Another Historic Building in Kazan May Lose Protected Status
Kazan heritage activists are outraged by another case where a historic building may be denied monument status due to an expert«s conclusions. It emerged that the review was conducted by the same specialist whose findings previously jeopardized the house where Leninist revolutionary Mullanur Vakhitov was born. This was reported by the Tatarstan Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments (Tatarstan Regional Branch of VOOPIK).
This time, the value of the Gurevich House, built in 1881, was called into question. The building is located at the corner of Astronomicheskaya and Ostrovsky streets.
The Gurevich House is located at Astronomicheskaya 18/6. It was built in 1881 to a design by architect P.I. Romanov. It is considered an example of late 19th-century urban residential architecture. Over the years, it has housed market stalls, residential quarters, merchant Shamov«s bakery, and dentist Burlyand»s office. To date, the building is not included in the unified state register of cultural heritage sites (OKN).
The expert review, which recommends against including the house in the cultural heritage register, was prepared by Alexander Martynov. He completed the work on January 13, 2026, and the document is now under discussion.
The Tatarstan VOOPIK branch wrote an outraged letter to the OKN protection committee.
«This is not the first, and unfortunately not even the 10th negative conclusion by this expert. Such a »purge« of the Republic of Tatarstan»s identified OKN register raises concerns among Society members, which is why we sent an official letter to the Republic of Tatarstan«s Committee for the Protection of OKN disagreeing with the conclusions of expert A.F. Martynov,» community representatives stated in their Telegram channel.
They noted that Martynov assessed the object«s value based on the scientific concept of Honored Architect Oleg Prutsin, according to which the Gurevich House largely meets the necessary criteria for value. Yet in the final conclusion, the expert still gave a negative verdict.
Assistant to the Head of the Republic of Tatarstan Olesya Baltusova joined the discussion.
«With such heritage experts, we»ll soon be left without any heritage. I hope someone raises this question today at the state body«s collegium,» she wrote in her Telegram channel, «Heritage of Cities» (the OKN protection committee is holding a collegium on January 23 to summarize the year«s work).
Heritage activists had already drawn attention to Martynov«s work regarding the house on Petersburgskaya Street where Leninist revolutionary Mullanur Vakhitov was born. The expert concluded that the building no longer held its former value and proposed removing it from the OKN register.
The Tatarstan Committee for OKN intervened in the situation and promised to return the expert review for revision after public discussion. The committee itself commissioned the expert review.
