Brick Works

Categories / Architecture/Construction Materials and Industry, Architectural Monuments Restoration
BRICK WORKS. In the early 19th century, brick was imported to St. Petersburg by sea via Lubeck or produced by specially invited Dutch masters. The first Russian brick manufacturer, according to M.I. Pylyaev, was manufacturer Stolbensky in Rybatskoe Village. The first Russian brick works (Tosnenskys, Shlisselburgskys) and the most powerful ones, Blizhny (with output capacity totalling ten million bricks a year), were under the jurisdiction of the City Affairs Office. After 1720, Slavyansky brick works were launched by the Slavyanka River, Chernoretsky ones, by Alexander Nevsky Monastery, Martyshkinsky, in Peterhof. Around the mid-18th century, the manufacturers started branding their bricks. By the end of the 18th century, a thousand bricks cost 15 roubles. Private brick works received land permits free of charge, on the condition of that they produced at least one million bricks a year; at the same time, the Stone Board refused to accept brick produced at private yards for state construction purposes. In 1860, 60 private brick works and four state ones functioned in St. Petersburg and its immediate vicinity. The major yards belonged to merchants; the dynasties of brick manufacturers Belyaev (Bolshaya Izhora, Rybatskoe), Lyadov (Ust-Slavyanka, Novosaratovka), Kononov (Ust-Izhora) and others were well-known. Since 1790, works belonging to peasants Zakharov functioned on the Izhora river. By the early 20th century, A.V. Zakharov had become a hereditary honorary citizen, and his heirs produced bricks branded Kolpino up until 1917. Sand and clay were usually mined at leasehold lands beside plants. In the late 19th century, a number of plants grew, thus allowing improved technology and purchase of new equipment. Associations of construction material manufacturers appeared along with yards specializing on production of certain brick types (short "pylon", arch brick with curved surfaces etc.). Foreign capital was also engaged in industry expansion (Nevsky Mechanical Brickmaking Plant of the Belgian Anonymous Society situated on the right bank of the Neva River, opposite Ust-Izhora; Eduard, English company etc.). Major enterprises (Obukhovsky plant, Admiralteyskys Izhorskys plants) made brick to fulfill in-house demand. Aiming to reduce the cost of construction, architects V.A. Lipsky and P.I. Shestov established their own brick production in 1898; their brick was used in the construction of over 100 buildings designed by these architects. Along with the development of Art Nouveau style, the manufacturing of enamelled brick and glazed tiles started (the plants of V.E. Balasheva, V.F. Lyadova, M.V. Kharlamov etc.). In 1903, 6,000 workers were employed by 47 brick works during the summertime; the production output totalled nearly 200 million bricks a year, with total value of 1.9 million roubles. In the 1920s, the quality of brick dramatically reduced. By 1935, Pobeda plant (established on the basis of Zakharovs' plants) produced 12.5 million bricks a year, by 1941, over 23 million. On the territory on present-day Moskovsky Park Pobedy (Victory Park), the First Brick and Pumice-making Plant has functioned since 1931, producing 10 million bricks a year. After the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45, the production output of brick making plants decreased dramatically and reached the pre-war level only in 1960-65. The stock list of products expanded (to include producing tiles, calcareous bricks and facing bricks). By 2003, the production output of brick making plants has reached 200 million pieces of nominal brick a year (estimated in measurements and weight of a standard structural brick). The major brick manufacturers are Pobeda/ Knauf (Kolpino), Keramika (Kupchino), Etalon (the right bank of the Neva) plants.

References: Список фабрик и заводов Европейской России. СПб., 1903; Саноцкий Т. Ф. Кирпичное производство на р. Неве и ее притоках. СПб., 1904.

A. F. Veksler, D.D. Elshin. Balashova Varvara Egorovna
Kharlamov M.V.
Lipsky Vladimir Alexandrovich
Lyadova V.F.
Pylyaev Mikhail Ivanovich
Shestov Peter Ivanovich
Zakharov A.V.
Список фабрик и заводов Европейской России. СПб., 1903
Саноцкий Т. Ф. Кирпичное производство на р. Неве и ее притоках. СПб., 1904 Obukhovsky Plant
Izhora Plants