N. Loskovich (Polotsk mayor from 1908 to 1915)
Nizhne-Pokrovskaya Street is one of the oldest streets in Polotsk. Historical sources confirm its existence already in the second half of the 11th — beginning of the 12th century. From the 13th century the street was densely populated, served as one of the main streets in the city, it was crossed by the Dvina River to the city markets, churches, synagogues, Catholic and Orthodox monasteries were located on it, the richest and most influential citizens lived there.
The first known name of this street was Velikaya Street. In the last quarter of the 18th century (in connection with the construction of St. Pokrovskaya Church) it was renamed into Nizhne-Pokrovskaya Street, in 1919 - into Lenin Street, and in 2008 the street again returned the name Nizhne-Pokrovskaya. It received its current direction in accordance with the classicist plan of Polotsk developed and approved in the late 18th century, which gave the layout of the historical center of the city the features of regularity.
House No. 17 on Nizhne-Pokrovskaya Street was built in the late 19th — early 20th century. The architecture of the building, which has been partially changed by later rebuilds and repairs, traces the features of classicism. This stylistic direction is characterized by majestic simplicity, austerity, laconism of forms, absence of numerous details.
The territory of the modern location of house No. 17 has long been part of the building system of Nizhne-Pokrovskaya Street. It is known from documentary sources that in the 60s of the 19th century this plot belonged to the Polotsk burgher Itsyk Nisangausen, two large wooden houses with outbuildings were located there.
It's interesting that during the construction of the existing two-storied stone house in the late 19th — early 20th century it was planned to join the complex of buildings of the Polotsk Jesuit College by building a system of underground tunnels, the remains of which have survived until now.
The most famous owner of house No. 17 was a teacher of the Polotsk Teachers' Seminary and the last mayor of the town — State Councillor Nikolai Loskovich. The mayor headed the bodies of local self-government, he was subordinate to the town council and the administration. N. Loskovich held this position from 1908 to 1915.
During Soviet times, the mansion underwent significant alterations: the colonnades on the southern and western facades were eliminated, and the entrance to the building, which previously had a covered balcony above it, was changed. The two-storey house was used as a dwelling, and for some time it served as an administrative building. After the Great Patriotic War the building housed for some time the city committee, later - the medical archive, in the 1990s - the district library.
Today in building No. 17 on Nizhne-Pokrovskaya St. the administration of OJSC "Otdelochnik-28" works.
House No. 17 is a beautiful monument to the construction of Nizhne-Pokrovskaya St. of the late 19th — early 20th centuries.