Seafront villas “Mechta” and “Kseniya” in Simeiz on the Southern Bank of Crimea: fate of the buildings and their creators on the background of the “age of extremes” (1900 – 1990s)
The subject of this research is the history of two recognized landmarks of the Southern Bank of Crimea – villas Seafront villas “Mechta” and “Kseniya” in the rural locality Simeiz near Yalta. The were erected in the early XX century, and since then are the center of attention for admirers of the relics, residents and guests of this resort town, and its urban development dominant. For the first time in historiography, based on the newly introduced archival sources form museum collections, as well as the sources of historical memory, is reconstructed the sequence of transfer of ownership of land parcels, on which both buildings are erected. The author also discovers the names of the people who commissioned construction of both villas, as well as their architects. The work describes the fate of buildings, their owners and descendants after arrival of the Soviet government and nationalization of private property on the Southern Bank of Crimea. The scientific novelty consists not only in the conducted documental reconstruction of the fate of two historical and cultural landmarks of the late XIX – early XX century, which description hat lots of gaps in the historical, art and local lore literature, but also in placing this reconstruction into the context of examination of Russia’s sociocultural modernization in the beginning of the XX century, formation of new social strata with characteristic to them new culture of leisure and aesthetization of life. The revealed by the author sources and information contribute to preservation of Russian cultural heritage, as well as can be applied by the historians in the area of social history, history of culture, history of leisure, and history of mentality.