Fire tower

On Yaroslavskaya Street, not far from Uspenskaya Square and the Offices, there is an administrative building that attracts attention with its large size and a fire tower rising above the roof. Previously, it was known as Furman House and Gorodnichesky board.

The first one (from the German word Fuhrman – coachman) meant that the fire station was located here, there were stables, chimneys, fire brigade rooms, and the necessary equipment was stored.

Secondly, the building was the site of the police administration, which was abolished in the 1870s. The Uglich mayor worked here. It was in such a building that scenes from N.V. Gogol's immortal work could take place. At one time there were county and parish schools here, and F.H. Kissel, a researcher and local historian, taught there. In the first half of the 19th century, he prepared the book "History of the City of Uglich", one of the first in provincial historiography.

The building was built in 1828-1831. It is two-storied with a mezzanine, decorated with a monumental four-column portico. In the construction of the facade, as well as the building of the Offices, it was not possible to avoid some provincial liberties. The columns of the portico, for example, are too widely spaced and topped with questionable capitals. On the lower floor, under the portico, there were arched gates through which fire equipment was taken out.

The fire station still performs its functions, as it did almost two centuries ago, although red cars are no longer well-fed horses with barrels on carts, and firefighters no longer wear shining copper helmets, which have been replaced by more reliable helmets. And there is no such need in the tower – everything is reported much faster by phone. But hardly anyone would dare to say that the tower should be demolished. It, like all the buildings on the old streets of the city, has long become an integral part of the Uglich landscape.