Ghosts and artefacts of the past: settlement near the railway station

Do you like islands? My city is built on a river delta, and you'd be hard pressed to find a place here that isn't an island. But you don't usually think about the fact that you're travelling between islands when you cross a river or canal on yet another bridge. Opposite banks look alike, architectural dominants echo each other, and people move freely around the city without considering water obstacles a serious obstacle.

Some islands have not been easily accessible, and they are different in some way from the surrounding area. Some special atmosphere that is easy to feel but hard to describe. I've been thinking about this special atmosphere of islands because the place I'm going to talk about today is very much like an island. It's as if this place exists separately from the city - although in reality it's just a few town houses, which are separated from the modern residential development by only a not wide street at the moment. However, these modern residential buildings have only recently been built, and in the past the distance to the regular city streets used to be much greater.

The small settlement was built at the railway station especially for its workers in the XIX century. The XIX century was a time of rapid development of industry and railway lines, new industries required workers, and work camps were hastily built next to factories and plants.

The architecture of such settlements was traditional for that time, the construction of buildings was carried out according to a single plan with the use of standard projects. At the same time, the projects for each settlement were finalised independently of each other. Typical construction of the XX century is almost identical buildings in different cities. Typical construction of the XIX century is several very similar buildings in one settlement, but different settlements can differ from each other quite significantly.

Time adds personality to old buildings. Although the wooden apartment buildings were built according to the same design, you have to look away from the colour of the walls and the way they interact with their surroundings to notice this. The white-painted façade elements look like columns against the pale green walls from afar, but they behave much more modestly with a different colour scheme.

Some of the buildings in the settlement are wooden, but there are also old red brick houses that look like Gothic castles. It seems that on a foggy evening you can shoot scenes from some historical film on the driveway near these buildings without worrying about additional scenery. Unless you have to ask the car owners to remove their cars from the frame.

The lives of the inhabitants of these houses were connected with the railway for a long time. They worked on the railway, their children went to kindergartens for railway workers, they constantly used suburban trains as city transport. The city was not far away, but it was on its own. All the neighbours knew each other, as is the case in small villages but rarely happens in a big city. This quiet neighbourly atmosphere seemed very appealing. Some people say that the noise of the trains on the railway interferes with relaxation, but I think you get used to the noise of trains very quickly and stop noticing them.

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Smartphone	Google Pixel 3a
Location	Saint Petersburg, Russia