There are many countries on our planet, and therefore it is not surprising that the names of settlements, some urban or geographical objects are often repeated. A vivid example is Moscow. In addition to the capital of Russia, another 21 cities bear this name: one each in India, Canada and Scotland, and, surprisingly, in 18 different states of the USA. So the White Tower urban facility is available in Thessaloniki, London and Yekaterinburg.
Incredibly sought after name
The structure discussed in this article is presented in the photo below. This is the White Tower (Yekaterinburg). And although she is very far from the concept of “tourist attraction”, since the original structure, unique architectural monument is in an ugly state, the local attraction is known throughout the country. Such popularity was brought to her by the nearby Belaya Tower automobile market (Yekaterinburg); in the 90s, it was the largest trading platform for cars throughout the CIS. Maybe such fame will still help in restoring an unusual object, a vivid representative of a peculiar architectural style - constructivism.
New time - a new architectural style
In other cities of Russia, few monuments built in this architectural style have been preserved. Yekaterinburg is a peculiar capital of constructivism. A lot of objects (Iset Hotel and the Builders Club, Dynamo stadium house-ship and the Museum of History and Archeology, the Chekist town, the Printing House and the Office House - all in all) located in the city center probably give him the right to neglect non-functional structure. And the water tower (the unofficial symbol of Uralmash) was very beautiful and located in a good place: it seemed to close the prospect of Kultury Avenue. But the huge building of the recreation center UZTM, built in 1970, took on the role of the final element of this avenue, completely blocking the view from the area of the First Five-Year Plan.
The tragedy of ownerless objects
It is completely incomprehensible why for 80 years no one cared about such an interesting object as the White Tower. Yekaterinburg faithfully exploits the brand, in the city there are dozens of different societies and organizations, shops and insurance companies with this recognizable name. But, besides the indignation that the object is being destroyed, the city is dishonored by foreigners, there are no shifts towards its reconstruction. The tower was even given a nasty name that explains what it is a museum of.
And at the same time, the annual architectural festival held in Yekaterinburg since 2010 is given such a popular name in the city. And the building is not even guarded, and it is not surprising that sometimes the White Tower (Yekaterinburg) becomes the center of criminal scandals and showdowns. Such an attitude towards one of the visiting cards of the city on the part of residents is unfair. The use of the name by the car market alone has hundreds of times blocked the funds needed to restore the architectural monument.
The objective need for construction
The history of the White Tower (Yekaterinburg) is interesting and sad. It arose simultaneously with the
Ural Heavy Engineering Plant (in March 1928, immediately after the liberation of the city from Kolchak, the first stone of the plant was laid) and was called the Water Tower of UZTM. It was located in the Ordzhonikidze district of the city - then Sverdlovsk. She was needed by shock workers. Water was brought to the social town for the needs of residents by horses. In 1928, with the support of the chief engineer of Uralmash V. Fidler, a competition was held. Constructivism - a style characterized by rigor, geometry, laconic forms and monolithic appearance, was in great fashion. The sketch of V.M. Reisher won. The structure was erected on a hill, its own height is 29 meters. All this made the tower dominant over the surrounding territory.
The start went wrong
A beautiful modern facility, the White Tower (Yekaterinburg), personified a bright future. The building was bleached with lime and immediately received the appropriate name among the people, different from the official one. Despite the fact that amendments taking into account safety measures were made by V. Fidler himself (the condition that the tank should be only metal, and the need for additional legs under it), there were some troubles. In the manufacture of the huge, largest at that time in the world (in Soviet Russia there was such an understandable weakness, because the
country itself
is the largest in the world), a completely new technology was applied. Welding seams replaced the rivet, but the tank did not pass the first test, and 750 cubic meters of water poured down from a 29-meter height down through a torn bottom. Not only did this cause the untimely death of the wonderful man Vladimir Fedorovich Fidler, but death saved him from the fate of the “enemy of the people." The building, however, after correcting the errors taken into account, was restored and successfully operated until 1960.
White tower today
An abandoned object is what the White Tower (Yekaterinburg) has been since then. Her address: st. Donbasskaya, d. 1. In 1993, the car market “At the White Tower” appeared at the foot of an abandoned facility. And after he received his first visitors, this trading company regularly increased year by year, new points of sale of spare parts, service facilities appeared. Now at the same address is a huge auto show "White Tower". Yekaterinburg officially opened this complex in 2013.
Occupying 13,000 square meters meters, designed for 700 cars, the White Tower autocall is the central automobile platform of Yekaterinburg and the Sverdlovsk Region. It is located next to the famous White Tower Market. The three-story car dealership contains 9 service units, 1 tire fitting and 4 washing. Thanks to this largest enterprise, the name of the abandoned object is well known to everyone. Maybe this will help draw the attention of the authorities to him and move the problem of an interesting historical monument off the ground.