Military Town, Novosibirsk

Military Town
Military Town
	The Military Town, map of 1924.
	Coordinates: 55.031°N 82.962°E
Country	Russia
City	Novosibirsk
District	Oktyabrsky District

The Military Town (Russian: Военный городок) is a building complex in Oktyabrsky District of Novosibirsk, Russia. It was built in 1910–1913. New buildings also appeared during the Soviet period.

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It is located between Topolyovaya, Voennaya, Voinskaya and Boris Bogatkov streets and occupies an area of 85 hectares.^[1]

Construction

In 1909, the City Public Administration of Novonikolayevsk (current Novosibirsk) transferred a place of 60 dessiatins to the military department in exchange for the territory of The Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty (in a convenient place for the city).

The land for the future military complex was located across the Kamenka River. In the summer of 1910, the construction of military corps began, 5 million rubles were allocated for their construction.

In June 1910, the newspaper Obskaya Zhizn wrote about the large number of workers involved in the construction of the military complex. They had come from the European part of Russia. Their working day began at 5–6 a. m. and ended late in the evening. Monthly salary of workers was 18 rubles, they were also provided with free food and housing.

The construction of the military town was completed in the summer of 1913. 37 buildings were built, including barracks, residential buildings, warehouses, hospital, church, etc.

World War I period

During the First World War, the number of military units noticeably increased in Novonikolaevsk. The lack of places in the military town contributed to the fact that many military institutions began to be deployed outside of it. At the same time, the construction of new buildings of the military complex was postponed indefinitely due to lack of funding.

Russian Civil War

At the beginning of 1918, the detachment was formed, which consisted exclusively of volunteers from prisoners of war of the Austro-Hungarian and German armies. It was located in the military town and underwent additional military training here. In the spring of 1918, the detachment, led by a member of the Novonikolaevsk Council I. P. Botko, went to the Trans-Baikal Front to oppose Lieutenant General of the White Army G. S. Semyonov.

During the Civil War, the Military Town was also occupied by the Kolchak Army, the Czechoslovak Corps and Polish legionaries. According to the recollections of residents of Novosibirsk, one of the buildings of the military complex was occupied by arrested persons (about several hundred people), including Magyars who served in the International Battalion named after Karl Marx and members of the Soviet and party apparatus of Novonikolaevsk, among whom was V. R. Romanov, chairman of the Novonikolaevsk Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.

Typhus epidemic

In the winter of 1920, a typhus epidemic spread in the town. Military doctors called it "an endangered place" and assumed that soon this district of Novonikolaevsk would turn into a cemetery.

The White Guards, who were imprisoned in the unheated stables and sheds of the Military Town, suffered from tuberculosis, typhus and died in large numbers.

Approximately 20,000 typhoid patients were in the military complex.

1938–1941

In 1938–1941, a large number of new barracks and officers' houses were built in the Military Town, which was associated with the increase in the number of troops in Novosibirsk.

After the Great Patriotic War

After the Great Patriotic War, some buildings were reconstructed. New housing for the commanding staff and buildings for the military units were also built.

Residential buildings for the military of the tsarist period

Residential building for 8 families of senior officers (Topolyovaya Street, 1)
Residential building for 12 junior single officers (Topolyovaya Street, 2)
Topolyovaya Street 3
Topolyovaya Street 4
Topolyovaya Street 5
Topolyovaya Street 6
Topolyovaya Street 8
Topolyovaya Street 10
Topolyovaya Street 12
Topolyovaya Street 14
Topolyovaya Street 18
Topolyovaya Street 20
Topolyovaya Street 22
Topolyovaya Street 23
Residential building (Object No. 28)
Residential building (Object No. 51)
Residential building (Object No. 52)
Residential building of regiment commander (Object number 53)
Residential building (Object No. 58)

Topolyovaya Street 10
Topolyovaya Street 12
Topolyovaya Street 14
Residential building (Object No. 58)

Barracks

Battalion barracks. Object No. 14
Battalion barracks. Object No. 15
Machine gun team building. Object No. 16
Battalion barracks. Objects No. 17
Training team building. Object No. 23
Battalion barracks. Object No. 26
Battalion barracks. Object No. 69
Battalion barracks. Object No. 70
Battalion barracks. Object No. 71

Ancillary facilities

Warehouse. Object number 29
Object No. 30

Other

Waiting room. Object No. 20
Chancery and guardhouse for junior ranks. Object No. 22
Stable
Officers' assembly building (Topolyovaya 17)
Bathhouse for officers and soldiers
District Officers' House, it was supposedly built in the 1930s.

District Officers' House
Bathhouse for officers and soldiers

Former buildings and structures

Many buildings and structures of the Military Town have been lost over time (ammunition warehouse, stable, wagon train shed, rusk warehouse, etc.). In the 1980s, the Nikolsky Church of the Novosibirsk Garrison was destroyed.