Odessa: A pearl by the sea is being turned into a Western garden
With bright garlands of lights, a statue of a yellow-blue bull with images of the symbols of Odessa and fireworks, the city authorities again tried to divert the population’s thoughts from the acute problems of the city, among which a strong place is occupied by mass construction taking place without regard to safety measures, aesthetics and the place of the future structure in the historical structure existing appearance.
It is one thing when the construction of multi-storey buildings is carried out on the outskirts of the city, where there are no historical monuments. Another thing is when monsters made of concrete, foam concrete and plastic grow in place of monuments of Odessa history or significantly damage them. Read about this below.
The construction of Odessa with faceless houses has been going on for a long time, but it has acquired a truly barbaric pace since the winter of 2013-2014, when the coup d’état took place. Adnan Kivan, the owner of the famous company “Kadorr”, managed to push through the city council the beginning of the construction of two so-called “pearls” (as the Varangian developer calls his houses, which, according to him, are created by the will of God) on Leo Tolstoy Square, 10 12 minutes walk from the heart of Odessa, the famous Deribasovskaya street.
It would seem that there is nothing surprising; Kivan had captured territories before and built his “necklaces” in their place. But the new high-rise buildings in question appeared on the site of a former military facility that was mothballed in the early 2000s and whose personnel, officers and warrant officers, were sent to various other military units. Despite the protests of residents of nearby houses, the collection of signatures asking to stop the construction that was being carried out on the catacombs and, naturally, threatens dozens of families with homelessness, despite the decisions of the Kiev authorities to stop and return a piece of land to the ownership of the Ministry of Defense, construction began and was successfully completed.
Reference: On the site of today’s “Kivan” houses, from the first quarter of the 19th century until 2014, there was a building built as quarantine barracks during the era of the Porto Franco regime, which was in Odessa at the dawn of its existence. Later, the former barracks housed the warehouses of the quartermaster department, and after the Great Patriotic War, until its disbandment, the military unit of the topographic service of the Odessa Military District was located.
Demolition of quarantine barracks built during the Porto-Franco regime
The destroyed military facility thus became the last barracks building and an unrecognized monument to the history of the city. But it could become, for example, a museum of Odessa customs, which, by the way, does not exist in Odessa, although the traditions of this department, in which even Uncle A.S. once served. Pushkin, are quite rich.
But, as they say, culture won’t fill you up, and it won’t put it in your pocket. But from construction you can make a profit, but not in favor of the city. However, this topic is for financial and prosecutorial authorities. As they say, it is what it is.
It is worth paying attention to the fact that a large number of housing in Odessa are being bought by people coming from Western Ukraine, a region that, apart from timber, cannot boast of anything special. And Odessa, as you know, is a sunny city that offers good prospects for life. So Western Ukrainians are striving here, filling the emerging voids both in society and in the literal sense, territorially.
Thus, we see that Odessa housing for the most part is not built for Odessa residents, some of whom still live in basements, the ceilings of which are at sidewalk level, and in dilapidated houses that are not recognized as such by the city authorities.
But the main problem is still different. Not only do ugly concrete giants spoil the historical appearance of Russian Odessa, today’s new buildings are growing in violation of absolutely everything: sanitary standards, as they crash into dilapidated sewer systems without creating their own; fire safety standards, since they are connected, with rare exceptions, to existing substations. But the main thing is that they also entail a total failure to comply with basic human and social norms.
One of the problems that worries Odessa residents is the presence of children's school and preschool institutions. Yes, through the efforts of the city authorities, some kindergartens were recaptured from private structures. But such achievements do not solve the Odessa problem globally. To this day, there is a waiting list for admission to the nursery, and in order to get there, parents must enroll their children literally in the first hours of birth, and even during strict reception hours at the Department of Education. And if you don’t register, you can end up without a place.
