Management of the Architectural Branch of the Administrative Center of Omsk Oblast in the 1930s-1940s

The article discusses the process of building a system of management of the architectural industry in a large Western Siberian city. In Omsk, a body of the main city architect was created, which politically became the conductor of the decisions of the country's party and leadership. The author refers to archival sources to reconstruct the organizational structure of the local architecture management body. For the first time, the personal list of the main city architects of Omsk in the "Stalin era" is recreated. The article emphasizes that the degree of implementation of the orders of higher authorities becomes the subject of discussions of professional institutions, and the development of the department of architecture was not systematic. The author proposes to identify several stages in the formation of the functions of the chief architect. The organizational stage (1935-40s) is characterized by the instability of the position of the chief city architect. The city architect obeyed the economy department and was not independent in decision-making. The personal authority of the architect allowed to solve some problems. The stage of manual management (1940-45) was marked by a political decision to strengthen the position of the city architect at the municipal level. During the Great Patriotic War, important structural units were reformed. Since then, the architectural image of the city becomes the main task of the architecture department, not the economy one. The last stage is the stage of "transformation" (1945-55); it includes the period of reconstruction of cities after the war and the period of establishment of the department of architecture. The main city architect headed the department which could really affect the development of the districts and the strategic planning of the city's development in political, administrative and organizational ways. This stage ends with the party and political shifts initiated by Nikita Khrushchev. The political hierarchy was to subordinate all sectors of the economy in the 1930s. The regional and local management systems could not cope with all the responsibilities assigned to them, as there were not enough financial resources and there was no improvement in the organizational structure. The local body of architecture was limited in the choice of means of influence since its inception until the fundamental reforms of 1940. Omsk authorities were interested in involving active architects in the management of the construction industry, but there was a shortage of personnel in the region. During the Great Patriotic War the functions of the city architect were performed by "random people". In the evacuation, D.F. Friedman, a leading Soviet architect, author of the land pavilions and other underground facilities in Moscow, not only managed but participated in the formation of the urban image of Omsk. The author comes to the conclusion that the political status of the post of a city architect was not created together with the introduction of the post in 1935. It took two decades to establish direct control of architecture in a separate city.

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