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. The basis of the design of the structure is a parallelepiped-shaped rectangle covered with a symmetrical gable roof. Besides the anteroom in the central portion there is a store-room. The habitable part includes ‘izba’ (a habitable room) and ‘gornitsa’ (a sitting-room) separated by the main longitudinal wall; correspondingly they number three and two windows on the face wall. The habitable part is one-storied, uplifted high to keep warm; the lower floor of the household section is allotted for cattle-sheds and a farm-yard, the upper floor is for various needs (a workshop, hay-loft etc.). An unroofed columnated porch with one flight of steps and a ramp to the household section join the central portion from the south.

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’). Log butt-ends of the main longitudinal wall protrude from the face wall and separate five windows asymmetrically into three and two; the line of these butt-ends is supplemented with the ones of the small longitudinal wall on the pediment, to the full height of the attic portion, so that two lines appear symmetrical on the pediment. Between the two lines in the center there is a venting window and a corbelled platform underneath imitating a balcony.

Eaves are supported by carved corbels in the shape of hooks. The carving on the edge of the facial boards includes semi-circles and reach-through holes. Decorative window trim (shutters, head and sill pieces) are made of planed boards. Gates (two jambs used in construction) with trapezoidal tops open to the space allotted for sheds and farm-yard.

The porch is supported by four pillars, the balustrade on the perron are boards set horizontally. The stairway has one hand-rail without balusters. The ramp is set on the beams, the flooring is made of whole logs alternating with slabs. Two posts supporting the ramp near the wall feature some carvings (‘melons’) the railings are made up of poles.

The constructions used in the house are traditional. The roofing is two-ply, carried by several corbels. Bridgings are boards set on beams.

The western wall is void of ornamentation and blank except for two venting holes in cattle-sheds.

The walls of the household section are supported by three pillars; three lines of log butt-ends protruding from longitudinal walls divide the surface of the end wall symmetrically into two parts on the level of the lower floor and, three parts on the upper floor up to the pediment. The northern wall numbers a sitting-room window and venting windows of the store-room, farm-yard and cattle-sheds.

The walls inside the habitable part are neatly hewn, the corners cut round. The floorings and ceilings are board. There is a Russian stove in ‘izba’ in the corner, its stoke-hole looks on the face wall; there is a stove bench in the sitting-room.