Before building his own house, Pavel Grigoryevich Chkalov, the father of the famous heroic pilot, lived with his family in an apartment. At the same time, in the winter they had to share the same room with the owners, which was especially difficult given that the family had two children.
In 1886, Chkalov senior decided to build his own house. The place was chosen on the steep bank of the Volga on Voskresenskaya, or, as it was also called, Vasilyeva Gora. Pavel Grigoryevich hired a team of carpenters and transported a timber float full of pinewood along the Unzha River. The foundation of the house was laid just 25–30 meters from the edge of the cliff, and a garden and a vegetable garden were supposed to be behind the building.
Under the first row of logs, according to an old custom, a silver fifty kopeck coin was placed on a stone pillar of the eastern foundation corner. This ritual was believed to bring money. The house was constructed while keeping in mind future generations, so it was solid and well-built.
The building had five walls. The bearing wall divided the house into two parts — clean and black. The clean half overlooked the Volga. It housed a hall, a living room, and a children’s room. The windows of the black half overlooked the garden, and this part of the house was occupied by a kitchen, a bedroom, and a dining room.
From one end of the house, a front porch made of oak splits was added, the so-called “Slavic passage”, with doors on two sides. The other end of the house was adjoined by pantries in a log cabin with a back door to the garden and the street. The house was topped with an iron roof, revetted with furring and painted on the outside, and plastered on the inside.
Pavel Grigoryevich decided to use the spacious attic for a warm mezzanine made from a barge board with internal and external plastering. The entrance to that area lay through a spiral staircase. On the other side of the mezzanine, which overlooked the Volga, there was a balcony.
Shortly after the house was built, the pantries were converted into a kitchen, and the black part of the house became a clean one. In this half, the floor was covered with patterned colored linoleum. The floor in the hall was covered with sailcloth, and a house-painter made it look like oak parquet. All the doors were covered with oil paints to imitate oak, and the walls in the hall were given the faux marble effect.
To heat the adjoining bedroom and dining room, Chkalov’s father ordered a special stove from Saint Petersburg, lined with corrugated and embossed iron. The stoves in the hall and the nursery were lined with tiles. The furniture was not particularly elegant, and still it was solid and durable, made mostly from dark stained oak. Around the house were flowers in big planters.
Over the years, the layout of the house has changed. That task fell to Valery Pavlovich Chkalov after the death of his father. So, on his initiative in 1936, an extensive front porch was added to the house from the Volga side.
In 1886, Chkalov senior decided to build his own house. The place was chosen on the steep bank of the Volga on Voskresenskaya, or, as it was also called, Vasilyeva Gora. Pavel Grigoryevich hired a team of carpenters and transported a timber float full of pinewood along the Unzha River. The foundation of the house was laid just 25–30 meters from the edge of the cliff, and a garden and a vegetable garden were supposed to be behind the building.
Under the first row of logs, according to an old custom, a silver fifty kopeck coin was placed on a stone pillar of the eastern foundation corner. This ritual was believed to bring money. The house was constructed while keeping in mind future generations, so it was solid and well-built.
The building had five walls. The bearing wall divided the house into two parts — clean and black. The clean half overlooked the Volga. It housed a hall, a living room, and a children’s room. The windows of the black half overlooked the garden, and this part of the house was occupied by a kitchen, a bedroom, and a dining room.
From one end of the house, a front porch made of oak splits was added, the so-called “Slavic passage”, with doors on two sides. The other end of the house was adjoined by pantries in a log cabin with a back door to the garden and the street. The house was topped with an iron roof, revetted with furring and painted on the outside, and plastered on the inside.
Pavel Grigoryevich decided to use the spacious attic for a warm mezzanine made from a barge board with internal and external plastering. The entrance to that area lay through a spiral staircase. On the other side of the mezzanine, which overlooked the Volga, there was a balcony.
Shortly after the house was built, the pantries were converted into a kitchen, and the black part of the house became a clean one. In this half, the floor was covered with patterned colored linoleum. The floor in the hall was covered with sailcloth, and a house-painter made it look like oak parquet. All the doors were covered with oil paints to imitate oak, and the walls in the hall were given the faux marble effect.
To heat the adjoining bedroom and dining room, Chkalov’s father ordered a special stove from Saint Petersburg, lined with corrugated and embossed iron. The stoves in the hall and the nursery were lined with tiles. The furniture was not particularly elegant, and still it was solid and durable, made mostly from dark stained oak. Around the house were flowers in big planters.
Over the years, the layout of the house has changed. That task fell to Valery Pavlovich Chkalov after the death of his father. So, on his initiative in 1936, an extensive front porch was added to the house from the Volga side.
