Bolshaya Okhta, locality

Categories / City Topography/Historical Geography/Historical Districts, Localities, Tracts, Municipal Establishments
BOLSHAYA OKHTA, a locality in the east of St. Petersburg, on the right bank of the Neva River, surrounded by the Okhta River, Energetikov Avenue and Revolyutsii Freeway. Until the early 20th century, the area was commonly known as Okhtenskie Settlement and Okhtenskaya Side. The territory of Bolshaya Okhta originally accommodated the villages of Isakovka and Matrosskaya Settlement then the settlement of workers of Okhta shipyard, dependent on the Main Admiralty, was established here in the early 18th century. The original development of the area consisted of a narrow stretch along the bank of the Neva. In 1773, Bolsheoktinskoe Orthodox cemetery was set up east of the settlements. At the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries Bolshaya Okhta came to house a number of industrial enterprises, such as Okhta shipbuilding and mechanical plant, called Znamya Truda at present, Okhta Cotton Mill, now Vozrozhdenie factory, saw-mills etc. In 1892, the railway station of Irinovskaya Narrow-Gauge Railroad was launched here. In 1911, Bolshaya Okhta gained a direct outlet to the left bank of the Neva through the Bolsheokhtinsky Bridge (Imperatora Petra Velikogo Bridge). Until the 1940s, Bolshaya Okhta was known as a barren working-class suburb. Then, In the late 1940s, reconstruction of the district started: the site of wooden houses, destroyed during the siege, was built over with standard two or four-storeyed stone buildings. The building up of Sredneokhtinsky Avenue, the major artery of Bolshaya Okhta, had taken a definite shape by the late 1950s. In the late 1960s, the ensemble of Krasnogvardeyskaya Square was formed, the new Komarovsky Bridge was built across the Okhta River, and a spacious microdistrict was built up east of Metallistov Avenue. In the 1970s, Sverdlovskaya Embankment was reconstructed. The southern part of Bolshaya Okhta, along Yakornaya Street and Magnitogorskaya Street, accommodates an industrial estate, where Okhta Woodworking Plant, Neva Furniture Enterprise, Gidromekhoborudovanie Works, Barrikada Factory, Trublit Factory etc. are situated. The name of the locality is retained in the name of Bolsheokhtinsky Avenue.

References: Мансуров Б. П. Охтенские адмиралтейские селения: В 4 ч. СПб., 1856; Метлицкий Б. Г. Об Охте. Л., 1964; Охта, Пороховые: Страницы истории / Сост. Е. М. Мухина. СПб., 2003.

Е. А. Bondarchuk, P.Y. Yudin. Peter I, Emperor
Bolsheokhtinsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Energetikov Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Krasnogvardeiskaya Square/Saint Petersburg, city
Magnitogorskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Revolyutsii Freeway/Saint Petersburg, city
Sredneokhtinsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Sverdlovskaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city
Yakornaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Большая Охта
Мансуров Б. П. Охтенские адмиралтейские селения: В 4 ч. СПб., 1856
Метлицкий Б. Г. Об Охте. Л., 1964 Admiralty
1773