Gurylev Estate (Ufa)

The Gurylev Estate is a wooden town estate in the historic centre of Ufa, at 22 Gogol Street. It was built for Nikolai Gurylev, a townsman of Ufa, and locals also know it as the house of Noskov and Kryzhanovsky, after two scientists who lived here. Today it is a listed cultural heritage site of the Republic of Bashkortostan and one of the few surviving examples of the old wooden architecture in this part of Ufa.

History

The estate took shape around the turn of the 20th century, when the central blocks of Ufa were still built up mostly with wooden houses, courtyards and outbuildings. The plot belonged to Nikolai Gurylev, and the estate still carries his name: official documents list it as the town estate of N. Gurylev.

Later the house became part of the history of science in Ufa. The geobotanist Alexander Noskov, who did much for education and higher learning in the region, lived here, as did the bacteriologist Vladimir Kryzhanovsky, who worked at the Ufa sanitary and bacteriological institute. That is why the second name of the house is as common as the name of its first owner.

Architecture

The ensemble consists of wooden buildings at 22 and 22/1 Gogol Street: a two-storey main house and a single-storey outbuilding next to it. The outbuilding's most striking feature is a semicircular glazed veranda, rare among the wooden houses of Ufa of that period. Together with the neighbouring old estates of Gogol Street, the house keeps the look of pre-revolutionary Ufa, which has almost disappeared from the city centre.

Protection and the demolition dispute

In 2020 the estate was at the centre of a dispute: the plot was wanted for other uses, including a car park, and the house faced demolition. Residents and local historians defended it, the prosecutor's office looked into the case, and in the end the estate kept its status as a cultural heritage site, which rules out demolition or rebuilding without the approval of the heritage authorities.

Getting there

The estate stands in central Ufa at 22 Gogol Street, a few minutes' walk from the public transport stops of the historic centre. The house is easy to see from the street and is best viewed from outside along with the neighbouring old estates of Gogol Street.