The Russo-Baltic Shipyard

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Kopli Peninsula at the beginning of the XXth century

The Russo-Baltic Shipyard (Estonian: Vene-Balti laevaehitustehas) was a shipyard located on the Kopli peninsula in Tallinn. The project covered a large territory and fully changed the region’s appearance. It is one of the largest complexes in Estonia that is planned as a whole.

After the Russian-Japanese War the Russian Empire needed a new shipyard and everything that came with it: a harbour, a sea fortress, a ship factory. In 1911 it was decided that the new navy base would be in Tallinn and so three shipyards were built: Noblessner, Bekker and the Russo-Baltic shipyard. The settlement was built by the French firm Schneider-Creusot. It was designed by an architect from St. Petersburg - Aleksandr Dmitriyev (Russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Дми́триев). The region was completed mainly between 1912 and 1915.

World War I

Kopli Worker's Wooden House

Just before the beginning of the World War I, The Russian Empire decided to transform Tallinn into an important point of building and repairing the fleet, because of its strategic position in Baltic Sea, thus it was taken the decision to build new shipyards in the region. For this purpose, it was selected Kopli peninsula, in order to raise here not just a ship factory, but also a harbor and a sea fortress. The enterprise was called “Russian-Baltic Shipbuilding and Mechanics Ltd” and related Tallinn factory being opened on 31st of May 1913. The project was realized with technical and financial assistance of foreign capital from the French-Belgian company Schneider-Creuzot. Most of the production buildings and the nearby constructions were designed according to the plans of the Russian architect Aleksandr Dmitriyev. The production buildings began to be elevated in 1912, being finished in 1913-1914. Alongside the buildings needed for industry and the accommodation for the workers, there were also built a cinema, a bakery, a hospital, a postal office and other facilities, so that workers could have a pleasant life without leaving factory grounds. An orthodox church was built as well, since most of the workers were of Russian origin. The manual laborers lived on the northern side of the peninsula, later called the Kopli lines (Estonian: Kopli liinid), having accommodation in barracks. The most commonly built barrack had two stories and a corridor-based interior with rooms or apartments on both sides. Each house had running water and electricity. All houses were wooden, some of them had a brick hallway, those were planned for families, but more skilled workers moved in them instead. On the other hand, two long barracks were planned for young workers without families. The Directors’, Engineers’ and Officers’ quarters, later called the “Professors’ Village” (Estonian: Professorite küla) was located on the South side of the peninsula, on Süsta, Ketta and Kaluri streets. Those houses were different from the common workers’ houses, being highly comfortable and fancier. Although each house has a unique look, all of them are wooden with a brick hallway which is usually covered with wood. All of the buildings have a garden, the Director’s and Deputy Director’s houses (Kaluri 15 and 13) used to have park-like gardens reaching up to the sea. The newly formed region could provide accommodation up to 1000 workers at the beginning, while just a few years later the numbers could vary between 7000 and 10000 workers in 1917.

Estonian Maritime Academy of Tallinn University of Technology

After World War I

After Russian Revolution from October 1917 and the ending of the First World War, Russia was evacuating from Tallinn, and the factory workers were dispersed. Some of those workers went back to their homes in other regions, while others still remained to live in Tallinn. One year later, in 1918 Estonia gained its Independence together with other European countries and the factory was found in ruins. The bureaucracy scared all the potential foreign investor away, so in 1936 the Estonian government formed a Real Estate Agency (Kopli Real Estate Administration) whose task was to deal directly with the buildings from Kopli, to manage and fix all incoming related issues, and by the end of the decade it became one of Tallinn’s best organized districts. The 1930s are considered Kopli’s development peak. The factory grounds were put in use again and the Tallinn University of Technology moved to the main building. That's when the name Professors Village came into use, since many professors moved there.

"Professors’ Village", Kopli

Degradation of the Kopli Houses

Post World War II

After the end of the World War II and the annexation of Estonia to the USSR, the initial plans of the factory continued to develop, but this time under the name Factory No. 890. The factory buildings built during the Soviet period were mostly designed by institutes of Leningrad, the buildings being simple and functional. The region continued to develop nicely, the factory streets getting names while houses getting numbers, similar to the rest of the city.

Starting with the 1960s, the Kopli region became rapidly degrading, affecting especially the former worker houses. A factor that plays an important role in the decline of the region was the newly opened Border Guard, thus cutting off the dwellings of the factory management. The houses were poorly maintained and inhabited by drunkards, former convicts and others experiencing troubles. The Soviet government had plans of demolishing the worker’s part since the 1970s. Because of the uncertainty, there were problems with the ownership and it never came to it.

Re-independece and after

After Estonia regained its independence the factory became one of the most important enterprises of the country and even now, approximately 1000 people work in the production lines every day. The work space varies from the original buildings of the Tsarist period to the buildings from the Soviet time. The Estonian Maritime Academy moved into the main building of the factory at the beginning of the XXIst Century, thus taking good care of the building. The fate of the former worker houses was more dramatic: in the early 2000s, the houses were inhabited by homeless people and often caught on fire. After a while, the State Administration decided to privatize the wooden houses in order to either restore or demolish them, and in the end decided to look for a foreign investor to rehabilitate the constructions, in order to improve the region’s reputation. It was only in 2015 when the City managed to do so, through the entrepreneur Fund Ehitus, which agreed to build contemporary accommodation in this region, designed by Kino Maastikuarhitektid, Apex and Peeter Pere architects. Given the privatization of the wooden constructions and transforming them into protected architectural monuments, most of them were restored to their initial shape, together with the Orthodox Church. From the former factory the fire station, post office and movie theatre were demolished, while the old hospital is office space for several designers and photographers. Today, many of these new buildings are under construction, but in the same time there are still many historical buildings that are waiting to be restored.

References

• Orro, Oliver; Treufeldt, Robert; Mändel, Maris (2017). "Summary". In Ojari, Triin. Kopli Sonata. The Russo-Baltic Shipyard. Eesti Arhitektuurimuuseum. pp. 252–287. ISBN 978-9949-9679-7-1. Search this book on

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