The Russian army destroyed the architectural masterpiece of Gulyaipolе, which is 130 years old

An architectural masterpiece of Gulyaipolе, a visiting card of the city, one of the best examples of industrial architecture of the Zaporizhzhia region – this is what they said about the Nadiya steam mill, built in 1894. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the mill building has come under fire several times. But in mid-February, during a powerful night attack, the mill was not just damaged, but actually destroyed.

The building is a unique example of industrial architecture and is part of the historical area of the city. The mill was built in 1894 by the Jew Samson Yosypovich Saksagansky, a merchant of the 2nd guild, and the firm of the German Anton Erlanger, well-known at that time, became the executor of the works.

According to the historian and local historian Serhiy Zvilinskyi, the merchant invested huge sums in the construction. Moreover, he even went into debt.

A huge steam engine was bought in England and installed in the high part of the building. But already in 1898, the engine was stopped and sealed. In 1907, Samson Saksagansky sells the Mennonite mill to David Schroeder, who was an industrialist and landowner. “In 1908, the mill was operating at full capacity. Shredder restarted it. And in fact, the mill was better known in the city precisely as Schroeder’s mill,” says the historian. In fact, the mill became the first power station of Gulyaipolе, because in 1912, the central power station of the city was opened with it.

In 1915, Schroeder sold the mill to a group of individuals – the joint-stock company “Kyemakh” (translated from Yiddish – flour).

In the Soviet period, the building was used as a mill.

But in 1935 there was a big fire here. Whether it happened by accident or not is currently unknown. During the fire, the upper part of the mill burned down. Then they tried to restore it, but unfortunately some of the original parts and decorative elements were lost.

As Serhiy Zvilinskyi says, the building has a huge history, you can talk about it and its former owners not for hours, but for days. The building functioned until 2022, but the Russian army is erasing it from the face of the earth.