Ancient houses in Almaty.

"History is a witness of the past, the light of truth, a living memory, a teacher of life, a messenger of antiquity"

Mark Tullius Cicero.

XIXth century houses in Almaty.

The former one-story house of Savva Zubov was built at the beginning of the XXth century on Taranchievskaya Street. The main facade of a one-story building, rectangular in terms of volume, is oriented to the west. The entrance to the building is located on the south side and is highlighted by a porch with a canopy.
The building is a log cabin made of Tien Shan spruce logs, with a basement on a solid stone foundation. The platbands of the house are also made of Tien Shan spruce. The plasticity of the facades is created by overhead carved details in the form of sandriks, architraves, cornices.
The walls are plastered and whitewashed. The planes of the walls are solved by the horizontal rhythm of the window openings. A cornice hemmed with boards runs along the entire perimeter of the building. The planning system of the building is enfilade.
The building is an example of merchant buildings in the western part of the city of Verny. The hill on which Zubov house was built is called a mound in some articles about Verny. This hill is clearly visible, even in modern times, from the north, the hill extends from Masanchi Street to Dosmukhamedov Street, in the area of ​​​​Shevchenko Street, the hill is leveled.
The Zubov House, St. Nicholas Church, part of the Nikolsky Bazaar and Zubov Square, where Akhmet Baitursynov Square is now located, made up the architectural ensemble of the old Verny. The name of this area is Kuchegury, it speaks for itself.
In those ancient times, this area was the outskirts of the city. According to historical data, the Uighurs and Dungans, who migrated from China from the vicinity of Ghulja, lived here. The former name of the street where Savva Zubov house is located was Cosmonauts, then the street became known as Baitursynova, one of the few streets that survived 4 or more names.
Taranchinskaya - the first name of the street. The street began to form in the 19th century on the territory of the outlying, residential area of ​​Verny (the so-called Kuchegury). Uighur - the second name, due to the fact that Uighurs lived in the places where the street was formed.
In 1962 - 1993 the street was named Cosmonauts, this is due to the fact that in 1962 a holiday was approved - Cosmonautics Day in honor of the first manned flight (Yuri Gagarin) into space, which took place from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Masanchi Street, which is located a quarter to the west of Baitursynov, was called - Dungan. At the beginning of the 20th century, the so-called Zubovskaya Square was located on the territory of the Nikolsky market, where trade was conducted.
Until now, it is not known what the eminent merchant Savva Zubov traded in and whether he was a member of the merchant guild. It is known that he owned a number of trading shops on Nikolskaya Square. On November 10, 2010, a new State list of local historical and cultural monuments of the city of Almaty was approved, at the same time all previous decisions on this matter were declared invalid.
In this Decree, the status of a monument of local importance to the building of the Baitursynov Museum was preserved. The boundaries of the protected zones were approved in 2014. The author of the project of Savva Zubov house remained unknown.
Geographic coordinates of Savva Zubov house in Almaty: N43°14'46.24" E76°55'37.13"

Authority and photos
Alexander Petrov.