Common Lodging-houses (entry)

Categories / City Services/Housing and Communal Services
COMMON LODGING-HOUSES (commonly known as "nochlezhkas"). Special lodging for overnight stay for the homeless, appeared in St. Petersburg on the initiative of the Police. The Society for Affordable Housing and Provision of Other Aids to Poor Citizens of St. Petersburg was established In 1859. Apartments in houses at 5 Peskov Street and 12th Rota of the Izmailovsky Regiment, to which the homeless moved from garrets and basements, were rented by charitable contribution. In 1873, the first common lodging-house was opened by curator Y.D. Zasetskaya on the Obvodny Canal Embankment. In March 1873, a common lodging-house organized by the Society of Common Lodging-Houses and Shelters for the Working Class was opened in the courtyard of Building No. 14 of the 2nd Rota of the Izmailovsky Regiment. Its lodgers left their outer-wear at the gate-house, and received a pass with a bed number on it. Each bedroom had plank-beds with bast-filled buckram pillows and baize blankets. Smoking tobacco was allowed, consumption of strong alcoholic drinks was not. A five-kopek fee was taken per night’s stay, and a portion of chowder with bread. In 1883, on the initiative of Dr. N.N. Dvoryashin, the Common Lodging-House Society was created in St. Petersburg, and the first common lodging-house for 70 residents was opened the same year in a building located at the corner of Schlisselburgsky Ave. and the Neva Embankment. The second common lodging-house was set up in the reconstructed Prince Vyazemsky Residence at 79 Fontanka River Embankment. Its lodgers got half a pound of bread and a bowl of soup in the evening and half a pound of bread and a cup of tea with sugar in the morning. Considerable sums were donated for the needs of common lodging-houses by members of the Imperial family, including John of Kronstadt, F.K. San Galli, P.P. Demidov and others. In 1895, there were 14 common lodging-houses in St. Petersburg, and by 1910, the number reached 34. From 1909, they all came under the supervision of the Sanitary Committee. The biggest common lodging-house, with 813 beds, was located at 145 Obvodny Canal Embankment (1867, architect N.A. Haselmeyer). After October 1917, common lodging-houses were liquidated, and violations of the passport system's rules (including vagrancy) were prosecuted by law until 1992. In 1990, the Nochlezhka Charitable Foundation was opened in Leningrad to render assistance to the homeless. A free cafeteria for the homeless was opened in 1993, and the city's first shelter opened in 1994. The law On Prophylactics of Homelessness in St. Petersburg, developed by the Nochlezhka Foundation, was adopted in 1997, and the first Russian City Office for the Registration of Russian Federation Citizens without a Permanent Place of Residence was formed. Since September 1994, the Foundation has been publishing the Na Dne (At the Bottom) newspaper, distributed by the homeless themselves, which helps them earn a living. In 1998, the Nochlezhka Foundation organized the 26th shelter for 70 homeless people at Sinopskaya Embankment.

Reference: Ночлежные приюты в С.-Петербурге // Всемир. иллюстрация. 1873. Т. 10, No. 8. С. 123-125; [Дмитревский И. Д.]. Пятидесятилетие Высочайше утвержденного ... Общества доставления дешевых квартир и других пособий нуждающимся жителям С.-Петербурга: Крат. очерк из истории обществ. благотворительности, 1859-1909. СПб., 1910; Лебина Н. Б., Шкаровский М. В. Проституция в Петербурге (40-е гг. XIX в.-40-е гг. ХХ в.). М., 1994. С. 32-33.

I. A. Bogdanov, E.P. Bogoslovskaya. Demidov Pavel Pavlovich
Haselmeyer Nikolay Alexandrovich
San Galli Franz Karlovich (Franz Friedrich Wilhelm)
Sergiyev (Kronshtadsky) Ioann Ilyich, the Saint
Vyazemskie, Princes
Vyazemsky Peter Andreevich, Duke
Zasetskaya Yu.D.
Fontanka River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 79
Obvodny Canal Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 145
Obvodny Canal Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city
Shlisselburgsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Ночлежные приюты в С.-Петербурге // Всемир. иллюстрация, 1873
Шкаровский М. В., Лебина Н. Б. Проституция в Петербурге (40-е гг. XIX в. - 40-е гг. ХХ в.). М., 1994
[Дмитревский И. Д.] Пятидесятилетие Высочайше утвержденного ... Общества доставления дешевых квартир и других пособий нуждающимся жителям С.-Петербурга: Крат. очерк из истории обществ. благотворительности, 1859-1909. СПб., 1910 Nochlezhka (Shelter), a charitable foundation
1873