The district council building on the capital trends crest

In the early 1900s, artist and critic Alexander Benois was one of the first who spoke about the unique beauty of old St. Petersburg. His articles opened the eyes of his contemporaries, who managed to appreciate the faithful forgotten classic heritage. From that moment appeared the new architecture style — neoclassicism. This movement spread both Russian capitals, Smolensk didn’t stand behind the capital trends. In the neoclassical style by the order of the Smolensk provincial district council in 1906, for placing its services was constructed the building. It is believed that the author of the project was a major Russian architect of the turn of XIX and XX centuries Fyodor Osipovich Shekhtel. F.O. Shekhtel is considered to be the creator of the Russian and Moscow Art Nouveau, all directions of which he embodied in his buildings, but at the same time worked successfully in other architectural styles. In his project in the capital were created more than 50 buildings, most of which have survived to the present day.
Many of the monuments, created by Shekhtel in Moscow, are considered to be the golden fund of domestic architecture and are under the state protection. One of these specially protected masterpieces became the mansion in the English Gothic style, ordered in 1893 by the architect Sava Timofeyevich Morozov for his beloved wife Zinaida Grigоrjevna Morozova, on Spiridonovka 17. The mansion with its towering buildings, pointed arches windows and doors, with battlements on the walls reminded castle. To work on the interior Shekhtel attracted unknown at the time artist Mikhail Vrubel, who adorned the house with sculptures, murals and stained-glass windows. Together, they managed to create an architectural masterpiece. Moscow has received one of the most beautiful buildings, and Shekhtel has become a popular Moscow architect. It is believed that the Morozov’s house is one of the inverse images of Bulgakov’s Margarita house, on the second floor of the mansion there is a large window from which, perhaps, «Margarita flew away.»
Someway the district council building, located in the city of Smolensk, October Revolution Street, h. 1/2 is connected with Mikhail Bulgakov. It was here in September 1916 a young doctor was set to work in Sychevsky County. In the affairs of the State Archives of the Smolensk region there is a document, which says: «State Authority Governorate sends at command of the Sheading State for a temporary supplying of the local police officer free vacancy in the sheading, who was sent at command of the State Authority Governorate’s doctor… Mikhail Afanasievich Bulgakov …». Later in this letter are given instructions to pay the doctor Bulgakov fee, «which is assigned to the county doctors invited by the Sheading State, it means 125 rubles. … And additionally to salary, which doctor Bulgakov received from the military department, the Provincial Council deemed necessary to pay the doctor 185 rubles a month when traveling by state. »
In 1941-1943 a district council building was badly damaged. It was restored in 1951. Today the building is an object of cultural heritage.