Russian Colonial Log Architecture

The Siberian style of log house construction was the predominant influence in Russian colonial settlements in Alaska. Buildings were constructed of hewn logs. The horizontal interlocking wood logs were interwoven so that no gaps between the logs existed and nails were not needed to secure the them. The bottoms of the logs were concave and the tops convex to form a saddle fit. Full dove-tail notching joined the logs at the corners. The exterior of the logs were often left in their rounded state for ordinary residences and warehouses, while the logs of the more formal buildings were hewn so flat that they could be easily painted or wallpapered. Alternately, other researchers have noted that Russian carpenters left logs rounded, while Finnish carpenters hewed logs flat.

Much of the Russian colonial log architecture in Sitka may have been executed by Finnish carpenters. During the Russian American period in Alaska, Finland was a part of Russia. In the 1840s, the Finnish Chief Manager of Russian America, Arvid Adolf Etholén, brought many Finnish workers to Alaska, where they carried out much of the Russian American Company’s construction.

Fun Fact: Sitka’s climate is hard on buildings and cost the Russian American Company (RAC) considerably. RAC accounts note that buildings typically only had a 12-year life span. An annual supply of 300 to 400 logs was required in Sitka for construction efforts. Scenic Russian Log Building

The Sitka History Museum worked with Superior Exhibits to fabricate a portion of a Russian colonial era log building for exhibition in the first gallery of the new permanent exhibit. The building corner was selected to highlight the refined craftsmanship of the tightly-interlocking logs that characterizes Russian and Finnish architecture.

Exhibit rendering, design by HealyKohler Design, Washington, D.C. Building 29 Building 29 in Sitka was built by the Russian American Company in 1852 as living accommodations for Company employees. The two-story hewn log construction is typical of Russian colonial architecture.

Building 29, ca. 1886-1894. Photograph by Edward DeGroff. Building 29 corner detail, Historic American 89.37.2 Buildings Survey (Library of Congress, HABS AK,17- SITKA,7-) Building 43 At the time of the transfer of Alaska from Russian to the United States in 1867, Building 43 in Sitka was a residence. It was later combined with Building 28 and operated as the Millmore Hotel.

Drawing of the northeast corner from the Photo courtesy of Rebecca Poulson. National Park Service site report. Russian Bishop’s House The Russian Bishop’s House was completed in 1842. The building served as the home of the Russian Orthodox bishop of Alaska, a school, seminary, and orphanage. The construction techniques reflect many of the hallmarks of Russian colonial log architecture.

Photo from Survey HABS AK-64. The corner of the room is left bare to reveal the flat hewn log construction. Custom House The Custom House, built sometime between 1840 and 1857, was constructed of tightly-interwoven hewn logs. The Russian American Company had offices on the bottom floor and a navigation school on the second floor. After the transfer of Alaska, the U.S. Army occupied the building, using it as post headquarters. One room was allocated to Customs Service.

Corner of the Custom House following a fire that destroyed the building in 1936. U.S. Custom House, ca.1868. Photograph by Eadweard James Muybridge. Old Russian Trading Post/The Brady Building Building 25 on the Transfer Map–1867 occupants include a bakery, a joiner’s workshop, and various other shops. In 1868, the Russian American Company sold the building to William S. Dodge, who sold it to Amos T. Whitford. Whitford opened the Sitka Trading Company in the building and in the late-1880s, deeded half of the building to John G. Brady, his business partner. The building was razed in 1919. Russian-American Company Magazin The building was erected ca. 1792-1793 as a storehouse for the Shelikhov-Golikov Company when the firm’s headquarters in Alaska moved from Three Saint’s Bay to Kodiak. This is the oldest-known extant Russian colonial structure in the United States.

Photographs from HABS documentation, Courtesy of the Library of Congress, HABS AK-2. Note the concave/convex saddle fit of the logs in photo (left). Molalla Log House

The Molalla Log House in Clackamas County, Oregon, is hypothesized to have been built by people from Russia sometime between 1795 and 1810. Much like Fort Ross in California, Russians may have explored this location in the fertile Willamette Valley as a possible agricultural outpost for supplying the Alaskan colonies.

Note the tightly-fitted logs. Unlike the more common style of log cabin favored by other American and European settlers in the West, Russian log buildings require no chinking to keep out the weather.

Right: Detail of Molalla House corner. Left: Example of log cabin with chinking

Molalla Log House Select References

Crowell, Aron L. 2013 Archaeology and the Capitalist World System: A Study from Russian America. Springer, New York.

DeArmond, Robert 1994 The Old Trading Post. Daily Sitka Sentinel 19 May: 5. Sitka, Alaska.

Estus, Joaqlin 1983 Russian Bishop’s House. National Register of Historic Places. Submitted to United States Department of the Interior, No. 66000025. Copies available from National Park Service, Washington, D.C.

Hayden, Pam and Gregg Olson 2015 The Molalla Log House: A Journey of Mystery and Discovery. Prepared for the Society of Architectural Historians Marion Dean Ross/Pacific Northwest Chapter’s Annual Meeting, October 23-25, 2015. Ashland, Oregon.

Lidfors, Kathleen 1987 Russian-American Building No. 29. National Register of Historic Places. Submitted to United States Department of the Interior, No. 87001282. Copies available from National Park Service, Washington, D.C.

Poulson, Rebecca 2011 Building 43: Survival of a Russian American Log Building. Electronic document, https://sitkaartblog.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/building-43/, accessed June 8, 2017.

Smith, Barbara Sweetland 1987 Russian-American Company Magazin. National Register of Historic Places. Submitted to United States Department of the Interior, No. 66000954. Copies available from National Park Service, Washington, D.C.