Description of the attraction
The offices were erected in 1806-1808 according to the project of the Kostroma architect N. I. Metlin (in other sources A. D. Zakharov is indicated as an architect).
For a long time there was no definite place for administrative institutions in Kostroma. After a fire in 1773, offices were located both in the trading rows and in the premises of the Epiphany Monastery. At the end of the 18th century, it was decided to build a new worthy building, specially designed for the Public Places.
Provincial architect Metlin Nikolai Ivanovich presented a fairly simple project for consideration, but in St. Petersburg it was not approved. Samples of plans and facades of A. A.'s offices were sent to Kostroma. Mikhailov, according to which the local architect needed to complete a new project. Metlin, proceeding from the construction conditions by the dimensions of the site allocated for the construction of the Public Places, made numerous changes to the St. Petersburg drawings and designed a narrower building.
Public places - this is the most significant building of public and administrative architecture in the city. It is made in the style of late classicism with Empire elements. For the construction of the building of public places, a site was chosen between the Voskresenskaya and Yekaterinoslavskaya squares, opposite the Gostiny Dvor. Construction began in 1806. It was led by N. I. Metlin. The grand opening of the building took place in 1809.
In 1832-1833 it was overhauled by the Nizhny Novgorod provincial architect I. E. Efimov, who removed the main staircase from the street, remade the portico, arranged the lobby with the design of a new entrance and an internal grand staircase, and partially remade the courtyard facade. In 1851, the territory of the Public Places was surrounded by a stone fence.
In 1825-1827, the building was renovated under the direction of the architect P. I. Fursov. In the late 19th - early 20th centuries, an extension was made, which gave the volumetric composition the shape of the letter "G". In Soviet times, this extension was extended.
The Ensemble of Public Places is located in Kostroma, between Sovetskaya Square and Susanin Square. The main facade of the offices overlooks Sovetskaya Street. The provincial archive standing behind them stretches along the red line of Sverdlov Street. Such an arrangement, together with the contrasting overall ratio of both buildings, conveys the dynamics of the volumetric-spatial solution of the architectural complex.
The Office Building is a two-story plastered brick building. It has a mezzanine and a basement floor. Its powerful rectangular volume with a strongly elongated main facade along the street, has a hip roof. Its five-axis central part is marked by an Ionic four-column portico. The courtyard facade has triaxial projections at the edges and in the center. All the ceremonial decor is concentrated on the main facade of the building, the courtyard and end facades are restrained. The basement half-storey of all facades is completed with a profiled rod. The walls of the first floor are covered with a quadratic rustication, the high windows are finished with long wedge-shaped keystones that join the lower profile of the interfloor cornice. The walls are completed with an entablature with a profiled cornice. The portico of the main façade has two pairs of Ionic columns that are significantly extended forward, which are installed on rusticated ledges-pedestals. The columns on the walls are matched by similar pilasters. In the center of the portico above the entrance there is a large empire window with rusticated archivolts and fan-shaped glazing.
Initially, the building housed: archives, a guardhouse, a zemstvo court, storerooms - in the basement; civil and criminal chambers, common hall, conscientious and district courts, printing house and treasury - on the first floor, provincial boards, treasury chamber with expeditions, general hall, public charity order - on the second floor; provincial drafting rooms - on the mezzanine.
Today the interiors of the Public Places have been greatly changed, the original decoration has not been preserved. From the previous decoration, only a corner tile stove from the mid-19th century on the second floor in one of the eastern rooms remained. The semi-basement has preserved the original layout best of all.
Today, the city administration is located in the building of the Public Places.
