Architect Ivan Charushin was born

Architect Ivan Apollonovich Charushin was born into a family of an official in the town of Orlov, Vyatka Governorate, on February 24 (March 9), 1862.

In 1873 Ivan Charushin graduated from the Orlov special-training school. In 1877 he entered the Vyatka agricultural and technical school, and when it was closed he went on to attend the open practical school (known as ‘realschule’) in 1880. In 1884–1888 he studied architecture at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. As a student of the academy he was awarded several silver academic medals in architecture.

After graduation under the guidance of Professor A. N. Pomerantsev he worked on the project of the Upper Trading Rows (‘GUM’, the State Department Store) in Moscow. For ‘GUM’ and ‘Embassy House’ projects Ivan Charushin was awarded titles of architect-artist of the second and first class.

Having submitted a completed project to the Academy of Arts, Ivan Charushin received documents for a trip to Sakhalin at the Construction Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and in the summer of 1890 he left St. Petersburg and set off for the island. Two months later, travelling by sea through the Suez Canal past Japan he reached Alexandrovsky post. In accordance with the order of the head of the island, General V. O. Konovich No. 456 of October 27 (November 8), 1890 he was offered the post of engineer-architect of the island. The duties of the architect on the island included: control over the state-owned buildings - prisons and military posts, restoration work and construction of new buildings, preparation of settlement plans, street maintenance and road construction. He spent most of his time travelling. The manual labour of convicts was used there. All the buildings were made of wood. No other building materials other than wood and occasionally natural stone were used in construction.

While working in Sakhalin in 1890–1893 Ivan Charushin gained experience as an architect-designer and acquired practical skills in building. Works of the beginner, who later became a famous Russian architect, were different: from the search for building materials and construction of the first brick factory on the island to the erection of churches, houses and production facilities. According to historian A. I. Kostanov, one of the first major works of Ivan Charushin in Alexandrovsky post was the design of the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God. It was an outstanding example of wooden architecture of the 19th century. The church in Alexandrovsky post was built in 1893 and was solemnly consecrated in June. The church building has not survived.

Charushin did a lot of design work in Sakhalin – up to fifty projects per year. Due to the lack of qualified draftsmen, he had to do all the work himself and supervise the construction. Before architect Charushin’s arrival, there were no buildings made of brick in Sakhalin. The attempts to find building materials on the island were successful. The architect found deposits of limestone and marl (clay). The first brick building in Alexandrovsky post in Sakhalin was a small stone chapel without an altar built in 1891 "in memory of the deliverance of His Imperial Majesty Nikolay Alexandrovich (Nicholas II) from threatening danger during his trip to Japan when he was an heir". The chapel was built in 1893 and consecrated in August 1894 shortly before the accession of Nicholas II to the Russian throne.

In May 1891, by the personal order of General V. O. Kononovich, Ivan Charushin was sent on a mission to Vladivostok to arrange an exhibition in honor of the arrival of the heir to the Russian throne, future Tsar Nicholas II, in the city. The heir was satisfied and expressed his gratitude to the organizers of the exhibition. Ivan Charushin received a gold watch with a monogram and a name of the heir on it as a gift.

The most significant construction project Charushin was in charge of while in Sakhalin was Alexandrovsky dock for ships. His other works had industrial purpose: a boiler house, a carpenter's workshop, a smithy, a shed for keeping boats in winter, a coal warehouse at the Alexandrovsky prison mine etc. He also took part in renovation of houses of Sakhalin officials. By order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of August 31 (September 12), 1893 Ivan Charushin was appointed acting provincial architect of the Vyatka Governorate Construction Department.

In the middle of October 1893 Charushin left the island on ship Yaroslavl. On January 11 (23), 1894 at the meeting of members of the St. Petersburg Society of Architects, Ivan Charushin made a report on the construction activities in Sakhalin and presented an extensive collection of photographs. He then lived in Vyatka (now Kirov). Throughout his 50-year career he had completed roughly 500 architectural projects. Many of them still define the architectural appearance of Kirov and other cities.

Ivan Charushin died on July 29, 1945. He was buried at the Lobanovskoye cemetery in Kirov. A monument with a bust of Charushin, made by M. M. Koshkin, a sculptor from Kirov, Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR, was erected at his grave.

Lit.: Борисова В. Г. Архитектор Иван Аполлонович Чарушин – житель поста Александровский // Библиотечное краеведение в Сахалинской области: состояние и перспективы. Александровск-Сахалинский, 2003. С. 74–80; Зырин Б. В. Архитектор Чарушин. Киров, 1989; Охотникова Ю. В. Культовые постройки на Дальнем Востоке И. А. Чарушина и А. Н. Померанцева // Третьи Гродековские чтения. Хабаровск, 2001. Ч. 2. С. 253–257; Пост Александровский глазами современников : (буклет). Александровск-Сахалинский, 2002; Захарова Г. Зазвучит ли музыка? // Молодая гвардия. 1991. 29 янв.; Храмы Сахалина и Курил / текст А. Костанова и О. Кузнецова. Южно-Сахалинск, 2000. С. 18–22.

The material was provided by the Sakhalin Regional Universal Research Library