Author Topic: Ipatiev House, north and west  (Read 4371 times)

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Rodney_G.

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Ipatiev House, north and west
« on: March 16, 2013, 02:46:38 PM »
We're all familiar with Ipatiev House, during the Imperial Family's captivity there, and to a lesser extent, before and after. But the well-known views of the house  are overwhelmingly from the south looking at its southerly side along Vosnesensky Lane,  and from the east , looking at its eastern facade along Vosnesensky  Prospekt , the wide avenue runing north and south. Sorry I can't provide photos , but these are the obvious views.

The question is , what were the properties like on the north side of the IH property, and likewise, what lay to its west, in both cases immediately adjoining IH property ? I think I know ,but I could go for some specific input. I think to the north was another house and to the west , on a downward slope was eventually a lake, though I don't know how far from the IH western property line.

The intriguing thing about this if I understand the layout more or less correctly, and from what we know independently,is that were no fences  or pallisades barring access to the IH from those sides, and yet the  Bolsheviks obviously  wouldn't have allowed  movement over those property borders. What was going on? Did they also control those adjoining properties? I think not. Did IH also originally have serious fencing along its western and northern facing sides? 


 I think I've seen photos, I think post-Romanov captivity, that show the IH situated pretty snugly among its neighbors on the north and west, but this is hard to pin down. Also,  nothing I've read about the Bolshevik concern with isolating the house says a word about those two sides.

So, what do  you all know about this?

Offline Sarushka

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Re: Ipatiev House, north and west
« Reply #1 on: March 16, 2013, 06:41:48 PM »
Ipatiev house highlighted in red, as seen when facing west from Vosnesensky square:


Southern facade, as seen looking east up Vosnesensky Lane:


Southwest corner:


North facade:


Taken from the roof, facing east:


Northerly end of the east facade, taken facing west from Vosnesensky square:



Offline Sarushka

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Re: Ipatiev House, north and west
« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2013, 06:42:03 PM »
Aerial views taken facing west:


Also taken facing west, showing only the northerly end of the east facade:


Aerial view facing south:

Offline Sarushka

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Re: Ipatiev House, north and west
« Reply #3 on: March 16, 2013, 07:00:40 PM »
The intriguing thing about this if I understand the layout more or less correctly, and from what we know independently,is that were no fences  or pallisades barring access to the IH from those sides, and yet the  Bolsheviks obviously  wouldn't have allowed  movement over those property borders. What was going on? Did they also control those adjoining properties? I think not. Did IH also originally have serious fencing along its western and northern facing sides? 

The carriage house effectively blocked at least half of the property's northern border. It appears there was also a shed immediately behind it, seen in this plan:


I would hazard a guess that there was already a fence enclosing the southern and western borders of the yard when the Bolsheviks commandeered the property from Ipatiev. The board fence that's visible in the photo of the southwest corner of the house is perfectly neat and level -- nothing like the uneven mess of palings the Bolsheviks installed around the house itself.

Offline edubs31

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Re: Ipatiev House, north and west
« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2013, 08:01:14 PM »
Well Rodney, unless someone time warps you and takes you on the guided tour I can't imagine anything being as impressive as the pictures and info posted here. Thanks Sarushka...fascinating stuff, and several angles I've never seen!

After having seen "Assassin of the Tsar" for the first time recently I was impressed at how accurate a job they did in depicting the Ipatiev...both the interior and exterior.
Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right...

Offline TimM

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Re: Ipatiev House, north and west
« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2013, 12:15:50 PM »
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Well Rodney, unless someone time warps you and takes you on the guided tour


Once I get that time machine built...
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Rodney_G.

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Re: Ipatiev House, north and west
« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2013, 04:12:04 PM »
The intriguing thing about this if I understand the layout more or less correctly, and from what we know independently,is that were no fences  or pallisades barring access to the IH from those sides, and yet the  Bolsheviks obviously  wouldn't have allowed  movement over those property borders. What was going on? Did they also control those adjoining properties? I think not. Did IH also originally have serious fencing along its western and northern facing sides? 

The carriage house effectively blocked at least half of the property's northern border. It appears there was also a shed immediately behind it, seen in this plan:


I would hazard a guess that there was already a fence enclosing the southern and western borders of the yard when the Bolsheviks commandeered the property from Ipatiev. The board fence that's visible in the photo of the southwest corner of the house is perfectly neat and level -- nothing like the uneven mess of palings the Bolsheviks installed around the house itself.

Thanks, Sarushka. I'd seen most of those photos before, quite possibly from you. Most helpful was probably the property layout here.
 What does stand out is that  IH was situated somewhat high and free from adjoining houses. The northern side does seem to have been 'protected' by the carriage house and shed,  possibly without fencing.

To the west there was the shed, the bath house (briefly) and then the west facing garden. The second and third photos of your first reply , showing the southern end, suggests that there wWAS original fencing for the west garden-bordering end. There would pretty much have to be; you could just walk into the garden for a rest from anywhere if there was no fence. Still, I'm a little surprised the Romanovs' captors didn't fully enclose the whole property with their own palisading, as they did on the southern and eastern sides. Especially since there were no natural vantage points for defense towards the west  most notably..