Houses and Associated Buildings

Igor Pleve's book "The German Colonies on the Lower Volga: The Second Half of the Eighteenth Century", page 130, describes the planning and construction of the colonies prior to settlement. Responsibility for this work was assigned by the Russian government to Ivan Reiss and his assistants. This work was completed from May 1764 to May 1766.

Reiss reviewed existing maps of the region and prepared surveys of potential settlement areas, taking into account Russian peasants who had already settled there.

Relief maps were made and colonies were located to insure an adequate water supply was available.

Houses were distributed along a main street that was 33 to 36 meters wide. The main street was intersected by smaller streets six meters wide. Typically, the church, school and community buildings were planned in the middle of the colony at the intersection of the main street and a wide cross-street (30 meters wide). The original plan drawn for Norka is shown in the column to the right.

Homes built for the original colonists were duplexes (Doma-pyatistenki) and had four exterior walls and one interior wall. Each house accomodated two families. Each of the two living areas were 6 by 10 meters with five windows, one door, two store rooms and one oven. Each door and window had a latch. The roof had a small dormer on each end and there was a ladder to the roof from the porch.

The original homes were built of logs or squared timbers. The houses were roofed with bast (a plant fibre) and topped with shingles that were reinforced by wooden pegs.

In the yard of each colonist (which measured 25 by 35 meters), located next to the house, was a barn that was 4 by 8 meters. The barns were covered with boards no thinner than 4.4 centimeters and were roofed with bast and then covered with reeds or thatch.

The entire yard was fenced and gated.

At the end of the yard was a stable that was 7.5 by 12.5 meters in size and granary (3.5 by 2 meters). These buildings used thicker boards or small round logs.

According to Russian records, the average cost of each colonist home and associated buildings was 471.5 rubles. This was relatively expensive at a time when a horse cost 7 to 9 rubles.

Since Norka was a Crown Colony, log houses called Kron Häuser, or Crown Houses, had already been built by the government when the colonists arrived. The number of houses may have been inadequate to shelter all the colonists. Some family stories tell of their ancestors building huts that were partially underground, known as Semlinka or Semlinken, in order to live through the first winters until more housing could be built.

According to a report by Grigory Orlov to Catherine II in February 1769 (about 18 months after the first colonists arrived) there were 172 residences, 118 granaries/barns and 168 stables in the colony.

This page was last updated 24 December 2011.