Russian-American Company, Building No. 29, 202-206 Lincoln Street, Sitka, Sitka Borough, AK

Significance: Building No. 29 is one of only four buildings of Russian construction known to survive in the Western Hemisphere. It was built in the Russian American capitol of New Archangel (now Sitka), the center of the colony's civil, administrative and Russian Orthodox faith in Alaska. Building No. 29 was built in 1852 by Russian American Company employees in order to provide living accommodations for Company employees. Its construction was typical for the Russian period with a two story hewn log structure on a stone foundation, a high attic space, a high pitched gable roof with tiled covering, and a two story entrance gallery, or seni, on the east side of the main unit. The main part of the building, or srub, was a nearly perfect square with the sides measuring approximately four sazhens (28 feet) in length (6.98 feet per sazhen). The side gallery, which had a shed roof, had the same depth as that of the building's main unit. Throughout the Russian Colonial period, the building was owned by the Russian American Company. In 1868, shortly after the United States purchased Alaska, the building was sold to William Dodge and has changed hands many times since. Structural changes have taken place both in its historic period and in recent years. Substantial changes took place during the mid-1880s. Photographs from 1887 show that a two-story addition was constructed on the east side of the gallery. The gable roof of the original building was extended horizontally to cover the gallery and the addition. Four dormers were evenly spaced across the roof front. Building No. 29 was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987 because of its significance as a rare example of Russian colonial architecture and its historic log craftsmanship.
Survey number: HABS AK-99
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 87001282