Located at 26 Dzerzhinsky Street, this house once belonged to Pavel Grigorievich Kataev and Mikhail Yefimovich Dementyev. The exact date of construction is unknown, but it is most likely from the second half of the 19th century. Among Tyumen’s wooden residential buildings, this monument stands out for its mezzanine-type composition and the treatment of its wooden façades, plastered to imitate stone.
The house is a one-and-a-half-story structure. On the basement level, it has a U-shaped configuration formed by two small courtyard wings. The main entrance is located at the corner facing Sovetskaya Street, while other entrances open to the courtyard. A distinctive feature of the building is its large mezzanine with a wide, prominently projecting balcony. The balcony is supported by two brackets and features columns, an entablature, and a roof with a triangular “broken” pediment.
The façade treatment is also unusual: finely textured plasterwork with rusticated corners, small-profiled window frames, decorative inter-window panels, belt courses, and a broad frieze with under-cornice brackets. These elements are rooted in Classicism, yet their combination, density, and intricate detailing reflect the influence of Eclecticism.
Adding to the house’s charm and elegance are the crowning cornice, a parapet of balusters, and round urns on pedestals. The main entrance is highlighted by a segmental pediment.
The first known owner of the house was military physician Pavel Grigorievich Kataev. It is known that he received patients at home, which was a common practice at the time.
Around 1907, the house passed to Mikhail Yefimovich Dementyev, a petty bourgeois from Yekaterinburg, who was the manager of the West Siberian Steamship and Trading Partnership and co-owner of the Masharov Iron Foundry. His professional career was successful, but his personal life was marked by tragedy. In 1895, his wife passed away, leaving him with three daughters to raise. A year later, Dementyev remarried. His new wife, Glafira Grigoryevna, was a graduate of the Tobolsk Women’s Gymnasium and 15 years his junior. Despite the age difference, she created a strong and loving household. Together they had seven children: five sons and two daughters. A spacious, beautiful house was very much needed.
With the advent of Soviet power, the house was nationalized. During the Soviet era, it hosted several institutions: a young technicians’ station, a municipal utilities trust, and the administration of hunting resources. In 1942, a mechanical engineering technical school was established in the building.
