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Over the past nine years Ivanov has collected more than 500 bricks, 200 shingles, and even more ceramic tiles, all of which he stores in his garage.
Ivanov said that his collection is mostly made up of 19th century bricks. Ivanov wanders around the neighborhood, searching for marked bricks. It’s by these marks that he’s able to identify the bricks’ original owners. He then searches archives for information about the bricks. He says that every brick has its own story.
“This is a very interesting story,” Ivanov said, referring to the origin of one of his bricks. “The Trade House of Yeliseev himself – who was one of the richest – he had shops in Saint Petersburg, in Moscow, in Kyiv. By a quirk of fate he ended up in Druzhkivka, and married a woman from Bakhmut. He bought a horse farm and a brick factory and started to manufacture shingles and bricks.”
Kramatorsk is hoping to create a museum of construction materials and they’ve been considering Yeliseev’s 19th century brick factory for the location.
“We wanted to suggest this building to Europeans, to secure their financial support. The owner of this building is ready to lease it almost for free. But we need money to renovate the building,” Historian Volodymyr Kotsarenko said.
If the museum is established, Ivanov said he will contribute his collection so that others can appreciate the area’s history.
