In 2012, underground local historians in Samara found a system of dungeons connecting several houses and having access to an old two-level basement.
For several years, the purpose of the dungeons remained a mystery to our team, but further study of the system and work with the archives allowed us to learn the history of one of the oldest city dungeons.
As we found out from archival documents, the cellars were related to the largest private power plant in Samara by the merchant of the first guild V. M. Suroshnikov and the history of their use was very interesting.
Vasily Mikhailovich Suroshnikov (1863-1923) - a representative of a prominent merchant dynasty in Samara. He was engaged in the grain trade, kept lettuce, factories for the production of starch and soap, bakeries, smithies, shops, mills and more than 54,000 acres of land.
In addition, Suroshnikov was one of the largest homeowners in Samara. Until 1917 he owned 16 apartment buildings, as well as the Bristol and National hotels.
In the late 1880s, electricity was used to replace kerosene and gas in Samara. The first public power plant was built in 1900. However, it was weak and could not serve the needs of the entire city, especially its remote parts. In addition, there were occasional power outages.
For this reason, wealthy residents of the city and many enterprises built private diesel or steam power plants for themselves, of which there were up to fifty in the city. Even some sawmills and mills were lit with diesels.
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City power station.
In 1910, V. M. Suroshnikov appealed to the city council with a request to permit the construction of "stone two-storey services with a basement" in his yard in the 39th quarter.
Permission was given and the station was soon built. However, the city government, in an effort to maintain the monopoly on electricity, specifically stipulated that the homeowner can only drain electricity into their own homes and buildings that the city power plant cannot supply.
Plan of the projected building, 1910.
Suroshnikov, however, neglected this condition and soon began selling electricity to his neighbors in Dvoryanskaya and other streets of the city. By 1911, he already had 50 subscribers.
In 1915, in the same courtyard, V. M. Suroshnikov built a five-story apartment building, which he also connected to the power plant
Tunnel under the National Hotel.
The station had three diesel engines - two regular and one spare, three generators, a distribution, an overhead crane and two furnaces.
In total, the station could generate 210 kVA. It also provided a pump for an artesian well, which was located in the basement and provided water for the National Hotel and the apartment building.
The staff of the enterprise consisted of 15 people - machinists, oilmen, several electrical engineers and watchmen.
Cellars of the Suroshnikov power plant.
Here, apparently, there was a refrigerator.
After the revolution, apparently, the power plant was used for some time, but in 1924 it was abolished as unnecessary, the equipment was transferred to the explosives plant in Trotsk (Chapayevsk) in exchange for steam boilers for the Samara CHP.
Former ZKP air defense of the city.
During the years of Soviet power, a spare air defense command post was located in the basements of the National Hotel, and a civil bomb shelter under the former tenement building.
Exit to the house.
In some places, mold grows on the walls.
Today, the station has preserved an impressive system of cellars connecting the hotel, the apartment building, the former service building and the attached residential building. Most of the premises are empty, some are rented by a restaurant and a sports club.
Here is such a non-standard local history. I hope you enjoyed our little trip to the Samara dungeons!
Text and photos by Rhenium75 for the NordSkif & Co project
