walls in the corners (‘v oblo’) and has a double window. The gate of the household area is double-jambed; its doors are made of planks fixed with wooden wedges. The framework rests on a concrete strip foundation with stone paving.

The overhangs of the roof are decorated with fascia boards with carved ends and a so-called ‘towel’ (a decorative board covering the joint of facial boards at the roof ridge). The facial boards are decorated with two tiers of carvings. The lower tier is shape cut half-circles with pierced holes in the center of each element. The upper one is a row of triangles with blind holes above them. The vertical board covering the joint of two fascia boards (a ‘towel’) is decorated with two rows of round holes with a rosette underneath and two rows of sawn carved triangles; the 'towel' also has six diamond-shaped ‘droplets’ carved at the bottom end. Unlike the ‘towel’, the ends of the fascia boards are decorated with two rosettes of the same design. The windows of the Vasilyev’s house are decorated with plain profiled frames. The side walls and the rare facade of the house have no decorative elements. The facial boards of the household area roof are smoothly hewed and have rounded endings. The most ornate element is the porch on the southern facade. The balcony and roof cornices have contour carvings which are alternating half-circles with cut-through round hollows in them. The balcony pillars are square-sectioned. The carving is formed by frequent joint of truncated uneven pyramids, parted by narrow and short parallelepiped inserts. The rails of the balcony rails and the ladder inside the antechamber are identical. They are made of flat boards, divided vertically into three parts – two upper ones are decorated with contour carvings in the shape of circles with small round holes in the middle. Transitions between forms are smooth. The walls inside the Vasilyev's house are not hewed, except for the living rooms. Board partitions were constructed here later according to the accommodation plan. The walls are covered with dry plaster and pasted with wall-paper. Stoves are located in the living rooms near the cross points of inner log walls. There are triple-jambed windows with window ledges and modern panel framed doors.