ARCHITECTURE
wooden architecture — research, maintenance and restoration

This type of a house is called in Russian ‘brus’, i.e. a rectangle framework in plan, within which successively are located the habitable part in front, the anteroom in the middle and the section including household areas behind. In the case under consideration cattle-sheds protrude from the side wall. The basis of the design of the structure is a gaunt parallelepiped-shaped rectangle covered with a symmetrical gable roof; the part protruding from the side wall is under a separate shed roof.

The habitable area consists of two parts; is uplifted so that space left underneath could be used for storage and to keep warm also; there is no attic room. This portion includes a habitable room (‘izba’) and a sitting room (‘gornitsa’) symmetrically divided by a longitudinal wall; an anteroom in which is found a complementary dwelling unit (a small room); the access to the part underneath the sitting room is through the external doorway on the end wall, to enter the remaining portion the doorway in the anteroom is used.

The section including household areas is two-storied: the lower floor is allotted for cattle-sheds; the upper floor supported by massive pillars is for various needs. Cattle-sheds are a separate framework that includes three equal cells; their doorways are internal, several small windows are found on the western wall. The framework is made up of logs fixed according to the traditional method with the logs’ ends protruding from the edges of the walls in the corners (a notch joint called in Russian ‘v oblo’).

The end wall numbers six windows of the ‘izba’ and ‘gornitsa’, a window of the northern room in the under-floor part, and a window of the complementary room.

The southern wall numbers three windows of the habitable room; two windows of the anterooms on the upper and lower floors, also folding gates and a window that faces the yard by the house. The northern wall has six windows of the ‘gornitsa’ and the complementary room, two windows of the habitable room on the lower floor, also the window, gates and ramp which belong to the section including household areas. Ornamentation is rather moderate. Decorative window trim (shutters, head and sill pieces) are made of plain profiled board. The upper element (head) features ornamental carving of arches with circles. The facial boards on the front wall have various geometrical carvings; a contour-cut pattern is found on the edge as well. Facial boards and the ‘towel’ element feature a fretwork of circles, triangles, semi-circles and trapezoidal drops at the ends. Doors in the habitable part are paneled. Russian stove with a stove-bench is used for heating.