The activities of the ministry of the imperial court regarding creation of the water-pipe system of the gatchina town under alexander iii

The paper deals with one of the most important issues in governing of the so-called “palace towns” (“dvortsovye goroda”) by the Ministry of the Imperial Court. It scrutinizes the creation of the water supply system in Gatchina, the main country residence of Alexander III. The author claims this circumstance as one of the motives for the planning of future pipeline construction works. The special attention is paid to unbiased causes such as drying of wells in the town centre after sewerage laying and getting to the limit of the local water-supply system existing in the imperial residence. In his research on the preparatory process, the author especially mentions that Gatchina town manager M.M. Anichkov and town architect N.V. Dmitriev struggled to get maximum information concerning future consumers, relied on the practice of other Russian localities, and asked specialists for advice. Such forethought, however, didn't secure from complications during realization of the project. The author notes that K. Ziegel, who got the contract for construction of the water-supply system in Gatchina, proved himself to be incapable of both timely delivery of pipes, equipment and other materials and of compliance with construction works' deadlines. The paper claims this situation to be the result of the policy when the contract was granted to a contractor suggesting the lowest price. However, the author especially outlines that creation of the water pipeline made it possible for the Court Department to become water supplier, and for town dwellers to get this communal service. The provisions of connection, maintenance and payment are under consideration in the paper's final part. The conditions of connection to the town's water pipeline are considered on the basis of archival documents.