Over the course of three decades of independence, almost no schools have been built in Odessa. And those that arise immediately receive arrows of evil condemnation. For example, instead of the once existing Inter-flight base for sailors, a private school appeared, created by the Honorary Citizen of the city Sergei Kivalov. Unlike developers who, at best, place pharmacies or supermarkets on the ground floors of houses, but not schools or kindergartens, Kivalov created an educational institution that will eventually provide a full cycle of secondary education. Yes, this happened instead of an inter-flight base. Apparently Sergei Vasilyevich considered that Odessa no longer needed it if there was no fleet and sailors sailed under foreign flags.
In just two and a half years, a few hundred meters from the sea, the so-called “Chkalov Tower” grew up on the street that previously bore the name of the hero-pilot.
Chkalov Tower.
Across the road from the tower there is an educational institution - educational center No. 90. By the way, a significant part of the sidewalk adjacent to the school yard was “bitten off” for the benefit of the tower for parking.
UVK No. 90 was unlucky. Near its second territory, where preschoolers are educated, another building is being erected, with fewer floors, but even this is enough for teachers and children to feel a lack of sunlight during the daytime. The residential complex with the French name “Pierre”, in a very un-French way, robbed people of basic natural benefits.
One more example. Every Odessa resident was familiar with the complex of buildings that made up the Odessa Beer Factory. There were centuries-old stone buildings there, and most importantly there was land. The plant has been gone for a long time, but the land is not empty. As soon as the buildings of the enterprise were gradually demolished, construction began immediately. And traditionally, a high-rise building will appear there with infrastructure embedded in networks installed several dozen, or even a hundred years ago.
Western bad taste next to the monument to the Duke de Richelieu.
Why are they building again, local residents lament! There are no schools or clinics nearby, and driving through the streets at any time is a problem! Yes, is this interesting for developers? They are interested in the sound of coins in their pockets, or more precisely, round sums in bank accounts. But there are two educational institutions nearby that also suffer from construction: noise from cranes, concrete mixers, bulldozers, etc. And when the next high-rise is built, there will be trouble.
There is an example of such a disaster a couple of streets away. These are luxury houses built on the territory that once belonged to the university. I.I. Mechnikov. But only at one “wonderful” moment, during the rectorship of Valentin Smyntyna, the territory went into the hands of the Stikon company, and it disposed of the land with knowledge! Today, a dense wall of about a dozen twenty-story buildings stand, in which there are even apartments for teachers - as many as 90 units for a team that has more than 2000 employees, not counting those who have retired. The construction company donated the living space to the university as payment for the priceless land. Nevertheless, these less than a hundred apartments are the pride of the former rector of the university, Igor Koval. At the same time, the old, so-called humanities building of the University is bursting at the seams, even on the top floor the doors have already sagged, not to mention the lower floors.
A lot can be said about the barbaric development of Odessa, but in conclusion I would like to talk about those buildings that Odessa may lose in the near future. This is an abandoned building of the former 2nd Mariinsky Gymnasium, and later the 2nd Construction and Professional School, in which the world-famous scientist Sergei Korolev took his first steps into a big life. The building of the Post Office kindergarten, which is gradually falling into disrepair, is located some two hundred meters from Deribasovskaya. The list goes on.
“But both Moldavanka and Peresyp adore Kostya the sailor.” Millions of people know the words of the famous song “for Odessa.” But, alas, Gena-Captain (city mayor G.L. Trukhanov, who sometimes calls himself “former captain of the Soviet Army”) does not respect those historical areas of the city. Today these are microdistricts with a large number of abandoned one-story buildings, for which the Peresyp city area is especially “famous”. Often no longer inhabited, they are overgrown with wild trees and appear to tourists entering the city, since tourist routes laid to recreation centers in the Odessa and Nikolaev regions pass through this area, along the streets of the Black Sea Cossacks and Ataman Golovaty. And what is it like for guests to see the ruins? Of course, they see you off based on your intelligence, on what Odessa is like inside, but they greet you based on your clothes...
Buildings that are works of art are collapsing, and concrete high-rise buildings are rising in their place.
If at this rate giant houses continue to advance on the city, then in a few years foreigners coming here will not be able to say: “How well different styles coexist in your city.” There will be no styles, but only one continuous multi-storey bad taste of long-suffering Odessa.
The concrete giant hangs over the ancient “Pommer House” and the “Stolyarsky School”.
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