DOI 10.51255/2311–603X_2025_3_187

S. V. Bondarev. The Activities of the Gatchina and Peterhof Palace Administrations at the
Beginning of the 20th Century // Petersburg Historical Journal, no. 3, 2025, pp. 187–197

Abstract:

The famous suburbs of St. Petersburg — Peterhof and Gatchina — had the status of palace towns
at the beginning of the 20th century and were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Imperial Court. The purpose of this article is to study the management system and organization of the economy of two settlements in the 1900s as a separate type of urban settlements. The study is devoted to a little-known side of the activities of suburban Palace Administrations, which, along with servicing the royal palace complexes, were engaged in the development of urban infrastructure and were responsible for all aspects of the life of settlements that were part of the suburban imperial residences. An appeal to the history of the development of two cities of
the Court Department provides for consideration of the features of construction development, communal and gardening, public safety and other aspects. The analysis of interaction of senior officials of various departments with ordinary employees, the mode of work of services in directions, the specifics of work of architects, police chiefs, custodians, fire chiefs, fountain attendants and representatives of other professions allows to present a picture of everyday life in suburbs with a special status. As a result of the work, the features of economic activity of Peterhof and Gatchina palace administrations as bodies engaged in provision of royal residences and towns near them are revealed. Scientific novelty lies in a comprehensive consideration of organizational and administrative work on management of economy of two palace towns and issues of organization of economy and urban economy of Peterhof and Gatchina at the beginning of the 20th century. The study will allow to supplement the picture of the national system of organization and management in the Russian Empire, to make a contribution to the study of history of cities of the Russian Empire. Also, the article contains new information for studying the history of palace and park ensembles in Peterhof and Gatchina.

Key words: Ministry of the Imperial Court, Nicholas II, Peterhof, Gatchina, Palace Administration, royal residence, city, palace, Alexandria, Russian Empire.

Author:

Bondarev, Sergey Viktorovich — Candidate of Historical Sciences, Head of the Exhibition
Service, Peterhof State Museum-Reserve; Research Fellow, St. Petersburg Institute of History, Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg, Russia).
E-mail: evr@peterhofmuseum.ru

References:

Efimov, A. A. Deyatel’nost’ Ministerstva imperatorskogo dvora po gradostroitel’nomu razvitiyu Petergofa pri Nikolae I [Activities of the Ministry of the Imperial Court for the Urban Development of Peterhof under Nicholas I. In Russ.]. In Peterburgskii istoricheskii zhurnal. 2018. No. 3 (19), pp. 25–35.

Efimov, A. A. Osobennosti soglasovaniya remontno-stroitel’nykh rabot v Gatchine v kontse XIX — nachale XX vekov [Features of the Approval of Repair and Construction Works in Gatchina in the Late 19th — Early 20th Centuries. In Russ.]. In Uchenye zapiski Novgorodskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. 2021. No. 6 (39), pp. 617–620.

Efimov, A. A. Regulirovanie i kontrol’ chastnoi zastroiki v Gatchine v 1830–1840-h gg.: razreshitel’nye protsedury [Regulation and Control of Private Construction in Gatchina in the 1830–1840s: Permitting Procedures. In Russ.]. In Peterburgskii istoricheskii zhurnal. 2017. No. 1 (13), pp. 50–59.

Gushchin, V. I. Istoriya Petergofa i ego zhitelei [History of Peterhof and its Inhabitants. In Russ.]. Book 1. St. Petersburg, 2001. 510 p.

Khoruzhaya, T. I. Pervye shagi v elektrifikatsii Aleksandrii [The First Steps in the Electrification of
Alexandria. In Russ.]. In Dvortsy i tekhnika: sbornik statei po materialam nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii GMZ “Petergof”. St. Petersburg, GMZ “Petergof”, 2021. P. 168–178.

Tikhonravova, Z. B. Telefonnaya set’ obshchestvennogo pol’zovaniya v imperatorskom Petergofe [Public Telephone Network in Imperial Peterhof. In Russ.]. In Dvortsy i tekhnika: sbornik statei po materialam nauchnoprakticheskoi konferentsii GMZ “Petergof”. St. Petersburg, GMZ “Petergof”, 2021. P. 150–167.

Uzhgerenas, M. P. Poslednyaya letnyaya rezidentsiya imperatora Nikolaya II: rol’ inzhenernoi infrastruktury v formirovanii kompleksa “Nizhnyaya dacha” v parke “Aleksandriya” v Petergofe [The Last Summer Residence of Emperor Nicholas II: the Role of Engineering Infrastructure in the Formation of the Lower Dacha Complex in the Alexandria Park in Peterhof. In Russ.]. In Urbanistika. 2018. No. 1, pp. 14–29.

Zimin, I. V. Aleksandrovskii dvorets v Tsarskom sele: lyudi i steny [Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo: People and Walls. In Russ.]. St. Petersburg, Tsentrpoligraf, 2015. 636 p.

Zimin, I. V. Anichkov dvorets: rezidentsiya naslednikov prestola [Anichkov Palace: Residence of the Heirs to the Throne. In Russ.]. Moscow, Tsentrpoligraf, 2019. 624 p.

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