Olisov Chambers (Levin House) is a monument of urban planning and architecture in the historic district of Zapochaine (Ilyinskaya Sloboda) of Nizhny Novgorod. Built in 1676. Together with the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, they form an architectural ensemble of the posad (settlement) development of Nizhny Novgorod in the 17th century.

The Olisov family originated in the 16th century: Zhdanko Olisov was a zemsky clerk and in 1572 made binding records on the residents of Nizhny Novgorod. In 1666, Afanasy Olisov, a descendant of the clerk, took the position of head of customs in Nizhny Novgorod, and two years later became a major supplier of grain to Moscow.

In 1672, Olisov arrived in Astrakhan, where he managed the tsar’s salt and fish industries. Proof of his successful service was that he remained in the position for four years instead of the usual one year at that time. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich fully trusted the Nizhny Novgorod native with his lower-level industries, who regularly supplied salt, fish, caviar, and dried fish in the required quantities to the Kremlin’s Zhitny Dvor. On the night of January 29 to 30, 1676, Alexei Mikhailovich died. On June 16, his son Fyodor III Alekseyevich ascended the throne. During court intrigues, Olisov was removed from service in Astrakhan and summoned to personally answer before the young tsar in Moscow. Preparing for departure, Olisov gathered large cash valuables to bribe the capital’s officials and freed himself from accusations of personal enrichment during state service. After leaving for Nizhny Novgorod, he ordered his steward Vasily Andreyev to sell all his property in Astrakhan.

Upon arriving in Nizhny Novgorod, Olisov delayed his departure to the capital. At that time, the city was experiencing a period of mass ruin of the posad population due to excessive state levies. The community “as a whole” persuaded Olisov to become the zemsky elder, and upon learning of his upcoming meeting with the tsar, convinced him to convey the troubles of the Nizhny Novgorod posad, thanks to which the Romanov family had recently risen. Olisov went to Moscow as the full representative of the entire city. He managed to bribe the tsar’s personal advisor, the duma clerk Dementy Bashmachnikov, and the state treasurer Ivan Kamynin, who inclined the tsar favorably toward the Nizhny Novgorod native. The meeting with the tsar was extremely successful: Olisov received the highest merchant rank, again became the manager of the Astrakhan-Yaitsk industries, and all debts of Nizhny Novgorod to the treasury were canceled. A. F. Olisov was publicly proclaimed the “father and protector” of the city.

During the events of the summer of 1676, near the Assumption Church on Ilyinskaya Hill, built in 1672 with Olisov’s funds, stone chambers were erected that corresponded to the merchant’s elevated status. The construction was led by Olisov’s son, also named Afanasy by his parents.

In the 1915 lists of cultural heritage objects, it was noted that the chambers belonged to a certain Mr. Levin, but later it was found that this was an erroneous claim, since according to more accurate data from 1918, on the eve of nationalization, the house belonged to Levina. In 1976, during the development of the restoration project, the question was raised whether it was correct to consider Afanasy Firsovich Olisov the owner of the chambers. In 1999, in the essay “Every Family is Famous and Glorious,” local historian Filatov first named the masons who built the chambers — Andrey and Mikhail Grigoryev — however, there are no archival documents confirming this information.

Currently, the chambers have two floors, but originally at least one more log floor was built above the stone part, as it was believed that living in thick-walled brick buildings was harmful to health. Historical data about the wooden part of the chambers has not been preserved, so it was not restored during the renovation. Presumably, the building had a high barrel-shaped or four-sloped roof with shelves called a “kolpak,” under which were the living chambers of the women’s half of the house. On the roof ridges were pierced combs. The stove pipes were decorated in the form of whimsical “teremki” (small towers). The facade was decorated with thin glazed tiles made in the form of stamped gingerbreads.

The first floor of the chambers was service-oriented. It housed storerooms, kitchens, and the steward’s chamber, which is why it had few small window openings, closed at night with wrought iron shutters. Only one corner chamber on the first floor had two windows framed with pointed arch casings. All windows of the residential second floor were decorated with pointed arch casings made of special shaped bricks. Connected together, they formed a carpet-like belt that highlighted the residential part of the chambers.

From the square of the Assumption Church, a grand staircase led to the second floor with a unique portal made of individually crafted elements, unique for the architecture of that time. The building’s layout was thoughtful and rational: on the sides of the elongated vaulted corridor leading from the entrance, two living chambers were on the left, and on the right were spacious vestibules and a room isolated from the others. The vestibules ended at the far end with an exit to the gulbishche — a wooden platform on pillars with a roof. A warm “otkhod” (toilet) was attached to the vestibules, and near the entrance there was an internal stone staircase to the log part of the chambers.

Sources:

https://kelohouse.ru/dom60.html

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chambers_of_A._F._Olisov