Old and New Brest

Views in Komsomolskaya Street



The building of the railway station is seen below the footbridge.

(left) pre-war view after the station was rebuilt in the 1930s. (Right) present-day view.

Today's bridge is higher than the pre-war one, because the railroad line Brest-Moscow was electrified in the 1980s and it required to make the bridge higher.





(left) the view from the footbridge in the 1916 when the city was occupied by Kaiser troops. German officers are seen in the picture. The Brest vodka distillery is seen in the background. (right) the same view from the footbridge today.





(left) the view from the foot-bridge in the 1930s.

(right) the same view today.

A new block of flats has grown up on the eastern side of the street between Mayakovsky Street and Gogol Str.



The old and new meet in the street. The picture (left), taken in May 2007, is now history. In the course of construction the cottage (left) was pulled down like several other wooden cottages on the site. The same view today. Now a block of flats is on the site (right).



The view on the block at the corner of Komsomolskaya Street and Mayakovsky Street in 2006 (left) and in 2009 (right).





Views in Lenin Street



Bank Office. It was built in the mid-1920s (left). The view today (right)



Former school



This building after the reconstruction BelVEB in 2012. Today it belongs to Lode clinics.



Views in K.Marx Street





The Russian St. Simon Cathedral in the 1930s (left) and in 2008 (right)



That nice mansion dating from the 19th century houses today the regional museum.

 

The brickwork of the former school at the corner of Dzerzhinsky St.  attracts attention at once.





This old picture above is former Dr. Pawel Korol's villa on ul.Zygmuntowska (K.Marx St. today) in Brest.

This information and old pictures of the mansion were provided by Lucyna Kucharska, daughter of Elizabeth and Feliks Kucharski.



Views in Svobody Square



In both old and new pictures the fence of the square is seen on the left-hand side, the southern border of the mini-park, that occupies the major part of the square. it was the main square of Brest till 1915.




17 September St. (former ul. Topolowa, ul. Pereca) joins the square at its southeastern corner, where there is an old 2-storied building with fine brickwork. It was built before WW1. It housed the local court for many years.



(Left) The court house before WW1 in a postcard. (Right) The building has undergone a renovation recently.



Across Budyuonny St. before WW1 there was a tall building (see above), dominating the square and featuring elaborate brickwork. It was the seat of the town Council, "Duma" in Russian, hence the old name of the square "Dumskaya" Square. The building was the main attraction in the square and in the town as well. Unfortunately the structure did not survive during WW1 and can be seen only in old pictures. The building housed also the biggest library of the town, named after N.Gogol (there is a street in Brest that is named after the writer).

       

The view of this shattered house, when Kaiser troops entered Brest in 1915.



Today the vacant space at the corner of Svobody Square, where once Duma was, is a big construction site. The old house is being rebuilt. The picture shows the design.





Views in Pushkin Street

 

The former residence of the wojewoda (province governour) in the inter-war Brest, today it's Russia's consulate.

The sidewalk pictures were quite popular in Brest. Many thanks to Mr. B. Minoff for the valuable pictures providing insight into daily life of the street. This stretch of the street was a pedestrian precinct in the inter-war Brest, called gaz in Polish. That was the place of luxurious shops and restaurants. Not everybody could afford to buy anything here, but that was a special feeling to walk along it just for fun, especially for school kids when they skipped lessons.

Some photographers used to take pictures of the passers-by who sometimes did not even suspect that they were photographed.

 

© 2008 B. Minoff
The two photos above may not be reproduced without permission of their owner, Mr. B.Minoff.

In the background in both old pictures above the building of the Town Hall of the inter-war Brest is seen.



The view from the same point today. The redbrick house of the former Town Hall is still seen at the corner of Sovietskaya St.



The top floor was built over the house after the war. The house at the opposite corner (left) did not survive. Today there is no pedestrian precinct in Pushkin Street. However, there is another pedestrian precinct, today's Mall in Sovietskaya St, that crosses Pushkin Street here.

Brest Mall

The Mall today is much longer than the pre-war pedestrian precinct. It starts here by the new clock tower. That is our small Big Ben, as it chimes like his bigger brother in London.

Ratner Arcade was a remarkable landmark in the street before 1915. Named after its owner Ratner.



The arcade, that belonged to Mr Ratner, is seen on the right (eastern) side of today's Sovietskaya St



the buildings did not survive during World War 1.

The views of this place after WW2. (below)
The street underwent reconstruction dedicated to the City's Millennium.




Here in the southern part of the Mall the pavement is being replaced during the reconstruction in 2009.

 



the view today



Views in Masherov Avenue




(left) in 1913, (right) today

in both pictures: the north-western corner, (right) the north-eastern corner of 17th September St. (former Perec St.)  and Masherov Avenue.

today's the Department Store is on the opposite side.

(historic background)

the house at the north-eastern corner belonged to Mr. Galpern.

It was rented by Mr. R.Goldfarb (stationary and book shop), Mr.Kravetsky (military uniform shop), Mr G. Burshtein (ready-made clothes), Mr. Yu. Shatz (tobacco shop), by Mr. B.Perelshtein (bicycle repair workshop), by I.V.Shapiro (skin&venereal diseases clinic), by Rubinraut (drug-store), by Glotser (dry goods store).



The northeastern corner of former ulica Białostocka. Hotel Victoria (left) was here before WW1. The Hotel was destroyed by the fire in 1915. Today a 4 storied residential house (right) stands on the spot of the Hotel.



Only the building behind Hotel Victoria on the right survived here. In the inter-war period it housed the notorious Polish Defenzywa, after WW2 it housed the Brest archive. Today it is undergoing a reconstruction to house an eye-surgery clinic.

If you look around, at the southeastern opposite corner you will see Intourist Hotel.



The Jewish orphanage was in the old 2-storied building till WW2.



The building (left) was built by Jewish community in the early 20th century at the northeastern corner of today's Masherov Avenue and Lenin Str.  to accommodate Jewish orphans that were numerous after WW1. The picture was taken in the 1930s.

This building (right) has been renovated several times. The facade has not changed considerably, however, the chimneys have gone. Nevertheless, it looks quite classic today. You can compare two pictures below.







Today the rock, commemorating the ever first record of the town in 1019, is seen at the opposite northwestern corner.



Views in Kosmonavtov Boulevard



The old photo (left), found by Jenni Buch (Australia), presents the building on Kosmonavtov Boulevard  (former Szeroka St) on the western side between Dzerzhinsky St.  and Budyonny St. That was a bakery called Porenka in the inter-war Brest.

Today it is also a bakery (right) that was extended and is much larger. Unlike the prewar backery it has no shop here. They have several shops, scattered around the city. The facade of the old building has undergone a considerably change. Thus, one can hardly trace the old outline of the prewar building today.








Views in Sovietskikh Pogranichnikov Street



The redbrick building of the former Jewish hospital. (the old photo was found by Jenni Buch)



This building today.



The building in Sovietskikh Pogranichnikov Street next to the red brick structure above was earlier a synagogue. It was built in the late 19th century.



This picture of the synagogue was taken presumably in 1916 in Brest, occupied by Kaiser Germany.



and this house in September 1939 or in June 1941.

It had an elaborately decorated facade. Unfortunately the facade was badly damaged, only the walls survived during WW2.





in September 2008

Today this is a synagogue again.