Expert: John Henry Architect - 2/25/2010

Question
Dear John,

I live in Ukraine in a village which was founded by the Swiss vignerons in the late XIX century in the south of Ukraine.

As all the buldings had been destroyed with the time, I found out that some of the post-war modern houses have foreign elements which are not typical to so called Communist Russia style, and I can expect that people who saw the Swiss houses imitated some elements before demolishing them..

Can I get any relevant help with this, I am ready to submit the photos of the elements which look very doubtful for me ( I have an impression that they had been imitated by later Russians).

my very best regards to you,

Anatolij Nediljko
N
village Osnova
Nova Kahovka
Ukraine

Answer
Thank you for this very interesting question.
I have lived in Europe and the Middle East but unfortunately do not have the expertise to properly respond to your question.
It is very likely that the Swiss elements were remembered and incorporated into newer buildings.
This would have happened slowly and house by house as they were eventually replaced when the older buildings were unusable.
This is not an unusual phenomenon for your country as the same process is incurred by succeeding generations of builders and architects.
Of course newer philosophies of architecture mean that an entire history can be rejected as well.
If you would like to send or attach photos I can comment further.