I had recently been walking in these same places, but I was forced to interrupt my walk through the factory settlement of the Thornton factory too early, the short daylight hours preventing me from seeing all the sights. But I returned to this residential town the next sunny day to continue my walk from where I had stopped the last time.
The day was sunny and almost windless, but the temperature had dropped below freezing at night, and some of the puddles were covered with a thin crust of ice. This time I didn't wander around; I already knew how to get to the right place. So I went straight to the spacious wooden two-story house that had been built for the manager of the factory.
If you have read my account of the first walk, you will remember that the Thornton factory settlement was built for workers in the early twentieth century, in order to improve their living conditions. The beginning of the twentieth century in Russia was the growth of manufacturing. Peasants were going to work in the cities, they were getting jobs in factories and plants. The living conditions of migrant workers were terrible, living in cold barracks or having to share a room with many people. It happened that the migrants did not even have their own bed: the work in the factory was shift work, and the workers also slept in shifts, taking turns.
A settlement at Thornton's factory was built specifically for workers in the 1910s. Several brick dwellings, a school, an infirmary, and a clubhouse were erected. A wooden house was also built for the factory manager. Some of the buildings have survived to this day, others were demolished or rebuilt. The area around the factory village became a densely populated urban area, and right now a large residential area is being built on the next street. The houses of the settlement look abandoned, they have not been repaired for a long time. Perhaps there will soon be new buildings in their place.
After a walk through the Thornton factory village, I went out onto the Neva River embankment and headed toward another workers' camp: the workers' camp at the "Krasny Oktyabr" power plant. This settlement was built in the 1920s and is very different from the first one.
Thirteen low, similar to each other, houses in the style of Scandinavian cottages look comfortable and rational. I think the workers really liked to live in these cottages. It was a quiet and peaceful place close to work. Now people who have to commute to work in other neighborhoods live in these cottages, and it's not as comfortable and pleasant anymore, although the residential village itself remains very nice and cozy.
I was going to finish my walk by looking at these buildings, but when I came out on the embankment, I found that I was very close to the Obukhov Water Tower. The weather was still sunny and quite warm-so I decided to walk a little farther than I had planned.
The Obukhov Water Tower was built in 1898-1899. After the tower was no longer used for its intended purpose, the interior space was divided into floors, and the resulting rooms housed administrative services. Recently the building was put up for sale. It is not yet known how the new owner will dispose of it.
Behind the water tower began the Krasny Oktyabr power plant, the same power plant where the workers from the factory settlement worked. In a separate building there was a fire station (now there is a store), a little further is the gatehouse. The gatehouse is locked with a massive padlock, and only the announcement about the search for a missing cat helps to understand that life hasn't completely stopped here.
The Krasny Oktyabr power plant was commissioned in the early 1920s and continued to operate until 2010. In the 2000s, other power units were gradually put into operation, and the old building became empty. I wasn't able to get close to the old building, but I did take a few pictures through the fence. This was really the end of my walk - I had almost reached the city limits, and city buses make a terminus at this location.
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| Smartphone | Google Pixel 3a |
| Location | Saint Petersburg, Russia |