White House (Kyshtym)

The estate was founded by Nikita Demidov in 1757 . It is located in the central part of the city of Kyshtym on the elevated bank of the factory pond near the Verkhnekyshtym ironworks (now the Kyshtym machine-building association ). The manor complex occupies a rectangular plot stretching from east to west.

The architectural ensemble of the estate consists of the main house, two outbuildings with towers, a garden and a park, a fence with a gate. All buildings are made of wild stone and brick, plastered. Here is how the manor house is described in a statement compiled in the Kyshtym factory office on November 4, 1762 : “At the same factory there is a manor house with two apartments, it is built by Mr. Demidov’s own peasants of stone and brick, in which house the yard is surrounded by a stone by the wall ... ” The construction of the estate, apparently, was carried out according to the project of Matvey Kazakov , who built a lot for the Demidovs.

In 1809, the merchant L. I. Rastorguev bought the plants. He is rebuilding the main building of the estate in the style of classicism . The architect M.P. Malakhov was invited to reconstruct the building. He remodels the facade of the main building facing the courtyard. The main facade of the house was decorated with a four- column portico of the Corinthian order on a slender arcade .

At the end of the 19th century, P. M. Karpinsky, the manager of the Kyshtym mountain district, creates a museum in the estate, where collections of minerals , ores , as well as art casting were collected. In 1899, D. I. Mendeleev visited the museum during his trip to the Urals. He greatly admired the works of art casting exhibited in the museum. In the "Guide to the Urals", written in 1904 by Victor Vesnovsky , you can find the following description of the museum:

The museum is located in close proximity to the management of factories. There are several museums in the museum: mineralogical, geological, factory and historical. Mineralogical and geological collections are very rich and extensive; they collected thousands of samples of different ores and various kinds of minerals and minerals. Here you can see blocks of emery stone, rich deposits which are located in the vicinity of the plant. Cast iron and iron and steel and iron castings were collected at the factory. Attention is drawn to the artistic casting of cast iron, produced at the Kaslinsky factory. The casting of the finest medals, openwork dishes, busts and statues is very clean and delicate. There are positively excellent things in design and execution. The art of molders is especially visible on small trinkets to the watch and on the watch chains. Cast iron used in Kaslinsky casting contains 0.4% phosphorus. Pour either directly from a blast furnace, or from a cupola. The bed on which the Emperor Alexander I slept during his visit to Yekaterinburg in 1824, staying at the house of the owner of the Kyshtym factory ( Kharitonovsky house ) is stored in the historical department. Here is stored one of the instruments of torture during extra time. It is a kettlebell, up to 4 poods., Like a monastic kamilavka. From this weight there is an iron chain ending in 2 movable brackets. These brackets were put on the neck by the guilty worker or something, locked up and forced to walk or work with a weight.

- Guide to the Urals ^[1]

After 1917, the main building of the estate housed a vocational school and a nursing school. During the Great Patriotic War , the Pedagogical Institute named after Herzen . In 1979, the museum was returned to the main building of the estate.

In 1995, the estate was given the status of a monument of federal significance. In the same year, a competition was held for the best emblem of the city. The project won by Olga Sonina. It served as the basis for the creation of the coat of arms. The White House estate has become a symbol of the city of Kyshtym and is depicted on its coat of arms and flag .

Since 1995, the house has been closed for reconstruction ^{[2] [3]} .

In 2015, it was announced that the restoration would continue with the involvement of a private investor, who “will carry out the restoration of the manor complex, after which a hotel, restaurant and museum will work in it” ^[4] .

• The bright white color of the facades served as the reason why local residents have long called the estate building the “White House” ^[5] .

• Local history portal of the Chelyabinsk region
• South Ural Information Portal
•   Object of cultural heritage No. 7410010000 in the database of the Wikigid project.