Kechekyan Mansion

The mansion on Nakhichevan-on-Don Boulevard Square was built in the third quarter of the 19th century (the initial address is Boulevard Square, house 7 ^[3] ). The supervision of its construction was conducted by the city architect N. N. Durbakh . From the documents it is known that at least since 1886 the house belonged to the tradesman Olga Tarasovna Khodzhaeva. In 1894, Khodjaeva sold her estate for 8 thousand rubles in silver to Iskuga Khacheresovna Kechekyan (nee Aladzhalova), the wife of the doctor Fedor (Astvatsatur) Stepanovich Kechekyan ^[4] .

In the mansion, the Kechekian spouses lived with their children. Iskugi Khacheresovna Kechekyan was a member of the Armenian Women's Charity Society "Care" and a member of the board of "Nakhichevan N-D. Nikolaev charity society of the allowance to the poor. ". Her brother is an artist M. Kh. Aladzhalov. Fedor Stepanovich Kechekyan was a city doctor, vowel of the City Council of Nakhichevan-on-Don, a member of the Financial Commission of the City Council, a member of the Hospital Commission of the City Council, a member of the Nakhichevan Armenian Charity Society, a member of the board of the Nakhchivan Department of the Rescue Society on the Waters, a member of the Board of Trustees Catherine’s Gymnasium, a member of the Board of Trustees of the "Women's Commercial Courses", holder of the Order of St. Anna of the third degree.

After the advent of Soviet power, the mansion was nationalized. In 1926 (according to other sources - in 1929) the building housed the A. Pushkin Children's Library ^[1] .

One-story mansion with a high basement with the main facade facing the Freedom Square. In the east, Sagirov’s mansion adjoins the house . Behind Kechekian’s house, there is a courtyard, where previously there were farm buildings: a glacier, horse carriage and stable. The front facade has a classic order composition. Extreme clasps are accented by pilaster portals. Four central window openings decorated with platbands and baroque sandriks . The main entrance is located on the left side, the original wooden door has been preserved to our time. At the beginning of the 20th century, a dome with a spire was built over the entrance hall (now lost; see photo on the right) ^[1] .

The rooms of the mansion were arranged in two rows: along the main and along the courtyard facades. Three windows of the central hall overlooked the main facade. An office and a living room adjoined the hall. The library and other living rooms were facing the courtyard. The ground floor had a separate entrance from the courtyard. An office was located there, where the doctor F. S. Kechekyan received patients. From the side of the courtyard a small veranda adjoined the mansion ^[1] .

In a document of 1894, the house is described as follows: “an immovable estate in Nakhichevan n / a on Boulevard Square under No. 7 and consisting in a two-story stone house with stone outbuildings and courtyard land by which measure: ten square meters and two arshins in size and twenty-five fathoms in the courtyard, all without a trace, in the neighborhood of the estates of Sagirov and Khodzhaev ” ^[4] .