Yard Keeper

Categories / City Services/Housing and Communal Services
YARD KEEPERS, until the mid-18th century, holders of hostelries, afterwards, they were house workers. In the 18th century the yard keeper’s duty was to clean the yard and the territories adjacent to the house. Yard-keepers served as watchmen as well. As a rule, yard-keepers were of peasant origin; they came to St. Petersburg for money and stayed in the city. By the early 19th century, the apron was the indispensable attribute of the yard-keeper's uniform, and in the mid-19th century, a badge with the number of the block was added. In the 19th century, yard-keepers were hired to work in residential buildings, state institutions, hotels, restaurants, furnished apartment buildings, etc. In addition to cleaning the yard and the street it was the yard-keeper's duty to monitor residents and their guests, whose behaviour they reported to the landlord and the police. For a small extra pay they were allowed to provide various services to residents, such as chopping wood and fetching water, etc. In 1881 there were over 18,900 household servants (yard-keepers and porters) in St. Petersburg, in 1900 the number exceeded 23,400 and in the 1910s reached 60,000. After 1917, the system of hiring yard-keepers and their duties did not change. Since the 1940s, they were provided on-the-job residence (without the permanent certificate of domicile). A yard-keeper served one or two buildings, had to close the gates for the night and open if a resident rang the bell. Since the late 1950s teams of yard-keepers served several apartment buildings. In the 1970s, the job of the yard-keeper helped many workers of the arts who were left without their jobs. After 1991 the yard-keeper profession helped employ many people. By 2002 there was a shortage of yard-keepers in St. Petersburg.

Reference: Даль В. И. Петербургский дворник // Петербург в русском очерке XIX века. Л., 1984. С. 71-80.

I. A. Bogdanov. Даль В. И. Петербургский дворник // Петербург в русском очерке XIX века. Л., 1984